Typical Day
Skippy the sailor doesn't like to brag, but he's been tying knots and hoisting sails since the day he earned his first toy boat by cleaning the deck of his uncle's schooner. You might call him a pro, but he prefers the term "all star."
This morning, as Skippy wakes up at 5:15AM to the sunlight streaming through the porthole in his cabin, he remembers just how it felt to set foot on the Calamity. Sure, he had his misgivings about joining the crew of a container ship with a name that literally means disaster, but what's sea life without the adventure?
As his cabin mates start to stir in the early morning light, he hops out of bed and into his uniform―a dirty sweatshirt, some worn jeans, and sturdy boots. If he can beat the crowd, he's sure to get the best pickings for breakfast.
Some of the other sailors have been grumbling about how annoying it is to live in tight quarters and deal with such a communal lifestyle, but Skippy just laughs and remembers his childhood home: twelve brothers and sisters, four bedrooms, and only two bathrooms. He was born for this.
After his 6:00AM breakfast, Skippy starts in on his daily duties. First, he needs to help the ship's officers make sure all of the cargo is safely and efficiently stored down in the hold.
Once below deck, he maneuvers his way around what feels like a congested city of containers, checking each one to make sure it's been loaded correctly and cross-referencing its serial number against the ship's manifest. He asks Second Officer Smith what they've got in tow this time around.
"Ships in a bottle," Smith grunts as he continues his inspection.
Skippy isn't sure whether Officer Smith is being sarcastic or not, but the idea of a ship full of containers, each full of smaller containers, each containing a ship, is, like, so meta. He ponders this for a minute before being called back to reality and his next duty: cleaning the bathrooms. Luckily, it's a team effort―they get pretty gross.
At 10:27AM, once the lavatories are sparkling clean, Skippy takes a minute to sit on the lemony fresh floor and relax his bones. As a sailor, you take your breaks when and where you can get them. However, his bum barely touches the wood before another officer calls him to carry out routine maintenance on the Calamity's pumps and filters.
As he makes his way to the engine room, he thinks of his bed back in his rural Maine home. If there's anything he misses about land life, it's definitely the quality sleep.
After maintenance duties, it's 4:45PM―time for dinner. Skippy rushes to the kitchen and starts filling his plate. The food is mediocre at best, but on an empty stomach it tastes like a meal at a four-star restaurant. As the fork reaches his mouth, a siren goes off on the main deck. Skippy scarfs down a few forkfuls before rushing off with the rest of the crew. He really needs to start carrying snacks in his uniform.
Skippy makes his way to the deck where the captain is standing and steadies his feet upon arrival. From the way the Calamity is swaying and the ominous weather report the crew was grumbling about this morning, Skippy can tell they're in for a stormy, sleepless night.
He waits to hear his name in a long list of orders. Navigation. He smiles to himself, knowing such an important task likely means he's being groomed for an officer position.
He takes a moment to bask in the glory before taking his post. Looking out at the angry sea from the main deck, he can't help but feel at home. Sure, that bed in Maine is mighty cozy, but nothing compares to life at sea.
As the sun sets sometime around 7:00PM, Skippy heads up to the helm to assist with navigating the ship through the path of what looks to be a fairly treacherous storm. He and the second mate read the Coast Guard's weather reports and plot an anticipatory course that should move the ship around the periphery of the storm.
By 8:00PM, they're starting to feel the choppiness of the sea, but after only about an hour and a half, the waters have calmed and skies cleared.
Relieved of his duties at the helm at 9:48PM, Skippy heads back to the cabin to grab a few hours of shut eye before the sun rises. In his dreams he's the captain, shouting the orders and steering the ship to its destination.