After dinner, the dishes are done, the galley is clean, and the permanent crew gathers on the poop deck for the first handover of the night. As the light disappears on the horizon, we still have plenty of tasks to keep busy, even when sail handling isn’t necessary. 

The inside of the ship is cleaned every night and the smell of freshly baked bread travels through the corridors around midnight.

The bosun has plenty of quiet little jobbies to give to the deckhands; buntline and clewline blocks need stropping and the 6 new life raft covers need boltropes.  

For any lost soul without a mission, the mate has plenty of safety checks to distribute. At least we can walk around the ship with a clipboard, which makes us look very important. Too bad most of the crew isn’t awake to notice it. 

And if you’ve already done all of that… there might be potatoes to count.