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00:00Cutting through deadly seas off the Alaskan frontier,
00:03this mighty ship dares to take on Mother Nature.
00:07She does her best to kill us all equally.
00:10For the crew of North Star,
00:12there's no such thing as a routine voyage.
00:15This looks bad.
00:17Turning your back can cost you your life.
00:22And time and money are always on the line.
00:25Securite, securite, securite.
00:28Securite, securite, securite.
00:30On a voyage through sub-zero darkness and relentless waters.
00:46The cargo ship North Star is a lifeline to the people of Alaska.
00:52They depend on her to bring them necessities.
00:56Everything from building supplies and pickup trucks
01:00to fresh vegetables and toothpaste.
01:08Once a week, no matter what the weather,
01:11North Star tackles the difficult route
01:14between the ports of Tacoma, Washington, and Anchorage, Alaska.
01:18A 2,500-kilometre trip each way.
01:27Thousands of people are waiting for these goods to arrive on time.
01:34And no one feels the pressure to deliver more
01:37than Captain Richard Cadigan.
01:40So far this winter,
01:42he's got a perfect delivery record with North Star,
01:45one he's hoping to maintain
01:47as he heads out on his last run of the season.
01:51Oh, I know, 100%.
01:53You know, if it's 100%, there's no place to go but down.
02:02At 255 metres long,
02:05North Star is a one-ship convoy
02:08between Alaska and the lower 48 states.
02:11Her decks can be crammed
02:13with up to 600 cargo trailers at a time.
02:17Captain Cadigan has sailed on this ship
02:20ever since her maiden voyage.
02:22He began as second mate in 2003
02:25and worked his way up to the captain's position.
02:30And he has complete faith in his ship's ability
02:33to overcome whatever gets in her way.
02:36When you get out here in the big storms and the tough weather
02:39and the ice up in Cook Inlet,
02:41you know, it's just amazing. It keeps it all together.
02:44You going to be able to hold it? Yeah, I got it.
02:47After a tough journey down from Alaska,
02:50North Star eases up against the dock in Tacoma.
02:56This is just a pit stop.
02:58In eight hours' time, she'll be on her way north again.
03:04Soon, hundreds of transport trailers,
03:06weighing up to 30 tonnes each,
03:08will roll across these ramps.
03:17To keep them safely in place,
03:19the dock workers secure the ramps so tightly
03:22they can barely budge at all.
03:27Even sitting still, North Star will eat up
03:30two megawatts of electricity.
03:34But she's the first eco-conscious cargo ship
03:37in the Pacific Northwest.
03:40Before any cargo is loaded,
03:42electrician Dan Mitchell switches her
03:44from diesel to cleaner electric power.
03:50Until they sail again, all the electrical systems on board
03:54will run off this single super-sized plug.
03:57You have to remember the ship is like a small city
04:00and it requires a lot of power.
04:02There's thousands of lights on here.
04:06This hook-up reduces diesel and greenhouse emissions
04:09by 680 tonnes annually.
04:12It's good news for the environment,
04:14but if the giant plug isn't handled just right,
04:17it could spell disaster.
04:19We just want to make sure it's plugged in correctly
04:21and that we have a lot of safety features
04:23so the power's not on, but it can vaporise metal
04:26and kill you instantly.
04:29Plugged in and powered up,
04:31North Star is now ready to be cleared out and reloaded.
04:36Dustin, Snell, Ashley Steele, you guys are on second deck.
04:41At the loading yard, 74 stevedores are champing at the bit.
04:45Todd Iverson and Tony Trinidad.
04:47OK, that's it for here.
04:50This gang has just six hours to completely unload the ship
04:54and then reload 346 massive trailers,
04:58plus a fleet of cars.
05:03North Star has to leave by midnight
05:05to catch the high tide going into Alaska
05:08just 62 hours from now.
05:11Every minute counts.
05:13Leave a copy in Phil's box and bring me back the original, would you?
05:16On board the ship, the captain is in charge,
05:19but on the docks, it's lead foreman Nick Engels who's the boss.
05:23Watch what's going on around you.
05:25In the rush to meet their tight deadlines,
05:27some of the drivers are taking chances.
05:30Nick reads his crew the riot act.
05:33The last two nights I've been called on speed limits.
