01x06 - Cold Ocean k*ller

[bunniefuu]

ISABEL: We are currently

in a gale force wind.

WOMAN (over radio): Coast guard

radio what is your position?

Over.

ISABEL (off-screen):

44 East 14.68 North.

ISABEL: We found out

that another vessel has sunk

with all crew lost

ISABEL (off-screen): The National Marine

Weather Service doesn't always get it right.

Hold on!

(thunder and lightning).

SHIELDS: We're on our

way out try to go fishing,

wind's blowing pretty good

out of the north about 20.

Inlet is not very pretty,

but we're gonna try to make it through.

NARRATOR: It's the

start of winter.

Dave Shields is going tuna

fishing on his boat Hardway.

A sudden squall has whipped up

the ocean, making it heavy going.

Dave's heading for a spot 100

miles off the Outer Banks.

This is a breeding ground for Nor'easters,

the k*ller storms that

stalk America's Atlantic

coast all winter long.

SHIELDS (off-screen): Where we are

right here is no place to mess around in.

This is the worst and most

dangerous spot right here.

We got sets coming in.

You can't see 'em coming,

that's the bad part.

Coming down hard.

NARRATOR: He is one of

1,000 people working at sea,

given a camera by National Geographic

to film in storms

wherever they might strike.

Now as they head into

America's deadliest fishing season,

a k*ller storm is coming.

THOMAS: First one

of the evening, 181.

NARRATOR: 500 miles

north of the Outer Banks,

in the port of New Bedford,

scallop fisherman Russell

Isabel is landing his catch.

ISABEL (off-screen):

It's a closed area trip,

so we're regulated by

fisheries how much we can

catch out of a certain area.

Just the weather dictates how

long it's gonna take you to catch it.

They said it was going to be a

mild winter, I highly, highly doubt it.

(laughs).

MAN: Watch your head.

NARRATOR: This is the most

lucrative fishing port in America.

Shellfish brought into New Bedford

makes over $420 Million a year.

MAN: 92.

NARRATOR: But the rich

rewards come with high risk.

Boats fishing these waters face

the constant threat of Nor'easters.

These cold water cousins of

hurricanes form when warm air from the

Gulf Stream collides

with bitter winter winds from the north.

Vast swirling air currents are

stirred by the clash of temperatures.

It's an unrelenting

succession of storms that can sweep

North America's

east coast from North Carolina

to Canada all winter long.

In the giant waves,

boats have been lost and never seen again.

This was the fate of the

fishing boat Andrea Gale.

The Massachusetts long-liner and its six

crewmen vanished in a giant nor'easter that has

gone down in legend as

"the perfect storm."

For New England's fishing industry,

the risks are part of the job.

THOMAS: Our first scalloper went down

in a storm off New Jersey and the guys

had to get rescued

by helicopter and then our

captain previous to

Russell was a partner on the

boat actually was lost at

sea February probably about,

was it four years ago now?

NARRATOR: After

landing its catch,

Hear No Evil will head back to sea.

It's now November, the

worst month for sinkings.

Further south, the next storm is already

building and this one will be a k*ller.

THOMAS: The worry is inherent.

You know, we always,

always pray for good weather.

SHIELDS: Alright about 11:45pm.

Getting ready to haul our gear.

It's blowing about 20 outta north east.

NARRATOR: Off

North Carolina's Outer Banks,

Hardway is fishing

through the rough weather.

SHIELDS: Guys guys guys

Get over here, get over here

get that!

NARRATOR: For them, the

conditions have started to ease.

SHIELDS (off-screen):

Look at that right there.

That's what we're looking for.

It's a big-eyed tuna right there.

NARRATOR: As the system heads

north towards New Bedford.

ISABEL (off-screen): The storms

we encounter during the winter,

it's part of the job.

Some of the better fishing just

happens to land in the worst weather.

NARRATOR: A gap in the weather

is a cue for Russell and

the scallop fleet to head to sea.

ISABEL (off-screen): Every

time you leave the dock,

I don't care what boat it is,

there's always a roll

of the dice that you might not come home.

NARRATOR: Every year on average,

one scallop boat is lost at sea.

This year's weather has

already shown its wilder side.

Before the season started,

a freak tornado ripped through Cape Cod.

MAN (off-screen): Line snapping.

