One to the less enviable tasks carried out by seafarers is that of manning and operating offtake tankers, and here is one, the Navion Bergen attached to an FPSO out in Brazilian waters. So these ships will trog across the oceans until they get to a location out of sight of land where a larger tanker shaped object is collecting oil from the subsea wells. They then go through the fairly complex process of attaching themselves by a single large rope, and taking on the loading hose, then receiving the oil. Anyone who joined one of these ships hoping to see the world would be disappointed. If the weather deteriorates the captains are often required to wear their brown trousers.

Photo taken by Erik Azavedo in 2009 and posted here in 19th June 2018.