05:36If I get called tonight,
05:38they're going to write a letter on those two foremen.
05:41Guess who they're going to fire before they take a letter?
05:45In this job, mistakes can come with a serious price tag.
05:49And almost had a guy get his legs taken off.
05:51So we're backing out, it's a high traffic area, be careful.
05:54It's going to get busy real fast.
05:56Let's get up there and we'll go see.
06:00As the loading begins, the lashers come in.
06:04Working swiftly, they wrench and hammer loose the chains
06:08that hold the massive trailers in place.
06:11Then it's a heavy metal stampede.
06:18Northstar is loaded and unloaded at the same time.
06:22The ship only transports the trailers,
06:25not the trucks that brought them to port.
06:28So agile mini-tractors, known as hustlers,
06:31haul each trailer into position.
06:34Then disconnect and race off to pick up the next one.
06:40This simultaneous loading and unloading
06:43is made possible by Northstar's unique design.
06:48There are 13 ramps inside the ship,
06:51more than double the number on the ship Northstar replaced on this run.
06:55So cargo can roll on and roll off in sync.
06:59Northstar also features five decks below and an open top deck.
07:04Compared to older vessels, she can hold almost twice as many trailers.
07:0928-foot stick-out nose mount, please.
07:1128-foot stick-out nose mount, read me a number.
07:148-5-1-3.
07:168-5-1-3, thank you.
07:18Up in the control tower, supervisor Phil Johnson
07:21Up in the control tower, supervisor Phil Johnson
07:24stays on top of what cargo's going on and what's coming off.
07:28Going to need a yardstuff from Cranker over to 41 North, please.
07:32Yardstuff from Cranker to 41 North.
07:35I've always likened it to putting together a puzzle
07:39and you don't know what the picture is and the pieces keep changing.
07:43Phil tells the drivers where to pick up and park the trailers.
07:48There are no traffic police to direct on the ground,
07:51so it's up to the drivers to get to the correct destination.
07:59Tony, the guy's got to park these fairly close
08:02just because of the tightness of the ship and the way it's designed.
08:05There's about a four- to six-inch gap between trailers here.
08:08If I can put a cigarette between here and it doesn't hit the deck, that's perfect.
08:14It's a dangerous combination.
08:16The hustlers and lashers all rushing around the decks at the same time.
08:20If they don't pay attention, someone could easily be crushed.
08:28Somebody getting hurt, that's my biggest fear all night long.
08:33Northstar doesn't just deliver trailers full of food and staples.
08:37Alaskans also need heavy equipment to work on their pipelines and oil rigs
08:43and new cars for their driveways.
08:47One big customer is the US Army.
08:50It depends on Northstar to service its three Alaskan training bases.
08:55And the shipping company knows that Uncle Sam
08:58won't settle for anything less than perfect service.
09:05Back in the tower, Phil is keeping an eye on his own army,
09:09always on the lookout for surprises.
09:11We have trailers break in half, literally.
09:14They're overstressed and they just fall apart.
09:18But the challenges don't stop at the dock.
09:21Soon, Northstar will be heading into the heart of a brutal storm
09:26that will push both vessel and crew to their limits.
09:33It's midnight in Tacoma, Washington, and time is running out.
09:38The cargo ship Northstar must be out of port in the next few minutes
09:42in order to hit high tide in Anchorage, Alaska, 66 hours away.
09:49Every minute lost threatens her perfect on-time record.
09:54Well, we're 20 minutes behind, roughly.
10:01Finally, the last of the cargo trailers is stowed.
10:06Captain Richard Cadigan gives the word for the ramps to pull up.
10:12On the stern, let go of the aft abreast.
10:15Let go of the aft abreast.
10:17The lines that restrain Northstar at shore are cast off,
10:21and she glides out into the winter night.
10:27Larry, can we go dead slow when we slide by the Great Land?
10:33Captain Cadigan and harbour pilot Larry Emerson
10:36have to navigate through the congested shipping lanes
10:39of Tacoma and Seattle's Puget Sound.
10:42And tonight, poor visibility is hampering the sail out.
10:46There's certain seasons when it's really foggy, dense fog.
10:51That's always a problem.
10:53We're going to have a big turn coming up here momentarily.
11:01Able-bodied seaman Jack Madden has spent his life at sea.
11:06Tonight, he's hand-steering Northstar through the fog.
