DEAR DR. GOTT: Your articles regarding sleep deprivation and job performance are of interest. I sailed as a licensed deck officer aboard U.S.-flag oil tankers for 10 years after graduating from California Maritime Academy many years ago. I’m suggesting that any future study of sleep-deprived persons add the men and women who work on merchant ships.

I did not sail for Exxon (it was BP) but had the same route into and out of Valdez, Alaska, during the late 1980s and believe a lot of what attributed to the Exxon ship grounding on the reef was caused by the crew’s lack of sleep. When the tankers were loading/discharging, I was lucky to get four hours of sleep a day. Sometimes the job had us awake around the clock until the cargo was finished, and then we’d sail off to the next dock. I quit the race more than 22 years ago, found a shore job and never looked back.
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