Brave fishermen have battled minus 30 degree temperatures to free their frosted ship from treacherous ice.
Extraordinary footage shows the vessel’s crew hammering at the frozen fittings in the bitter cold.
Their trawler set off to net cod, but encountered sub-zero temperatures – lowered even further by a polar wind chill.
READ MORE: Gogglebox star ‘traumatised’ after seagulls swoop in and eat baby turtles on holiday
- Advertisement -
The struggle happened in the Bering Sea, west of Alaska, in the North Pacific Ocean.
Jeremy Moore is one of the fishermen aboard the 167-foot long Bristol Leader for the long, icy trip.
He said conditions have been extremely harsh.
“We fish for cod. The voyages can be long,” he told What’s The Jam.
“I cope by regularly talking to my family and remembering that they are why I do what I do.
- Advertisement -
“Don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy it.
“But it can be rough sometimes with the long, 17-hour days, seven days a week, for over 100 days at a time.
“It gets very cold. It’s been minus eight degrees on deck and wind chill makes it feel like minus 30 degrees.”
- Advertisement -
The 38-year-old noted the weight of the ice is a major logistical problem.
Jeremy added: “We have to break the ice off the boat. Too much is dangerous.
“We try to get the whole boat ice-free, but it there is a lot.
“So we usually just keep it to a minimum.
“The bow is an important area to keep ice-free.
“It can get heavy and nose down into the water if there is too much ice there.”
The Bering Sea produces more than £1bn worth of seafood annually.
Sea ice forms there in mid-October and remains until late May.