11:09Where it starts to get tricky is when you get up here around the corner
11:13or up by point-no-point, where you have the tide involved.
11:17If you don't pay attention to it, it can get away from you real quick.
11:23Even with a first-class crew,
11:25Captain Cadigan is always looking two steps ahead.
11:28What can go wrong and how do I get out of it?
11:31And how do I not let this pilot or the mates, you know,
11:35do something by accident that's just going to ruin my whole day?
11:41Northstar's owners service this route
11:43by rotating Northstar with an identical sister ship.
11:47So if Northstar were to have an accident,
11:49half the fleet would be out of commission.
11:53Eight decks below is the team that keeps the ship running.
11:58In the engine room, Chief Engineer Harry Poole and his crew
12:02are pulling yet another 12-hour shift.
12:09At the times when Northstar has to run at top speed,
12:12all four engines must be operational.
12:15Will it get high enough?
12:17OK.
12:19Jobs like this one, cleaning and repairing the fuel pumps,
12:22have to be done at sea.
12:24Waiting to do them in port would take too much time
12:27and disrupt the schedule.
12:29It's Harry's job to make certain the ship doesn't break down.
12:33Ever.
12:35Most of our work is done underway.
12:39When we do the big, huge maintenance on these engines,
12:42which last about a month per engine,
12:45they're done while we're out at sea.
12:48Northstar's four diesel-electric engines
12:51produce 11.7 megawatts of power.
12:54This enables the ship to cut through even stormy waters
12:58at a speed of up to 3,000 miles per hour.
13:02It's a huge job.
13:04This enables the ship to cut through even stormy waters
13:08at a speed of 24 knots, or 44 kilometres per hour.
13:13Harry's kept her seaworthy from the day she was launched,
13:17and he knows every valve and bolt on the ship.
13:21We have parts that just fail on their own,
13:24and we want to replace those as quick as possible.
13:27The fuel on board is thick and viscous
13:30and must be cleaned and heated to 135 degrees Celsius
13:34so it runs smoothly in the big diesel engines.
13:38It's a constant thing with the engines.
13:40We're constantly working and constantly keeping them clean.
13:52It's been seven hours since Northstar left Tacoma.
13:56We're coming out into open water now,
13:58and about what the weather was forecast.
14:01As she moves out of the Strait of Juan de Fuca
14:04and into the North Pacific,
14:06the crew braces for a tough beating on the open sea.
14:12The wind's going to pick up.
14:14The seas will pick up all day long.
14:16We have a storm that's to the west of us,
14:21and that's kicking up the winds on our stern.
14:26The crew isn't about to risk any damage to the ship's valuable cargo,
14:31so Jack and his fellow seamen head out into rapidly worsening weather
14:36to lash down the trailers.
14:40If they're not done, they start rolling around.
14:43Like on the ramps here, they'll start rolling around, break loose.
14:47On the old ships, I've seen Mother Nature remove trailers.
14:53We have an area of the ocean out here
14:56that is constantly, in the wintertime, challenging.
14:59OK, Jack, let's go into hand steering, please.
15:04Rogue waves more than 30 metres high have been recorded in this area.
15:09That's the height of a ten-storey building.
15:13But Northstar has been built to survive the perils of the North Pacific.
15:19She sports an ingenious design feature called a turtleback,
15:23which provides protective shelter from the worst winds and waves.
15:29Without the turtleback, a single monster wave could swamp the ship
15:33and wash thousands of dollars' worth of cargo overboard.
15:37And on the older ships that were lower and more open,
15:40we would wipe out rows and rows of cargo.
15:45But even the turtleback can't protect crew members
15:48if they're not paying attention.
15:50One of the things you have to remember out here is
15:53Mother Nature doesn't care what flag you fly,
15:56what gender you are, what company you work for.
15:59She does her best to kill us all equally.
16:02You forget, you're going to get hurt.
16:05You're going to get hurt bad. I've seen it happen.
16:08Luckily, knock on wood, it hasn't happened to me yet.
16:11But it's only a matter of time.
16:13Get out here and do it! Get out here and do it!
16:20As well as the trouble on deck, there's trouble below.
16:25In the engine room, a different kind of storm is threatening
16:28to throw Northstar completely off schedule.
16:33We'll shut it down later, maybe.
