[leesec]

Used to work on a cement tugboat, 12 hour days 28 days a time. Unfortunately, it wasn't 12 on 12 off, it was 6 x 6 x 6 x 6. Meaning you could rarely get more than 4.5 hours of sleep at one time for the whole hitch. Depending on if the Captain had it out for you or what your route demanded, your sleep schedule could be even more irregular.

It felt unsustainable to me. You'd come off the boat a zombie, and in just 12 days of drinking and disrupted sleep later, you'd get to do it again.

[smabie]

Why couldn't you just work 12 hour shifts instead of 6 hour ones? Honestly, 6 hours on, 6 off sounds like complete hell to me.

[cardiffspaceman]

It sounds like a variation on a six-hour shift system. Any seagoing vessel with a crew complement of 2 or more sailors is going to try to have one portion of the crew at work at all times. Skimming [1] I didn't see a 6-on/6-off system, but I believe, the skipper has the last word even when asleep.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watchkeeping#Six_Hour_Shift

[leesec]

Yeah why anything? Many of the policies on the boat seemed solely to punish the employee. Some boats had it 12 x 12, some boats even had 4 x 8 x 4 x 8, which is just a normal 8 hour day. But not my boat.

I lasted less than a year, it was also hell to me.

[audiometry]

A tugboat made out of cement? A tugboat that delivers cement?

[leesec]

Yeah a tug and barge that hauls around cement.