Note "early" instead of the now compulsory "ear-lye." Indeed: on the Carpenter recordings of Drunken Sailor published by Peter Kennedy, not a single one of them sing "ear-lye" either. Yet Hugill says:

"The word 'early' was always pronounced 'earl-eye'. Sailormen liked this sound, as can be seen from his pronunciation of 'California' in Sacramento -- 'Californi-eye-O'.

Was this a twentieth century innovation, or did the two pronunciations already co-exist in the heyday of sail?