16:35We've got a leak in the No. 3 cooler,
16:37the lowball cooler on the No. 3 engine,
16:40and at some point we're going to have to shut it down,
16:42open that cooler up and see where the crack is
16:45so that we can repair it.
16:47They welded that damp clamp all the way up around both sides.
16:51The problem with an engine going down is
16:54if we do need an engine or we need that engine,
16:57it could slow the ship down so that we don't keep our schedule.
17:02They need all four engines running perfectly
17:05to ramp up to full speed.
17:10The ship is about to enter a region
17:12that sailors call the Valley of Death.
17:15It lies just off Canada's west coast,
17:18just south of the Queen Charlotte Islands.
17:22In this deadly stretch of water,
17:24gale-force winds funnel down in gusts of up to 100 knots.
17:30Almost the same force as Hurricane Katrina
17:33when it devastated New Orleans.
17:36I see big, big weather coming.
17:38Let everybody know, listen, we need to go.
17:40We need to go now. We need to go fast.
17:43But North Star was specially designed
17:45to handle these sorts of conditions.
17:47Her hull is reinforced to battle waves and ice.
17:51And the bulkheads, the internal walls
17:54that form the structure of the ship,
17:56are rated higher for water protection
17:58than the average freighter.
18:01Even so, keeping the ship safe
18:03sometimes means sailing around a storm.
18:09But that can be costly.
18:12Every kilometre North Star deviates off course
18:15consumes more fuel.
18:17If we can save just a little bit,
18:20that's worthwhile for us.
18:24On a regular journey, North Star's engines
18:27use almost 1.3 million litres of oil
18:30at a cost of nearly half a million US dollars per round trip.
18:38Faced with this storm,
18:40Captain Cadogan has to balance many factors.
18:43Maintaining course enough to control fuel costs
18:46while preserving the crew's safety
18:48and trying to stay on schedule.
18:53The schedule is very, very important,
18:55but it's not more important than the safety of the ship and crew.
19:00The captain decides to sail right on the margins of the storm.
19:05But the ship is still slammed by winds blowing at 70 knots.
19:24Even on the roughest days,
19:26experienced sailors like Jack never lose their sense of humour.
19:34And the guys that are little learn to use us for windbreaks.
19:38It's the only thing you can do.
19:41These gale-force winds could lift a man Jack's size
19:44right off the ground and toss him overboard.
19:50When the deck slips, you're moving around,
19:53picking this stuff up.
19:55It slips, you go down.
19:58It's hard work, but somebody's got to do it, you know?
20:05And as if the nasty weather wasn't enough,
20:07at this time of year, this far north,
20:09there are only seven hours of daylight.
20:13It's not for everybody.
20:14The cold and the dark, and especially in the wintertime,
20:17the constant motion just wears people out.
20:20It even takes a toll on veterans like Captain Cadogan.
20:24This voyage is his last rotation after seven punishing weeks at sea.
20:30I'm looking forward to going home.
20:35The captain skirts the worst of the storm for eight hours.
20:39But eventually, he manages to take advantage
20:42of some of Mother Nature's relentless power.
20:46He positions the ship so the heavy winds
20:48give her an extra push off the stern.
20:53So far, so good. We're still on time.
20:58North Star is still a day and a half away from port in Anchorage.
21:02And Harry's crew hasn't been able to plug the engine cooler leak.
21:06It could cause them problems as they enter the harbor.
21:10At least it's going to get worse,
21:12but I put the pump on in case it does get worse.
21:14It's a big problem to shut, so we have to shut the engine down.
21:18Shutting down an engine is bad news.
21:21North Star would have to take on the crushing Alaskan ice pack
21:25with only three engines operating at full power.
21:32A calm day dawns on East Chugach Island in Alaska.
21:36The cargo ship North Star has emerged unscathed
21:39from a hard-hitting winter storm.
21:42I tell people how I've seen it all,
21:44but when you see these mountains, they're beautiful.
21:47Sighting these islands, Captain Richard Cadigan
21:50knows he's just 24 hours away from his destination — Anchorage.
21:56But the sense of peace is deceptive.
21:59These islands also mean he's heading into Cook Inlet,
22:03and the most treacherous part of the voyage.
22:07And a major obstacle is threatening to complicate the ship's course.
