The merchants don’t have anything to do at sea but sleep and get high for the most part.
It’s far different than the pace of a warship.
I love the part when, after chasing a Soviet SSBN for 3 weeks and finally the ship gets relieved on station, the needle guns start up. “Relax from quiet ship” means make enough noise to raise the dead. No real sleep for weeks and some deck ape is firing up a needle gun 10 feet from you.