> came away with the impression of somebody desperate to show he knew more than anybody else on the planet about sea songs

I wouldn't put it quite that way. Especially since he may *well* have known more than anybody else, at least about English-language shanties. That's not to say he was infallible, or that he thought he was. He certainly doesn't lay down inviolable rules in his books, nor did he in person.

Hugill was, after all, one of the very last active shantymen in the English-speaking world, and no matter how his style and repertoire may have been modified over the decades, I believe he did his best to give an accurate picture of shantying. Because he'd learned shantying as a teenager, I think it unlikely that his basic style or repertoire changed significantly.

Though I met him only twice, my impression of Hugill was of a natural but serious-minded extravert who was determined equally to put on a good show and to inform an interested audience as accurately as he could about genuine shanty singing.