If I ever sang this I'd have to alter the response to 'how deep is the water?' - even though I only sailed on a little yacht, I'd like six fathoms far better than six feet.

I wonder if the 'lost art' of shantying is just that the singers were using a foreign language, had learned what they sang by rote and that was enough for them to keep the time.

The entertainment value of Sally Brown and Cheerly man and the like would be lost if the innuendo and cultural stereotypes were not understood.