22:13The ice is going to start coming further down the inlet,
22:16and it can get pretty chunky. It's tough on the ship.
22:20North Star doesn't rise over the ice and crush it like an icebreaker.
22:24She rams through it with the reinforced shell plating
22:27that runs two-thirds of the length of her hull.
22:31A fuel leak here would be an environmental catastrophe.
22:35So North Star's fuel tanks are set back three to five metres from the hull
22:39to isolate them from any damage to the ship's outer shell.
22:44Let's go down and look at it.
22:47Down in the engine area, the cooler has gone from bad to worse.
22:51Two bigger leaks have developed.
22:53Chief Engineer Harry Poole is so concerned,
22:56he's asked the captain to take a look.
23:11The number three engine might have to be shut down.
23:14But that could spell real trouble.
23:16Without full power, North Star will lose significantly.
23:22Meanwhile, up on the main deck,
23:24the able seaman primed the ship for her approach into Alaska.
23:29That means everything from greasing the machinery wires
23:32to ward off saltwater corrosion and breakage,
23:36to loading the tether cables with heavy fishing weights
23:39to ensure they soar through the tough Alaskan winds and reach the dock.
23:44Good morning, Patrick. How are you doing?
23:46What's happening up there?
23:48Captain Cadogan checks on the weather conditions ahead
23:51with the owner's Alaskan office.
23:53I don't want to hear that.
23:55OK. Ice is thick and the pans are starting to join together.
24:00Good morning, good morning.
24:02Another beautiful day. How are you?
24:04To coordinate the approach into anchorage,
24:06he meets with Harry and North Star's Alaska pilot, Dave Cooper,
24:10the man responsible for steering the ship through the narrow inlet to the dock.
24:15I just want to make sure he's ahead by this time.
24:17Cool?
24:18Sounds good.
24:19All right. Up to you guys.
24:21They're all concerned about the ice packs
24:23and the potential loss of a main engine.
24:25OK.
24:26We should have three going up the inlet.
24:29Yeah, sure.
24:30So we've got power, we've got the ice.
24:31Yeah, yeah, yeah.
24:32Even if you don't need all the horsepower, just leave it on.
24:34That's fine.
24:38North Star is ready to make the move into Cook Inlet.
24:42But off her port side,
24:43the crew spots another threat to the ship's perfect on-time record.
24:47A freighter from a competing company has jumped the queue.
24:53So now we have to stay far enough behind them
24:55so we don't crowd the harbour. It's a very small harbour.
24:58It can't be two big ships in there at once.
25:02North Star still has 12 hours to go before she reaches port in anchorage.
25:06It will be a long night for the captain and crew.
25:09Every step along the way will demand their full attention.
25:17Security, security, security.
25:19K-I-Y-I North Star, I-I North Star.
25:22It's 3am and North Star is inside Cook Inlet.
25:27This is a critical point in the journey for pilot Dave.
25:30He knows every square kilometre of sea from here to the harbour.
25:34Just bring her back up to 80 rpm, please.
25:36Just for a bit till I get a grip on her.
25:38Sure.
25:39All right.
25:41These last few kilometres are tense on the bridge
25:44as the ship approaches the Kanik Armed Shoal,
25:47a sandbar submerged just inside Cook Inlet.
25:51At low tide, there are only four metres of water
25:54between the shoal and the ship.
25:580-6-5.
26:000-6-5.
26:020-6-5.
26:030-6-5.
26:040-6-5.
26:050-6-5.
26:08Even for the veteran crew,
26:10passage over the shoal is a nerve-wracking experience.
26:13Their timing has to be perfect.
26:16We don't want to be early.
26:18We might touch the mud.
26:20We don't want to do that.
26:22The threat of this $175 million ship running aground is very real,
26:28especially as her crossing of the shoal
26:30has been delayed by the competing vessel.
26:34I wish we could have gone ahead of them,
26:36but there wasn't enough water for us to do this.
26:39Harry comes up from the engine room to watch the approach.
26:44Northstar is running on only three engines.
26:47He's hoping they'll generate enough power
26:49to break through the ice pack and get over the shoal in time.
26:53Get slow ahead.
26:55Get slow ahead.
27:02Line's up.
27:05Refusing to let her crew down,
27:07Northstar slowly but surely makes it across the shoal.
27:11Just.