Sails pulling out.

This is insane!

NARRATOR: And the first

storm of the season was a

nor'easter of extraordinary power.

Dozens of boats were destroyed in

what became the strongest October storm

the Boston coast has ever known.

With the worst months yet to come,

it's an ominous start.

DELLICARPINI: We're monitoring

the potential for a nor'easter,

off the coast of Boston.

We're watching our latest

computer model guidance,

which shows a low

pressure system developing

off the coast.

So we'll be monitoring that over the next

few days to see what potential impacts it

could bring to our area.

NARRATOR: The Outer Banks

storm is now on the watch list

for the National Weather Service, Boston.

As the new storm develops,

the previous nor'easter has travelled

1,000 miles to the north.

It's now causing problems

for the fishermen

of Newfoundland on Canada's East coast.

HUSSEY: Every time you get the forecast

it's changing, not overly dependable.

Only fishin' a small boat,

so can't go in very much wind.

This time of year the

water's heavy and dangerous.

NARRATOR: Fisherman

Gerry Hussey is trying

to snatch one last haul of cod

before the incoming storm hits.

HUSSEY: The weather

is generally terrible here,

as bad I guess as anywhere

in the world probably,

and we're basically trying to

sneak out between the storms.

NARRATOR: Gerry's heading

for The Grand Banks,

an undersea plateau at the meeting point

of two giant ocean currents.

The fishing can be good,

but this is one

of the most dangerous places in the world

to take a small boat.

HUSSEY: Gales coming through

You get a little window in between

That's how you try and

get a bit of fish so

There we are. Within the next hour

we'll have to make a move I expect

There's a lot of times the

weather's sneaking up on you

The wind comes out of nowhere

and sometimes you make an error in

judgement you push it too far and you

stay a bit longer than you should

I've lost many friends to the ocean

and it's quite possible I'll go myself

NARRATOR: Along America's

North East Coast,

fishermen watch for brief

spells between storms

for a chance to go to sea.

THOMAS: I'd say this is

about 30-35 knot winds from the south west

The system itself would

be to the north of us

THOMAS (off-screen): Time to go!

NARRATOR: In Yarmouth Nova

Scotia, the lobster season is underway,

but the fleet has been trapped in

port by back to back Nor'easters.

THOMAS: This wind is to persist

I think for another 18 hours

NARRATOR: Derek Thomas

had hoped to be going to sea,

but there's little sign

of a let up in the storms.

THOMAS (off-screen): You can see

the weekend's a write off, even Monday.

These systems are coming

one right after another.

Not good for fishing.

NARRATOR:

The lobster season is short.

Fishermen have a few months to make

enough profit to last through the year.

The pressure to go to sea

whatever the weather is rising.

(inaudible radio chatter).

ARUNDEV: I'm Captain Arundev

I just took over this

vessel in the last port

We are on a passage from

Pembroke UK to Boston

NARRATOR: Oil tanker BW Raven left

the UK nine days ago bound for Boston USA.

ARUNDEV: We are almost in

the middle of North Atlantic

As of now if you see

this is like good weather, very calm

NARRATOR: American's Atlantic

coast has some of the

busiest shipping lanes on earth.

Thousands of ships a day pass through

the danger zone for winter cyclones.

In winter, the regularity of the storms

can make them impossible to avoid.

As she approaches Newfoundland,

BW Raven is heading into the path of the

latest nor'easter.

ARUNDEV: Definitely the

wind is going to pick up

We have to wait and see what

the weather will be

NARRATOR: Throughout the

eastern seaboard,

National Geographic

cameras are riding with

vessels now running the

gauntlet of winter cyclones.

MAN: We check the containers

Make sure everything not move at sea

NARRATOR: Canadian cargo

vessel Oceanex Connaigra

has just departed Newfoundland headed for

Montreal and it's carrying

one of our cameras.

MAN: All the containers are

locked with this at the floor.

Plus the lashing bar.

We don't take any chance for the storm.

BELLEY (off-screen): This is the third worst

place in the world for the bad weather.

So there is a lot of bad

storms transiting to the

grand banks of Newfoundland.

NARRATOR: In the

vast North Atlantic,

the potential for high winds to generate

gigantic waves is legendary.

The largest wave ever

recorded anywhere on earth was

detected by a buoy in the North Atlantic.

