Some of the posters on here from very big ships will answer you. Also depends on the size of the guy.
Air can come down the spill pipes, but not readily. Hence the near asphyxiation your father endured. I don’t know–maybe on larger ships the chain locker would also have a ventilator associated with it. But on smaller vessels this would not be the case because in rough weather the bow gets buried in waves and flooding down the ventilator would occur.
Because of this the tops of the pipes where they meet the deck are often sealed with foam or cement in areas where rough seas are the norm. A precaution sometimes omitted in areas where calm seas are the norm (Caribbean).