27:13But she's far from home free.
27:16The ice is closing in.
27:18Dead slow ahead.
27:22That glacier wind coming into my bow right there
27:24and push me away from the dock, please.
27:26That glacier wind.
27:28As they near the dock,
27:30the captain and pilot step out onto the flying bridge.
27:33Midships.
27:35It's a bone-chilling minus 20 degrees Celsius,
27:38but this is the only place to get an accurate picture of the approach.
27:42Starboard engine dead slow astern.
27:46We need to be able to see over the side,
27:49check out the pans of ice.
27:51It might be a huge pan of ice,
27:53and the wind of the ship pushes too fast towards the dock.
27:56But in a matter of minutes,
27:58colliding with the dock is no longer the worry.
28:01The ice pans are moving together,
28:03blocking Northstar's landing.
28:05Right 20.
28:07We couldn't hit the dock if we tried.
28:09There's too much ice in the way.
28:11All we would do is compact it.
28:13Dave calls for help from the harbour tugs.
28:17Starboard engine dead slow astern.
28:21If they can break up some of the ice,
28:24or create a wash to move the ice out of the way,
28:27Dave will be able to dock the ship.
28:29But it's a perilous process.
28:31Because if he gets stuck between us and the dock,
28:34then I'm having a real bad day.
28:36Jammed up against the dock,
28:38the tug and her crew wouldn't stand a chance
28:41against the sheer mass of the ship.
28:45Coming in here enough times that we have an idea
28:48what's going to happen and prepare accordingly.
28:51But even then, every trip is a challenge.
28:54Hard right.
28:56Hard right.
29:01I think we're close enough.
29:04Dave's tactics pay off.
29:06Northstar reaches the dock,
29:08and the tugs are free.
29:10Everyone can relax.
29:12He's miserable and I'm successful.
29:15Yeah.
29:17And that's how it usually is out here.
29:19Yeah.
29:21The unloading process can now begin.
29:25The trailers packed with precious staples
29:27drive straight off the ship
29:29and fan out across remote regions of Alaska.
29:35Thanks to Northstar's on-time delivery,
29:37there'll be fresh strawberries and crisp lettuce
29:40on the menu tonight,
29:42from Anchorage to Fairbanks.
29:47This far north,
29:49it's not easy moving all these trailers
29:51on and off the ship at the same time.
29:54And no-one knows that better
29:56than Alaska Vessel Manager Pat Kilgore.
30:01This time of year, we contend with a lot of frozen breaks,
30:04so it takes more time for us to continually break up
30:08and get the wheels moving.
30:14The Alaska team performs this operation twice a week.
30:18But none of the dock workers can afford to become blasé.
30:24As one lasher tightens the chains holding down a trailer,
30:27he turns his back for just a moment.
30:30It's an almost fatal mistake.
30:32Another trailer is moving swiftly into place right behind him.
30:39It was a very close call.
30:43Luckily, a veteran stevedore was paying attention.
30:46But slipping into a routine
30:48almost cost this lasher his life.
30:55And there are other challenges to the Alaska load.
30:58At minus 20 degrees, the weather complicates every step.
31:02Exposed skin that touches metal will freeze in an instant.
31:08The couplings that hold trailers in place ice up.
31:11And a welder is constantly repairing cracks
31:14caused by the sub-zero temperatures.
31:18It's a tough breed. They do a great job for us up here.
31:29So far, so good.
31:31By midday, North Star is unloaded and filled up again,
31:35mostly with empty trailers.
31:38Cargo traffic is almost all one way.
31:44Now it's up to Captain Cadogan
31:46to get his vessel moving again in the next 90 minutes.
31:50Once again, the ship must cross the shoal at high tide.
31:55But the ice flows are forming into a thick mass
31:58that could prevent her from casting off.
32:01And that's not the only problem.
32:03She's boxed in by her parking position at the dock.
32:08We have absolutely no room to go astern.
32:11We have zero mistake to go backwards.
32:15Between the ice and the pier,
32:17there's no space to manoeuvre behind the ship.
32:20It's a tough place to be. I mean, come on.
32:22You've got to give us something to go backwards.
32:24We've got nothing, you know.
32:27Pilot Dave will have to orchestrate
32:29some heavy-duty shoving to get North Star free.
32:34It's like flying an airplane into the wind.
