Disasters at Sea

A mysterious leak on a cruise ship...

I saw how quickly my cabin was filling up.

Leaves passengers and crew...

Damn it!

Scrambling to survive in Antarctica.

Things have gone from really bad to really worse.

I need that power back on now!

It's a race against time.

You're helpless at that point.

Abandon ship, abandon ship.

We assumed that the ship was about to flip over.

I did think I was gonna die.

And 154 people are at the mercy of a deadly sea.

My feeling was very much

this, this is it, we can go together.

The passengers had less than two hours to live.

Abandon ship! Ah!

Go!

It's early evening near the bottom of the world.

The passenger ship MV explorer is 11 days into an 18-day trip.

But this is no luxury voyage.

The 240-foot vessel is on an adventure cruise

heading for the continent of Antarctica.

91 tourists on the Liberian-flagged explorer

have paid up to 16,000 U.S. dollars...

A small price perhaps for what promises to be

the adventure of a lifetime.

Eli Charne has come from California.

I had wanted to go to Antarctica for years,

but I didn't know that it was something

that it was possible for regular people to do.

I thought just, like, scientists could do that.

Doreen Horwood Hails from Kent in England.

The explorer was a really lovely ship.

She was small and comfortable,

and as soon as you got on the ship

you felt completely at home,

and it was just the most amazing ship I've ever been on.

The MV explorer was built for polar sightseeing.

It's an ice-class vessel outfitted with a double bottom

to provide extra protection against floating ice

that might puncture the hull.

It allows the explorer to venture

where few cruise ships can go.

Because explorer was so close to the water,

you felt so much a part of the earth around you, really.

And you just look and you're just,

wow, well, that is just the most amazing thing I've ever seen.

And this is why I've come.

But for the crew, sailing here is risky business.

Weather conditions can change quickly,

bringing storms and rough seas.

Vast ice fields can close in around the ship

and force it to a standstill, or worse, tear through the hull.

Chris Hearn is a master mariner and an expert in ice navigation.

The other thing about the antarctic, of course,

is that it's not only the ice,

it's the remoteness of the location.

The inability to access search and rescue

or response resources.

Because if you do run into trouble,

you are on your own until somebody gets to help you,

and that may be quite some time.

To avoid disaster,

the bridge team must be constantly on the lookout,

ready to respond to a sudden emergency.

How's it looking this evening?

So far, so good, sir.

Captain bengt wiman is the master on this trip.

He has more than 25 years' experience

sailing the icy waters of the Baltic sea,

off the coast of Sweden.

Never get tired of that sight.

Peter Svensson was the chief officer

and second in command.

Explorer, she always went to the places

where none other cruise ships went to.

And that's why I actually wanted to go into this kind of business

because you, you see things and learn a lot.

This time, the expedition is tracing the route

sailed by early 20th century explorer Ernest Shackleton.

His ship, the endurance, became trapped,

forcing his expedition to survive on antarctic ice

for nearly 15 months,

when they were finally able to find open water

and escape in lifeboats.

The voyage began in Argentina,

with stops at the Falklands

and South Georgia island.

But for many, tomorrow promises to be

the highlight of the trip...

A landing on the antarctic peninsula itself.

For Georgie Hale and her husband Clive, the trip is bittersweet.

My husband was diagnosed

with an incurable form of blood cancer.

And we made a very conscious decision at that point

that we were going to use every minute we'd got

and pack it full of as many things as we could.

The antarctic peninsula was our goal.

To get there,

the crew must run a gauntlet of icy waters.

Here's the latest ice reports.

Detailed ice reports and radar help the bridge crew

avoid areas too frozen for navigation,

while still charting a course

that gives passengers a good show.

You want to know how much more ice is there,

is there more ice just over the horizon?

I'm seeing what's in front of me.

You're always watching out, your radars are on,

the officers on the bridge are watching out continuously,

there's a lookout watching out,

because sometimes you can't see what's in the water,

it's totally dark.

The Captain has a problem.

I don't think we'll get them

all the way to the antarctic peninsula.

Not with this ice.

It's disappointing,

but Captain wiman comes up with a promising alternative.

It looks like penguin island will work.

That's not a bad option at all.

There's a lot to see there, sir.

Better tell the passengers.

Penguin island is a good plan B.

It's close to the antarctic peninsula,

and has plenty of wildlife.

Thanks! Here's to you, you, and you.

Ladies and gentlemen, a bit of an update for you guys.

The Captain gave us a briefing that evening,

and we were gonna be going through heavy sea ice,

and so he was just giving us a warning about that.

So you should expect some noise.

Nothing to worry about.

I recommend earplugs.

That's it. Thank you, everyone.

Noise? Ha ha!

Maybe it will drown out my husband!

Later that evening,

passenger Doreen Horwood pays a visit to the bridge.

Hi there. Am I okay in here?

Good evening, come on in.

I've got a spot for you right here.

Thanks.

Steady on this course.

She's taking advantage

of the explorer's open-bridge policy.

For the passenger, it's very exciting,

because they got to feel a little bit more involved

in the operation and see what's going on.

What are the crew involved in? What are the officers doing?

You know, how are they making a decision?

As Doreen looks on,

the ship begins encountering more and more ice.

I think we need the searchlights now.

We're coming into an ice field.

Reducing speed.

I'm going to call the Captain.

The crew has strict instructions to call the Captain

if they enter an ice field.

Captain, we're coming into some ice.

Would you like to come up now?

We try to avoid ice as much as possible.

But you can't avoid all of it.

Mostly Captain was driving, he had the most experience with it.

Alright, I have the con.

You have the con, Captain.

It looks like we're heading

into some first-year ice.

First-year ice has had up to a year

to thicken and harden.

The ship can handle it.

It's what the Captain can't see that concerns him.

Your main concern about the type of ice

you might encounter.

The dangerous, small pieces of really hard glacial ice,

that compacted ice that's like concrete.

You might be stuck in amongst some glacial ice that's hidden.

Bring her five degrees to port, please.

You pick an area where the ice seems to be the loosest.

And this is where you will maneuver in slowly.

Keep her steady on this course for now.

They'll have to cross nine miles of ice

to reach open water again.

While her husband rests below,

passenger Georgie Hale watches their progress from the deck.

My god, this captain's

earning his money tonight.

I'd got my video camera, because I was filming

this incredible creaking and groaning sound

as the ice opens.

It was absolutely marvelous.

I've panned the camera behind me,

and you could see solid ice.

It was almost impossible to believe

that you'd come through it.

As they plow through the ice field,

the noise in the lower decks is deafening.

I wanted to do what I could to get some sleep.

So for the first time on the trip, I put on some earplugs