Bunks seem like the obvious way to store sleeping crewmen if the vessel is tall enough and you haven't developed hammocks, and even if you use them you'll need vertical space between them--not everybody can sleep at once.
Viking longboats had space on deck for the men if they took the sail down and tied it over them for a tent. Triremes, though--there wasn't a lot of room on those things. If they hauled in all the oars there might be room to lie down between benches, but probably this guy had the right idea: "Usually under blankets around their campfires on the beach." Non-warships would have more space--you could sleep lying on top of cargo, perhaps, and being taller in the water might make part of the deck available. Jonah was asleep in the hold. Coasters with short trips still have people crowding the decks to sleep however they can/dare.
Another rabbit-hole: what became of Viking longships? The Mediterranean ships were taller and stronger, making it hard/impossible to assault them from a longship, and aspects of that design were quickly adapted, making the classic longship obsolete.
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I got to see the Draken Harald Hårfagre in port in DC.
https://grimbeorn.blogspot.com/2018/10/draken-harald-harfagre.html
The sleeping quarters were tight but well-protected. The crew was young, which surely helps in sleeping in cramped spaces without suffering so much. Plenty of work to do to refresh the muscles the next day.
As for the Japanese before Western contact, mostly they were sailing to Korea and China, so, it didn't take long. It's a good question how they slept, though. The shogun closed Japan around 1630, IIRC, and so they only had coastal sailors until the 1850s. Any Japanese person who sailed further could not return, on pain of death. From the 1850s they adopted Western ship building and so I assume would have slept the same as Western sailors.
That must have been fun, Grim.
I've gotten to tour the Japanese naval ship Mikasa which fought the Russian fleet at Tsushima, the USS Constitution, and the HMS Victory. Sadly, these old ships never sail to Oklahoma. I'd love to see more of them.
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