Yo ho ho! Hoist the sails, lads, and embark on an adventure through history. For the past week, Sea Shanty TikTok, aptly named “ShantyTok,” has been providing hours of sea-themed entertainment to those stuck in quarantine. By far, the most popular song making the rounds is “Soon May the Wellerman Come.” But this catchy number isn’t actually a shanty—it’s a sea song. This may seem like semantic nitpicking, but for some scholars the distinction between shanties and sea songs is a really big deal.
