Gibb-

Nice work!

I've been reading Nordhoff's first book MAN-OF-WAR-LIFE, originally published in 1855 but describing his first experience at sea aboard the ship-of-the-line "Columbus" from 1845-48. I wasn't expecting to find much mention of shanties , given that this experience was aboard a warship, but Nordhoff does mention, p. 13, that while he was prowling the docks in Baltimore looking for a ship to sail on he was watching "...the sailors hoisting in or out cargos, or busy about their various other duties, and listening admiringly to the songs with which they enlivened their labors."

Cheerily,
Charley Noble