Ordinary Seaman, Nicola Peffers exposes ongoing harassment from her male colleagues, despite Canadian Forces' "zero-tolerance policy" and chronicles PTSD survival experience. When Ordinary Seaman Nicola Peffers boarded the HMCS Winnipeg in 2009, she was embarking on her first deployment with the Canadian Navy. At twenty-six years old, one of the few women on the boat, and of the top students in her training class, Nicola began her career with a sense of optimism and hope towards seeing the world and serving her country. Rather than finding the teamwork and belonging she had hoped for, Nicola endured constant sexualization by the men she worked with. Along with the rigors of an intense military training process, she also faced sexual harassment and mistreatment from her superiors, meanwhile bound by rigid hierarchies and the physical distance between home and life at sea. Socially isolated, Nicola's only refuge, at times, was hiding in the black deck, a dark and cramped area of the ship that no one visits unless they absolutely have to. REFUGE IN THE BLACK DECK is about physical and emotional strength, the failures of the justice system in the face of sexual harassment, and the harmful effects of trauma that continue even after having left the site of the experience.

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Nicola Peffers left the military after five years of service at the rank of Ordinary Seaman. After years of struggling with Post Traumatic Stress Nicola Peffers was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and put in a permanent medical category by the Navy. The categorization meant she could not be promoted or receive any more training, resulting in the end of her naval career. She was honourably discharged in 2012. Nicola now lives in Victoria and is working on a new career.