  This paper explores how uneven and often unreliable digital connections shape
the patterns and routines of everyday life, work and rest for seafarers, during
long periods at sea. Such fragmented connections, which surface when the ship
moves in and out of connectivity or when onboard data allowances run out,
create a series of uncertainties that might unsettle individual and collective
notions of security. Ethnographic in nature, the study engaged 43 seafarers on
board two container ships in European waters, during two two-week voyages
between February and April 2018. This provided an empirically grounded
exploration of how digitally facilitated connections, relations and networks,
enabled through increasingly connected ships, shape and reshape seafarer lives.
Findings from this study demonstrate the creative ways in which seafarers
navigate and negotiate digitally facilitated connections to maintain relational
ties with family and friends. The paper concludes by setting out future
research directions and practical implications that speak to connectivity and
security at sea.