It's height was 62 feet.

In huge swells formed over

thousands of miles of ocean,

waves can combine to rise up

as a towering wall of water.

BELLEY (off-screen): The

average wave is 5.46,

but I'm more worried

about the maximum one because

nine meters is pretty much

a limit for this size of ship.

Otherwise you're gonna get beat up.

Nobody wanna be beat up.

Life is too short, you know.

NARRATOR: Staying

close to the coast,

the Connaigra uses the

land as a barrier to offer

some protection from

the worst of the waves,

but soon they must

turn into the open ocean.

HOULE-CHARRON (off-screen):

Right now,

we're sheltered from the

westerly wind because we only

have distance of about

3.2 miles from the shore

so when we reach over here

the wind's gonna be the same,

but the wave's gonna be higher.

So we need to follow

the coast if it's very bad weather.

NARRATOR: The danger of

giant waves is too great.

The captain must act

now to keep his ship safe.

BELLEY (off-screen): The next

point we turn is gonna be Cape Race.

We are proceeding at slow speed right now.

We wait for the sea condition

to improve on the South coast.

Right now it's still seven meters.

ARUNDEV: We are having

a bit of bad weather

NARRATOR: The oil tanker BW Raven

has continued on a direct route to the

port of Boston and it's taking

her right into the latest nor'easter.

ARUNDEV: Because of this bad

weather we have to be very careful

NARRATOR: The storms wind field

spans 1,000 miles of ocean,

generating waves of more than 20 feet.

ARUNDEV: On the bridge everything

is secured, you see this is our printer.

Everything is screwed down.

Nothing is loose.

There is a bar, always keep the bar on,

otherwise all these books will come off.

NARRATOR: The captain must

be alert to the swells effect

on the ship's stability.

ARUNDEV: Sometimes the rolling

is too much it is synchronized

with the waves and that time

the rolling is maximum

and then you can see a

huge amount of spray coming on the deck

NARRATOR: Waves striking

the side of the vessel are

causing it to roll from side to side,

but now the rolling has begun to

synchronize with the pattern of the waves,

so that each wave makes the

angle of tilt even bigger.

If it carries on unchecked,

it can end in disaster.

ARUNDEV: This is

very dangerous now

NARRATOR: When the roll

goes beyond a critical point,

even the largest tanker can capsize.

On the BW Raven's bridge,

the situation is critical.

NARRATOR: The oil tanker

BW Raven is in a nor'easter

off the USA's eastern seaboard.

An increase in the roll of the

ship has forced Captain Arundev

to take urgent action.

ARUNDEV: I altered

ten degrees to starboard

so I brought the waves

from the beam to the bow

NARRATOR: The change of course

alters the angle of the ship to the waves

so they strike from the

front instead of the side.

The hope is this will

stop BW Raven rolling from side to side.

ARUNDEV: Today is

the worst day so far

NARRATOR: The tanker must now

punch through the waves head on increasing

the cost in fuel.

ARUNDEV: You can see

how the track has changed

We were supposed to go like

this, but now we are going like this

I can already feel the

vessel rolling is reduced now

MAN (off-screen): The winter

is the roughest period.

It's always very tricky so we got to

keep a constant eye on the weather.

NARRATOR: Cargo vessel

Oleander is loading freight in New Jersey,

bound for Bermuda.

MAN (off-screen): You wanna stay as

far away from storms as you possibly can.

It's always all hands on deck,

you never know what the

weather's gonna give you.

NARRATOR: The ship makes weekly runs

to supply Bermuda with food and goods.

It's a year round lifeline for the island.

Polish Captain Jacek Yursho

has made around 300 trips.

YURSHO: I know what I should

expect from the weather mostly, then I'm,

I would say I am prepared

for the worst always.

NARRATOR: The 800 miles

of ocean to Bermuda is

fraught with danger all year.

In summer tropical storms and

hurricanes are a constant threat,

but the winter brings bigger risks.

A hurricane can be forecast and avoided,

but the size and frequency of

nor'easters makes encounters inevitable.

YURSHO (off-screen): In the winter

we had very often up to ten meter swells.

Okay let go everything on the

aft and let go the headlines.

And let go forward swing.

The winter is much, much

more dangerous for us.

