Lighter --

Could the distinction there, in your neighbour's case, have been between Navy and Merchant Marine?

***

Here's an announcement that I would guess fairly well dates the time when Stanton King was first appointed Merchant Marine chanteyman. Interesting that his reputation (at the Sailors' Home) preceded him, and I wonder if we might consider him one of the people who proverbially "kept shanties alive" during what seems to have been a gap period in the U.S. I recall the interest in chanties in some American articles from the turn of the century, but most of the other interest in evidence in the first couple decades was coming from Britain.

1918         Unknown. "Official Chantey Singer." New York Times (27 Jan. 1918). Pg. 46.

//
A new war job under the sun has
been created. It is Official Chantey
Man for the American Merchant
Marine. Stanton H. King of Boston
has been appointed to revive singing
among merchant sailors who will
Join the country's new cargo ships
through the United States Shipping
Board Recruiting Service. Chanteys,
sea sharps say. insure team work when
a crew is pulllng on ropes, even aboard
a steamer, while the bullding of a large
number of American schooners means
increased demand for men who can "reef, hand, and steer" on sailing vessels,
where chantey singing used to
flourish.
    Mr. King is probably the best known
chantey singer in the, country. He is
now the head of the Sailors' Haven
Mission at Charlestown, Mass., widely
known for its religious work among
sailors. Chantey singing is a part of
the service, and many go there to hear
Mr. King lead his sailor friends in
"Bound for the Rio Grande" or "'Blow
the Man Down." The Official ,Chantey
Man is an old salt and learned chantey
singing in its home, on board deep-sea-golng vessels.
//