"Yo heave ho," at one point, was reasonably common. Was it a "shanty"? I say no. It *was* a cry or chant used to coordinate shipboard work. Although I believe the word "shanty" was connected with a specific variety of worksong, in later years the various varieties got lumped together under that rubric, and I am presently using it conversationally like that.

But anyway, yes, "yo heave ho" was around. My earliest reference is from 1807, wherein the passage states,

"Yo, heave ho!" as if heaving at the capstan or windlass...

I believe yo-heave-ho (of which I assume "yo HO ho" could be a variant) was characteristic of heaving the old windlass that was turned around by handspikes that had to be continually removed and reinserted. In my interpretation, it was essentially equivalent to chanting "1, 2, HEAVE!" Such chants at the windlass can be reasonably dated to the 1750s (though the specific phrase "yo heave ho" is not mentioned that early). To add variety, the men probably added random phrases in between the yo-heave-hos -- short quips that didn't need to rhyme with anything. Also, I think it likely that other phrases were used for the heaving itself (i.e. in place of yo-heave-ho) so long as they fit the "1, 2, heave" pattern, for example, "brandy and GIN!", "I wanna DRINK!", "around she GOES" etc.

Rough estimate is that "yo heave ho" died out in the 1850s. The handspike windlass was superseded in the 40s by the more "musical" brake/pump-action windlass, and the English chants were superseded by American chanties.