You have the continuously

very strong winds,

very high waves.

From December until end of March,

you have the bad weather,

sometimes hurricane force.

You don't have a choice,

you go into this, yes.

NARRATOR: The winter storm that

brewed off the Outer Banks four days ago

has started its inevitable

march to the north and east.

That means it's heading across the path of

Captain Jasek on the Oleander

and it's growing bigger by the day.

MAN (off-screen): Thanks very

much. See you in a month.

Or two.

(radio chatter).

NARRATOR: For Canada's Navy,

winter cyclones are a familiar adversary.

Warships operating in these waters

include a meteorologist on the crew,

known as the Met Tech.

He provides the ship's command

with regular forecasts three times a day.

TECH: We do have a low-pressure

system which is super-fast developing.

That is the main weather

concern obviously for the trip down.

NARRATOR: HMCS Ville de Quebec

is on its way to the Port of Norfolk,

Virginia to join the US Navy

on a multi-nation exercise.

And Ville de Quebec's

Met Tech has spotted trouble ahead.

TECH: It will become

quite a large system as it

pushes towards the east coast of Canada.

It is deepening super rapidly,

a weather phenomenon called

bombogenesis or expl*sive cyclogenesis.

NARRATOR: Low or deepening

pressure is the source of a storm's power.

This storm is rapidly intensifying

and is directly in their path.

MAN: Now proceeding west

to St. George's Island.

MAN 2: Wow, there

is swell out there.

NARRATOR: Naval Frigates

are among the best prepared

vessels on the ocean for storms,

but with advanced warning of

the nor'easters growing power,

the Ville de Quebec opts to change course.

It will steer closer to land,

staying to the west of the

storm's path as it heads north east.

TECH (off-screen): The pressure

has dropped nearly six hectopascals

in the past three hours,

which is a very, very rapid

drop due to the incoming storm system.

I would say that'll be close to the

fastest drop in pressure I've seen

out to sea in a three hour time frame.

NARRATOR: The Canadian warship

Ville de Quebec has diverted to avoid

a rapidly intensifying storm.

Nor'easters can grow to four times

the size of a hurricane with a wind field

thousands of miles across.

(alarm sounding).

(radio chatter).

WOMAN: Emergency flying

stations. Emergency flying stations.

NOONAN: Right now we have to bring

the ship to emergency flying stations,

basically closing up the damage control

organization for the helicopter to land on,

in case they have an accident,

a crash on deck.

Everybody here on

the bridge is putting on their flash gear,

the white hoods and gloves

are there to prevent

from getting flash burns from a fireball.

NARRATOR: The sudden

change in conditions has

made embarkation of a

Canadian Air Force helicopter

into a high risk operation.

The chance of a crash makes

fire proof anti-flash gear mandatory.

WOMAN (off-screen): Relative

winds, red 1-0 tac 3-0.

NARRATOR:

Conditions are worsening.

To land an 11 ton

helicopter on a moving deck

in high cross winds is

a precision maneuver.

MAN (over radio): They have a probe that's

stuck out on the belly of the helicopter.

The ideas is to put that in the trap.

Hover tension is on.

Landing.

In the trap-trap.

So now it's safe there.

TECH: The weather for today mainly sunny

becoming mainly cloudy with periods of rain

beginning in the evening.

Once you've been on big seas,

you don't really want

to be in big seas again.

Anything past really five meters is when

we really start to see a lot of damage

happening to the

crew as well as the equipment on the ship.

We're trying to get to the west of

the storm before it gets large enough

to cause real damage.

So right now, I'm doing my observations.

Wind has picked up

to 80 kilometers an hour, or 40 knots.

It is really blowing out here.

Good storm so far.

YURSHO: We are right

now halfway to Bermuda,

so approximately 300 miles more to go.

NARRATOR: As it moves

steadily north east,

the Outer Banks storm is growing,

and the Oleander is now in its path.

YURSHO (off-screen): In the bad

weather the cargo is starting to move.

It will be very dangerous.

We have to be sure that all

the lashing is properly tightened.

MAN: When we have big waves,

it is very dangerous for our ship.

NARRATOR: The motion of the ship in

heavy seas puts severe pressure on the

lashings that secure the containers.

A shift in one container

can cause an entire stack

to become unstable.

