Icebreakers: life on board

[Music] when an icebreaker returns to port it's the end of a stint at sea for Sullivan's crew and a beginning for others the cruise of Finland's icebreakers live all over the country and a few take advantage of their uninterrupted stretches of time off to live in other countries warmer ones during the winter months the cantos crew work on a rota of twenty days on the ship ten days at home it's important therefore for the ship to feel like home that's more possible than it used to be shipboard Wi-Fi keeps crew in daily touch with families that their forebears wouldn't see for weeks at a time I'm almost every day having video call with my wife and my kids and I think it's much easier also to kids because they can talk with me and my wife told me that kids day they are more relaxed when we talk because they a little bit feel like I'm part of the family and I'm there because they can see my picture and hear my voice and it's much easier when you don't need to be totally out from their lives all three weeks the country owes cozy cabins all have their own TVs and DVD players the ship has a small library of films and books longer serving crew reflect that these more customizable amusements have come at something of a cost to shipboard camera during there are now few if any partisan shanty sing-alongs different of their computers from their free time and it's not so much social social life anymore before it made guitars and sang and a lot of parties of course you know we had the projector the real once a week on a Saturday yeah everybody gathered in the day room and we watched the movie once a week there was no satellite navigation on board it was very different most of cantos crew works six hour watches some take 6:00 a.m. to midday and 6 p.m. to midnight others midday to 6 p.m. and midnight to 6 a.m. engineers do 12 hours on 12 hours off keeping Conti O's for mighty motors running in general when crew members aren't working they're asleep one of the few opportunities for communal relaxation is Meal Time the food of board con tio is consistently outstanding party insulation against the conditions in which the ship has to operate this is one of their lake most anticipated moment of a dinner and the time that everyone just gathers around here and just like it sure does bring kind of joy and just like if you have bad day and you get like some of your favorite food like pizza and it suits the spot then it's like awesome it's gonna make it like everyone day Finland's icebreakers ultimately work for the state and sail beneath the Finnish flag non Finn's are not permitted to serve on icebreakers but the atmosphere on board is very much civilian rather than military there is a general sense of egalitarian cooperation there's been a generation Jeff younger guys get higher positions it's getting more modern in the system of teaching other guys it used to be better not not do you get promoted you need to know what to do even though no one had taught you plating it used to be a bit like that but these days it's trying to train as professionally as we can so that when when a really bad winter comes and have enough enough people who can definitely nevertheless someone has to be in charge an ice breaker captain has the privilege of setting his own hours as well as the privilege of a large forward-facing cabin in return and ice breaker captain accepts ultimate responsibility for a ship which routinely faces hazards that occur only in the nightmares of most sailors captain is the legal staples yeah secondly captain is also the leader every every good group of people and need a leader and thirdly I'm here to support the crew engine in their work and by itself I don't do much and that's a testament to the crew but all seafaring is tough work which is why it tends to be done by tough people some of conti OHS crew seemed especially impervious to the conditions most people would walk it's decks in at least two pairs of socks though there are compensations to life aboard Conte Oh comfortable lodgings terrific food and long summer holidays it nevertheless involves the deckhands especially a deal of heavy lifting in often brutal conditions at the times of year that Conti oh goes to sea outdoor temperatures approaching minus 30 degrees Celsius are not unusual it's still a job that most ice breaker crew seem content to do until retirement and most seemed in no hurry for that I'm thinking of retiring I think when I was 65 because I feel quite good in my body l I have enough holiday six months a year so it's more than enough I do the gym a lot under when I'm a holiday like to swim and welcome I do fight a little exercise here and he tells people [Music] Conte is working environment is not entirely desolate however even in the depths of winter signs of life are visible footprints left by rabbits deer and foxes in the snow on top of the ice Eagles and crows casting silhouettes against the whiteness even occasional anglers fishing from holes in the ice cut next to where they've parked their snowmobile or even their car in spring the crew were treated to seals by the hundred and at least once in Conte o--'s history its crane has been used to rescue a drowning moose as for the eternal fundamentals of what icebreakers do there remains a big clue in the name while most ice breaking is preventive path clearing the most dramatic part of an ice breakers work is riding to the rescue of ships which have become trapped this is more than mere inconvenience to the crew and a delay to the delivery of the ships cargo the pressure of converging floes can cause ice to climb the sides of a ship Conti Oh freeze for Vic a Scarlett hold Swedish cement carrier by smashing through the ice alongside of the ships only metres apart this is difficult job and when you can handle a difficult job it gives you satisfaction you have to be a bit not crazy but you have to like to maneuver of us you have to like to assist other vessels will be with this big icebreaker and you can do it because this is beautiful and it's fun it's demanding but it's really nice when you can handle Finland needs its icebreakers but these ships are more than just tools for keeping ports open not for nothing is another ship in our tias icebreaker fleet called Sisu named after the word fins use for their own idealized national character a Creed of stoic unfussy determination Conte owes work much like a finished winter's night seems unlikely to end for monocle in the Gulf of Bothnia I'm Andrew Miller [Music]

Channel: Monocle Films

Views: 570,630

Rating: 4.8910847 out of 5

Keywords: Monocle, Magazine, Icebreaking, Finland, Finnish, Affairs, Arctic, Arctia, Sea, Sailor, Captain, Bay of Bothnia, transport, Ship, Travel, Adventure

Id: t6Mz6kwA0Vc

Length: 8min 49sec (529 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 19 2019