32:37As mid-afternoon approaches,
32:39the northern winter sun is already beginning to set.
32:43Dave begins to direct a pair of tugs.
32:47First, this one has to power through the forming ice pans
32:51and break them up.
32:53Next, the mooring lines are dropped.
32:57Then the other tug has to push North Star's bow out from the dock.
33:02Dead slow ahead.
33:05Dave calls for ship power and rudders
33:08to edge North Star into the harbour.
33:13Finally, the first tug gets into position
33:16and pushes the stern away from shore.
33:19OK, that's what we want.
33:21We want you to be able to push. That's good.
33:23Both stern lines are clear of the water.
33:25It takes a lot of finesse,
33:27but the tug pilot manages to wiggle North Star loose.
33:31Starboard engine slow ahead.
33:33Starboard engine slow ahead.
33:37All clear out.
33:39At last, thanks to Dave's front-line experience in these waters,
33:43North Star is able to make her turn into the anchorage harbour.
33:48Right 20.
34:01Now the ever-changing Alaskan weather throws up another challenge.
34:06The ship is heading out into a snowstorm.
34:11In spite of the treacherous conditions,
34:14she crosses over the shoal and is headed for home.
34:22But the hard work is far from over.
34:26On the return to Tacoma, she carries a much lighter load.
34:30Most of the trailers are empty,
34:32making the ship roll from side to side a lot more.
34:37If you get the momentum of your roll,
34:39and it continues to increase and increase,
34:41you can lose cargo, you can have cargo damage,
34:43you can injure people.
34:46And there's more bad news.
34:48Down below, Harry has just discovered
34:50that his crew can't fix the engine cooler leak.
34:55We need to get this done in Tacoma so we can use this going north.
34:59We need a tip welder, which we don't have on board.
35:02We have to keep our schedule.
35:04He's only got so many hours to get this fixed.
35:06And it's been my experience that if he lets a problem go,
35:10what if we have another engine go down?
35:12Now we're only at half capacity, so...
35:15Captain Cadogan has a lot on his mind.
35:18In the ship's gym, he's hoping some heavy lifting will lighten the load.
35:25So just come down here and get rid of some stress.
35:27Usually there's nobody down here this time of day.
35:30In 24 hours, the captain is scheduled to head home to Massachusetts
35:34and the family he hasn't seen for seven weeks.
35:38I've got to get to the airport. That's the most important thing tomorrow.
35:41I've got to get to the airport.
35:43So do not get in my way.
35:48But the closer they get to Tacoma, the more challenges they face.
35:53Hundreds of vessels ply the Strait of Juan de Fuca,
35:56just south of Vancouver Island.
36:00Some, like this submarine, require a little extra attention.
36:05And he's headed our way, so we're going to have to keep an eye on him.
36:11They get a little jittery when they get to the surface.
36:15And huge steel objects aren't the only traffic out here.
36:23Whales everywhere. They're everywhere.
36:26They're like squirrels out there.
36:30As the bridged crew scans the waters,
36:32Harry worries about the job that awaits him in port.
36:37I'm just thinking about the work we're going to do,
36:39if we can get it done with the crew on.
36:44We'll see. Everything's up in the air right now.
36:48It's late morning on North Star's final approach to Tacoma.
36:53Just before they turn into the harbour,
36:55Dave, the Alaska pilot, prepares to disembark.
36:59One day each week, I get to go home while the ship floats up.
37:03And Del McKenzie, the Puget Sound pilot,
37:06comes aboard to guide North Star into port.
37:10Once they safely navigate through the congested shipping lanes
37:13leading past Seattle, it's time for the final challenge of the voyage.
37:19North Star won't sail straight to the dock.
37:23Everything's tricky about this manoeuvre.
37:27She needs to make a 180 degree turn in the harbour,
37:31and back into her berth.
37:33First, a harbour tugboat gets in close
37:36to swing North Star past a floating barge.
37:41Then the tugs ease the ship's stern into the turn.
37:45Start her back and down, get her nice and steady,
37:47right down the middle of the waterway, nice and safe.
37:51North Star turns her back to the port with an elegant swing.
37:55Dead slow on the turn.
37:58She's got a good turn.
38:00Now she moves backwards through a narrow waterway towards the pier.
