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A typical day

At sea you stand navigation or engine watches in rotation, so your day is split into four or six hour blocks around the clock. Between watches there are drills: man overboard, fire, abandon ship, launching the fast rescue craft. The actual work depends on the ship. Buoy tenders lift and reset navigation aids. Icebreakers escort commercial traffic and resupply Arctic communities. Search and rescue vessels sit ready and then go, fast, in the worst weather of the year. In port there is maintenance, inspections and paperwork.