00:00Why is this sailor knocking ice off the ship by hand?
00:02Because this ice is extremely dangerous for both the vessel and the crew.
00:07When a ship enters cold northern waters, in just a few hours,
00:11the deck cables and winches get covered in a thick layer of ice.
00:15The crew immediately grabs crowbars and sledgehammers to knock it all off.
00:19So why don't they just wait for it to melt?
00:21First, ice makes the deck deadly slippery.
00:24One wrong step and you could end up overboard.
00:26Second, ice jams up the ship's equipment.
00:29Cables freeze, winches lock up, and lifeboats turn into ice traps.
00:34But the worst part is the weight.
00:35Dozens of tons of ice piling up on top of the ship shift its center of gravity.
00:40The ship gets heavier, slower, and less stable.
00:43There have been cases where ships actually capsize
00:46because of uneven icing ice built up more on one side and the vessel just rolled over.
00:51Some modern ships use special coatings and heating systems, but that's pretty rare.
00:56So, crews head out into freezing cold and howling winds, knocking off ice again and again.
