Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sea travel in general was apocalyptically bad for sailors until about 1910. I don't think people realize how dangerously shitty it was for people.
Reading about the ww2 Arctic convoys has the same feeling.
"Ten men were thrown overboard, around fifty died of scurvy or starvation, and twenty were killed when a drunken brawl got out of hand."
"So it was a good trip?"