Starting a chain reaction

that can end in disaster.

(seagulls cawing).

ISABEL: Okay, while we have a

little break in the weather,

I decided to come up

to the crow's nest and

give you guys a little view

from the top of the world.

One thing about the job,

it can be very dangerous,

but at times the scenery can

be absolutely beautiful as well.

NARRATOR: Scalloping vessel Hear

No Evil has been at sea for six days.

More than 10,000 pounds

of scallops have been prepared for market.

It's a good catch.

The trip has been well timed,

hitting a rare window of calm,

but the arrival of the Outer

Banks storm is now inevitable.

NARRATOR: The nor'easter that

formed off the Outer Banks five days ago

is growing into a giant.

Its rapid intensification

is being monitored by the

National Weather Service in Boston.

Urgent warnings are issued to all craft.

DELLICARPINI (off-screen):

We're expecting right now 45 knot winds,

so really dangerous

conditions for anyone who's

venturing out on the waters,

again recommending

that mariners remain in port

until the storm passes.

NARRATOR: National Geographic

has cameras aboard some of

the vessels in the approaching

storm's line of fire.

Their next move is now critical.

MAN: We're on the

Justice which is a

scallop and crab fish vessel

out of New Bedford, Massachusetts

We've been doing this research since 2013

NARRATOR: Among the crew is a

team of scientists checking fish stocks,

part of an ongoing study to

inform future quotas for fishermen.

MAN: Male

Right now, we're just

finishing up the survey

And we were going to stay a little longer

to cover more of the bank

but the weather seems to be picking up

to 30-40 knots tonight

NARRATOR: All along the coast, the

weather is drawing in and vessels are

feeling its effects.

As evening approaches,

the scallopers face the

prospect of a big storm hitting at

night in the dark.

MAN: Alright, here we

are aboard the Liberty.

Take a walk outside

and see what's going on.

MAN: Blowing about

50 out here.

NARRATOR: For fishermen,

nor'easters summon the specter

of a phenomenon they dread:

rogue waves.

Caused when waves combine to

form into a single steep sided giant,

they come at ships from

unpredictable directions.

Only recently acknowledged by scientists,

rogue waves are a

likely cause of unexplained

vanishings in storms.

♪

ISABEL: We are currently

in a gale force wind

40 plus knots

It's night time which means

almost zero visibility

NARRATOR: The Outer Banks storm

has arrived off the coast of New England.

Much of the scallop fleet

has headed into port,

but Captain Russell's Hear No Evil is one

of a small number of boats

to have stayed out at sea.

They face a long night ahead.

ISABEL: You cannot

tell which direction

the seas are actually

going to strike the boat

You know which way they're coming but

you always have the chance of rogue waves

NARRATOR: With waves

in excess of 20 feet,

Russell has stopped fishing.

He's hauled up the boat's dredges fearing

that towing its heavy gear along the ocean

floor makes them more

vulnerable to being overwhelmed by a wave.

ISABEL (off-screen): The National Marine

Weather Service doesn't always get it right.

They were giving 30 to 45 knots

was supposed to be the worst of it.

(seagulls cawing).

All the birds have decided to

take a rest after that storm having to

fly around in the wind.

They're pretty beat up and worn out.

We don't bother them;

they don't bother us.

NARRATOR: The storm has passed,

but the morning has brought sobering news.

ISABEL: Last night, we were

caught in a pretty bad storm.

About 45 knot winds

consistent 20 to 22 foot seas.

This morning, we found

out that another vessel,

the Leonardo,

which left the same day as us,

has sunk with all crew lost.

This is a sad day to lose another boat.

And they all had families and children.

NARRATOR: One of Hear No

Evil's fellow scallopers,

the Leonardo, has been lost in the storm.

For the East Coast fleet,

it's their darkest

fear for a boat to vanish without a trace.

O'BRIEN: This is the dock

where that missing vessel,

the Leonardo took off from Thursday.

Now the Coast Guard tells us they

will continue searching for the three

missing crew members until

all leads are exhausted.

NARRATOR: Captain Russell won't

discover the full truth until

he returns to New Bedford

at the end of his trip.

THOMAS: See ya.

WIFE: Bye. Love you.

THOMAS: Love you too.

WIFE: Be careful.

THOMAS: I always am.