38:05Captain Cadogan's seven-week odyssey is almost over.
38:09Life's good, Captain.
38:10Oh, it is. Going home today.
38:11Oh, you are?
38:12Life's very good.
38:13Good for you.
38:14Back to the promised land.
38:15Yeah, yeah, yeah.
38:16But the relaxed atmosphere up on deck is nowhere to be found down below.
38:21For the chief engineer, the pressure is on to fix that engine problem.
38:25The cargo ship North Star has finally returned to the port of Tacoma in Washington.
38:31What's normally a routine run to Alaska and back has pushed her crew to the limit.
38:361500 miles and I've got to put it in one feet of dock here.
38:40On a little one-footer, I've got to get it in one footer.
38:43I've got to get it in one footer.
38:45I've got to get it in one footer.
38:47I've got to get it in one footer.
38:49I've got to get it in one footer.
38:51I've got to get it in one footer.
38:52And I've got to put it in one feet of dock here on a little white line.
38:57I spent a lot of fuel getting that white line.
39:00Her captain, Richard Cadigan, has nailed yet another on-time arrival.
39:05Which means his score is still an incredible 100% this winter.
39:11Schedule's good. Real good. I am 17 minutes ahead of schedule.
39:18Huh? That's not bad. That was a quickie.
39:20Now he's due to go home. But he's not leaving just yet.
39:27There are only eight short hours in which to prepare the ship to head out again.
39:32But there's no guarantee she'll be able to make the trip.
39:36Yeah, where are you?
39:38Chief Engineer Harry Poole is racing against the clock to get her back up to full strength.
39:43Let me show you what we've got to do.
39:45A team of engineering specialists rushes aboard to check in.
39:48We've got a leak on the core. We've got a leak on one now.
39:52You know, but this was bad.
39:54There's no way North Star can handle another trip to Alaska
39:58without all four engines running perfectly.
40:01Next time round, she'll face an even thicker ice pack.
40:05She's stuck until these leaks are plugged.
40:08Get this in position and put brackets on it for now.
40:11First things first, we'll get all these fractures fixed up.
40:13But a welder can't get to work until the ship has been refueled.
40:17If a single spark from a welding gun mixed with the vapors from an open fuel hose,
40:22it could ignite a deadly explosion.
40:25Holding things up even more, the fueling barge hasn't shown up yet.
40:31Meanwhile, Nick Engels, the lead foreman, launches his crew of lashers into action.
40:37Once again, North Star's decks are a familiar scramble of loading and unloading.
40:56If it continues like this, we'll have a really good night. Nobody hurt.
41:00Finally, the crew gets some good news.
41:03The refueling barge has arrived.
41:06The thirsty ship drinks in another 1.3 million liters of oil,
41:11ready for the voyage north.
41:17As one of his last duties before taking leave,
41:20Captain Cadogan briefs the incoming crew.
41:23We're going to have a really good night.
41:25As one of his last duties before taking leave,
41:28Captain Cadogan briefs the incoming captain, Mark Daly.
41:43Unlike Captain Cadogan, able seaman Jack Madden isn't interested in going ashore any time soon.
41:49Despite the rigors of working 12-hour days in ice and darkness,
41:52Jack wouldn't trade life on North Star for anything on land.
41:57I couldn't sit in a box.
41:59Put me in a cubicle and they'd be taking me out in a straitjacket.
42:04Down in the engine room, the welder is working quickly to fix the leaks uncovered by Harry and his team.
42:11We found about seven cracks in the unit.
42:14Seven is more than Harry had anticipated.
42:17Yet they still got back to Tacoma on time.
42:19Soon, all four of North Star's engines will be online.
42:26He's repaired all of the cracks inside of the pipe.
42:29We're basically finished.
42:31First to close that cooler up tomorrow, and the cooler's going to be good to go.
42:35These reinforcement welds should hold for another six to eight months.
42:40Give me a hug.
42:42Be good.
42:44Captain Cadogan leaves North Star knowing she's truly ship-shape.
42:49All right, we're done. See ya.
42:59As reliable as her namesake is,
43:02she's got a lot of work ahead of her.
43:05As reliable as her namesake,
43:08the heavenly star that guided ancient mariners to safe harbor,
43:12North Star will continue on.
43:15A vital lifeline to the people of Alaska.
43:34NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology