SHIP: The crew’s quarter 2 was a haven for sailors. Here, behind the ship’s thick walls, they were eating, joking and spending most of their time. When you’re at sea, time goes at its own pace and rhythm. Sometimes, on watch, time flies by, and sometimes, looking out into the vast horizons and unchanging views, everything seems to stand still. During the time off duty, time passed by in the same way – as if by the will of the sea. So if time stood still, the crew did not avoid joking or doing something else to spice up their routine. For example, if someone overslept one’s watch time or fell asleep on watch, such negligence never went unnoticed. That’s when the jokes started. Often, creative ‘artist’s’ fantasy pieces would be drawn on the sleeping person’s face in a marker pen.

SYSTEMS ENGINEER: It was such a custom that nobody shaved their beard before a voyage – as a vow to the sea, as an expression sailor’s respect. Because who could know how the voyage would turn out? The boatswain often told us how shaved sailors faced storms and rough seas, as if the sea itself was punishing them for their courage.