You're right. My eyes and/or brain must be going.

So, no German accent.

On Nov. 22, '09, when this discussion was getting underway (see what I did there?), I suggested that the "chantie" might have come from a hypothetical but perfectly natural Scots diminutive of "chant."

It may well be that "shanty/chantey" has a dual origin. Whichever pronunciation "came first" (something we'll probably never know), a dual origin (Scots "chantie" and French "Chantez!" via "shanty-man," or, more plausibly, English "chant" + "Chantez!") would explain the two variant pronunciations.

The "church" pronunciation, of course, is often assumed to be based on learning the word from print.

All we can say for sure is that the "shanty" pronunciation was in use by 1858. Nordhoff's is unclear.