This is how submariners rowing across the Atlantic go to the toilet

A Royal Navy submariner taking part in the 'world’s toughest' ocean row – the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge – has given a step-by-step explanation of how he and his team-mates go to the loo in the small confines of a rowing boat while in the middle of the deep, blue sea.

Petty Officer Jon Norfolk, part of a team of submariners on HMS Oardacious – one of the 43 crews taking part in this year's annual row across the Atlantic – answered the "burning question": how do they use the bathroom on an ocean rowing boat?

There is no toilet on board the Rannoch R45 Ocean Rowing Boat which is just 28.5ft long, 5.71ft wide, and has only two 6ft berths.

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PO Norfolk, explaining the procedure of going the toilet with no privacy in front of teammates, said: "It's a bucket. We have lanyards on the buckets, because if the toilet runs away from you then you're not going to use it."

He explains how the team uses compostable bags in the bucket, so the contents can be thrown overboard afterward with no impact on the environment, while giving an explanation of how the small boat's crew have to position themselves without tilting the boat while they relieve themselves in the middle of the sea.

This is just one of the less-than-comfortable situations that will challenge basic day-to-day routines most people take for granted in the comfort of their homes for the teams taking part in the 3,000km ocean row.

Added to that is sleep deprivation, hallucinations, and hunger – not to mention facing the toughest weather and sea conditions of the Atlantic Ocean.