I remember watching the flying boats taking off from mechanics bay in Auckland when I was a kid, and later the military Sunderlands in Suva. It was interesting doing engine runups with no brakes. And mooring them after flight involved shutting down all four engines and drifting, drifting, drifting until the engineer could grab the mooring buoy with a boathook.
My father was aircrew with the RNZAF Sunderlands out of Auckland and over at Suva. He has some amazing stories to tell about those days and his time in the USA picking up the first P3 Orion.
And yes, good seamanship was required - most of the crew were mad keen yachties too.