This album features classic sea shanties from the 19th century, "sung in the traditional manner, accompanied on historic 19th-century instruments, and recorded aboard historic sailing ships" at the Mystic Seaport Maritime Museum. Shanties were sung to make the heavy labor aboard merchant sailing vessels more coordinated, efficient, and lighter. "To hear a good yarn, and sing out a lively, rowdy chorus, was far more pleasurable" than listening to the Bosun yelling orders. Liner notes include background on chanties, song lyrics, and black-and-white photographs of sailors.