Michelson spent a lot of time at sea with minimal time in overseas ports. Some people liked sea duty while others really hated it. Not having a family to worry about, I kind of enjoyed the travel and adventure part of it. A few would moan and groan about being homesick but mostly got over it. While aboard Michelson I saw two of the oceanographers get unhinged, one of whom went berserk and had to be put under 24 hour watch until we got to port.
For some, seasickness started immediately after getting underway, before reaching the open sea. "It's all psychological" old salts would proclaim, not admitting that it bothered them as much as newbies. Until a sailor "got his sea legs" eating crackers sometimes helped, but most seasick sailors just ate nothing, climbed in the bunk, groaning and moaning. Others tormented the ill ones by pointing out how much the ship was rolling ("we just took a 30ยบ roll !") or suggesting a seasick diet of norge fish balls or sardines.
It was, of course, fashionable to claim that you had never been seasick. I used to say that too, until one day in 1972 on sea trials aboard a minesweeper in the Molokai Channel. The company I worked for in Honolulu had overhauled the shipboard electronics. Feeling pretty queasy, I went down to the head. The place was packed with shipyard workers puking their guts out. A line of impatient others waited to get in so they could get sick too. At that point I decided that I wasn't quite that ill and went back to work.
