Ashore, when the shift ends, you and your colleague go your separate ways. On a ship it doesn't work like that — you eat at the same table, ride out the same storm, feel the same watch fatigue. That builds closeness fast, and it's real.
Sitting at the same table with people from different countries, learning each other's language, food and humour, is an experience most jobs simply don't offer. A shipmate who stood by you in a hard moment tends to stay in your memory for years.
There is a cost to this bond too: when you leave the ship, you leave these people as well. But the friendship usually outlasts the contract — running into a former shipmate years later, on another ship or in another port, is one of the small, genuine joys of this career.
We see a reflection of this on our own forum, where experienced seafarers regularly help newcomers.