Shanties are tuneful, rousing songs with a pronounced beat, sung by sailors at their work. Although records show the earliest shanties as being well over 200 years old ('Lowlands' was sung on Sir Walter Raleigh's ship), the most creative time for shanty singing was between 1820 and 1850.

Shanties fall into separate categories, differing in rhythm and timing: some long and repetitive for capstan-hauling, others having a short, jerky delivery for hand-over-hand-hauling or pumping, while others incorporate action words which were shouted for the 'stamp-and-go' long-hauling.

Hand in hand with the shanty is another type of sea-song, the forebitter. It is a simple sea-song or a ballad with a nautical flavour, sung for entertainment during the off-watch. On warm tropical nights the sing along would take place on deck around the forebits, hence the name.

The selection of a shanty to accompany a particular task, and the leading of the singing, was primarily the duty of the shantyman. He would sing the verse and stamp or beat the rhythm, while the crew joined in boisterously rather than tunefully in singing the choruses and heaving and hauling on the shouted words.