RE: OP's basic question- Did whalers use work song?
Yes they did.

Didn't see this Nordhoff reference in the usual threads. Note to the pedant: Alongside it might be stevedores, porters, longshoremen &c, and not the whalers.

“...Day after day I dressed myself in my best, and presented myself to some captain or mate to ask for a chance. Day after day I walked the mole, looking longingly at the departing vessels, and listening with sinking heart to the cheerful songs of those who had what I wanted, employment.”
[Whaling and Fishing, Nordhoff, 1855]