Join me as I make my way to my little car.

NARRATOR: In Yarmouth,

Nova Scotia,

lobsterman Derek Thomas is

finally able to head to sea,

taking with him one of our cameras.

THOMAS: Good morning!

MAN: Morning.

THOMAS: How are you

doing this morning?

MAN: I'm grand.

What you got there?

THOMAS: Huh?

MAN: Oh!

(laughs).

NARRATOR: Continual storms have

put the new season on hold.

THOMAS: Have a nice day!

NARRATOR: But today fishing is being

allowed to restart in hope of calmer seas.

THOMAS: Just

departing the harbor

They have a narrow

opening here about 30 feet

makes it interesting when you're

coming in through 40-50 knot winds

NARRATOR: This is a vital

week in the lobster season.

THOMAS: The start

of the third week

A lot of times half the money that

we're gonna make in a six month season

we make in the first three weeks

NARRATOR: Yarmouth has

the largest lobster fleet in the country.

THOMAS: I anticipate most of

the fleet will be out today

I think there's nine

hundred and something of us

fishing these areas

NARRATOR: Among the boats

competing to be in the best position when

fishing can start is Four H.

Its captain is Robert Harris.

HARRIS (off-screen):

It's 3:30 in the morning.

We're on the way out.

We got two hours and 45 minutes to go.

You can see by the

lights in the back there.

Quite a bit of the fleet's on the way out.

Weather hasn't slowed out yet,

it's still a bit rough.

NARRATOR: Lobster fishing

operates a system known as a derby.

With no individual quota,

boats race to catch as many of

the best lobsters as they can.

HARRIS (off-screen): Everybody wants to

beat the weather or get the best part of the

weather so they can stay out the longest

to close as many traps as you can and

try to get in before

the worst of the storm.

It's all part of the game.

NARRATOR: The winter season is

opened when the mature lobsters leave

their in shore spawning grounds.

The longer it goes on,

the harder they are to find.

HARRIS (off-screen): In the first

three weeks, we're gonna k*ll it.

We're just gonna go out every day we can.

After the first three weeks,

the traps don't fish as quickly.

You're gonna take more risks

because the reward's much higher.

It's not like we're

gonna catch them later.

When it's gone, it's gone.

NARRATOR: Each catch of live lobster

must be landed in harbor within 24 hours.

For the boats, it's an unrelenting

schedule under constant threat that the

weather will turn.

MAN (off-screen): Our forecast are

very important for the marine community,

particularly at this time of year

because we have gale force warnings,

almost every day.

NARRATOR:

In Dartmouth Nova Scotia,

forecasters at Environment

and Climate Change Canada

have identified a new threat.

MAN: That's one bulletin

that I'm going to send,

so I'll send that one right now.

NARRATOR: An inland

runner is a nor'easter

that arrives from over

land instead of offshore.

This one is headed for the lobster fleet.

MAN: We convey all the messages of the

potential impacts of what a storm can do,

but ultimately it's up to those

people to make their own choices.

NARRATOR: Off Yarmouth,

Captain Robert and the rest of the lobster

fleet are in the path of the storm,

but they're not ready to head for home.

HARRIS: It's three

o'clock in the afternoon

we've got

seven more strings to haul

We've got 21 to pull

Hope to get them pulled

before the storms come

NARRATOR: Once pulled in,

every trap must be

re-baited and sent back out

ready to haul on the next trip.

Every extra minute they can stay

out means greater returns in the future,

but with every minute they

stay, the storm gets closer.

TIMMONS: Robert Timmons here.

Captain on board the Au Cobra.

It's was flat and calm when

we came out here this morning.

Left around 1:00am.

The wind is probably up

to 20 knots here now.

It's getting up to around

45 later on this afternoon.

NARRATOR: The entire fleet of up to 1,000

boats is now in the path of the storm.

Fishermen have a death rate 23

times greater than any other profession.

The small size of lobster boats makes them

especially vulnerable in poor weather.

TIMMONS: Got some weather moving

in now a little bit ahead of schedule.

Most weather agencies had it

moving in a few hours from now

but it's starting to pick up a little bit.

NARRATOR: Heavy seas and

dangerous conditions haven't put an end to

competition for the best spots.

THOMAS: Lots of boats around,

lot of people fishing today.

