I imagine it might be quite dangerous to transfer people from one ship to the other in heavy seas, and in the article they were talking about seas of 30 feet.
It can be dangerous. If you want to see something cool search for Ampelmann and Billy Pugh. I haven't been on an Ampelmann but I have transferred with the crane-lifted basket and it's really fun.
But they sure as hell are not moving between ships in nasty, dangerous sea conditions. At least not if they can help it.
> I imagine it might be quite dangerous to transfer people from one ship to the other in heavy seas
The article states that daily transfers of people was the M.O. initially and that they only installed sleeping quarters so experiments could be run 24/7.
