My third job as a weldor was in ship repair and salvage. One such job was a flat deck barge that had started leaking oil in the pump room. It was so bad, it had filled 10" in the ballast in the time it took to port. We spent near four hours just bailing out the bilge (transition from side- to bottomshell.) When it was clean enough, I got to lie down in the oil slick and weld the pipe that had cracked to bring the pressure back up. After that, we broke the flange open, cleared the remaining oil, and replaced the flange. The aftermath of this 14hr escapade? Four words: Thank God For GOJO (pumice and orange soap.) I had to shave my head to rid myself of the oil and grease and residue from the ship, and my hands had a rust stain for almost a week. The irony of it all is that I still work shipyards as much as possible, thought currently work building earth haulers in WY.