Working in fishery,

it is dangerous because you know,

there's a lot of variables out

there that will never change.

It's an inherently dangerous job.

It's not that you're

just battling the elements,

you're also battling

fatigue and you're pushing

a lot of limits.

When you start fishing 30, 40 knot winds,

it's the equivalent of being

in a car accident all day.

THOMAS: Just another

day in the office

OFFICER (over radio):

Coast guard radio.

What is your position, over?

MAN (over radio):

44 degrees, 14.68 North,

66 degrees, 10.95 West.

THOMAS: What you

just witness there was

a vessel looking for marine assistance

NARRATOR:

As conditions worsen,

several boats call

in emergency help from the coast guard.

The longer Captain Derek stays out,

the closer the storm is getting.

THOMAS: As you see

We now have a gale warning

THOMAS (off-screen):

Son of a (bleep)!

NARRATOR: Lobster fisherman

Derek has been at sea for 12 hours.

THOMAS (off-screen): Where

you're fishing around storms,

you are fishing the limits.

You're pushing that weather

window as far as you can push it,

so you're coming back

right at the edge of what,

you know, are safe conditions.

NARRATOR: The storm is taking

its toll on the lobster fleet.

Engine failure and a broken propeller are

among the causes of stricken vessels needing to

be towed back to safety.

THOMAS: It seems to be quite

a day for marine assistance.

I think we've had six or seven calls now.

NARRATOR: With

his traps fishing well,

Derek plans to stick it out,

fishing into the night.

THOMAS: It's a little after 7pm

Finished hauling the gear, on our way in

Try to get in before the next gale hits

THOMAS (off-screen):

Being captain of a boat,

you do have to manage your

emotions and manage the situation,

so you're gonna save being

scared for when you get home.

NARRATOR: When the

last trap is dropped,

the boats are still three hours from the

safety of harbor.

HARRIS: Getting ready

to pull the last one.

A little snowy out, making it hard to see.

We're back, everybody's ready to go home.

THOMAS (off-screen):

Just unloading our lobsters right now.

The extras are put in that crate here.

That will be totaled

up at the very end there.

NARRATOR: The Nova

Scotia lobstermen's gamble has paid off.

In New England the

scallopers were not so lucky.

REPORTER (over TV): Coast Guard just

announcing they have suspended the search

to find three missing fishermen.

Their scalloper capsized

and sank yesterday off Martha's Vineyard.

REPORTER (over TV): Deckhands at the New

Bedford docks are familiar with the Leonardo

and say this hits close to home.

PEREIRA: It's the

name of the game,

but it's tragic every time it happens.

You know, every time we leave this dock,

we know there's a

chance we don't come home.

NARRATOR: In New Bedford the search

for the Leonardo has been called off.

ISABEL (off-screen): The

weather's been pretty brutal.

I put a brand new flag

on the back of the boat,

it didn't even last one trip, shredded.

Shredded.

NARRATOR: Captain Russell

has come back to shore

well aware that he's

lucky to have survived.

ISABEL (off-screen): One thing

for the public to think about,

when the Leonardo

capsized it's night time,

it's pitch black, you are blind.

So, you have to try

to find the life raft in total darkness.

The numbers are stacked against

you in an accident like that.

NARRATOR:

Yet against the odds,

the search found one of the crew alive,

after over two hours in the icy water,

one man survived to tell

the Leonardo's story.

NOEL: He was in a life raft and they

were able to drop the rescue swimmer

in the water and retrieve him.

ISABEL: The initial information

we got is that all hands were lost.

We didn't find out till later,

we got confirmation

there was one survivor.

He is probably going to

go through the worst of it,

even though he lived.

NARRATOR: The lone survivor reported that

the Leonardo was flipped by a rogue wave.

ISABEL (off-screen):

So it makes you think.

Did it make me want to quit fishing?

No it did not.

It's what I do.

I've been doing it my whole life.

We go through storms and we survive,

and we come home and we do

it again and we do it again so,

we're very proud of who we are.

NARRATOR: The sinking of the Leonardo

was the worst fishing vessel disaster

of the winter storm season

on the USA's east coast.

Fueled by climate change,

nor'easters are expected to become

more frequent and more violent.

For the men earning

a living from the seas of the north east,

the stakes are getting higher.