https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron-hulled_sailing_ship

The few people I know who pursued jobs on boats did so because they liked being out at sea, away from land.

Combine that with the modern availability of high speed internet via Starlink and entertainment is not a problem.

Makes me think of Rory Sutherland's ideas for getting passengers to be ok with a long ride duration on the Eurostar https://www.instagram.com/reel/C98_wbssLjG/

I think the notion was to fit masts to existing container ship and stacks, and I gsve it scant attention as my intuition (I once studied actual civil/mech engineering prior to jumping ship for applied math) suggested masts are better as integral parts of ships rather than bolt on after thoughts.

EDIT: Wingsails to reduce cargo ship fuel consumption (April 2023)

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35426482

  I’m Joseph, and along with Arpan and Bailey we are the founders of OutSail Shipping (https://outsailshipping.com/). We’re building a sail the size of a 747 that rolls up into a shipping container.

  When deployed, it will generate thrust from the wind to reduce the fuel consumption of a cargo ship. An array of these devices will reduce fuel consumption on ships by up to 20%. These sails are easily stowed and removed to cause no interference with cargo operations.

  Here’s a short video showing our prototype:

Not quite as I remembered .. kite sails, et al. are a good idea, I'm still a bit torn by the physics of a container deployed boom extension sail and the thrust transmission to the ship. Still, I haven't modeled it, so take my thoughts with a grain of salt.