01x04 - Gulf Storms

[bunniefuu]

RICK (off-screen): Outside, it is pretty

much flat calm, but by tomorrow,

it's not gonna be pretty.

MAN (over radio): A hurricane force storm

warning is in effect for the Bering Sea.

Extreme caution is

advised for all shipping.

Wind 55 knots, increasing to 70 knots.

Waves 33 feet, building

to 47 feet by 18:00.

MAN: Come on.

No, no, no, stop.

♪

RICK: This is our boat,

the Aleutian Lady.

She's been in our family since 1989.

Very strong, very stout, very trustworthy.

So, this is our beautiful little girl.

NARRATOR: Captain

Rick Shellford is a veteran fisherman,

working out of Dutch Harbor, Alaska.

As he prepares to head into the most

notoriously dangerous fishing

ground on earth,

Rick has been given a camera by

National Geographic to show us his story.

RICK (off-screen): My kids are

gonna get a kick out of this.

I don't even take selfies on my phone.

Let's try this out.

Hope it works. Here we go.

I am Captain Rick of the Aleutian Lady

and we are getting ready to go out and

fish the 2019 red king crab season.

I hope I don't make a fool out of myself.

So, all right, I will chat at

you here later and have a good day.

NARRATOR: The camera with Captain Rick is

one of 1,000 that National Geographic

placed with people who work

at sea for one typhoon season,

wherever storms might strike.

What Captain Rick doesn't know is that

soon he'll be heading into one of the

biggest and most powerful

storms in history.

(phone ringing).

MAN (off-screen): Good afternoon, COJ

Tops, JTWC, starting in the upper levels

in the northern hemisphere.

On the IR shot, we were

seeing some extra spinning.

NARRATOR: At Pearl Harbor, Hawaii,

home port for the US Navy's Pacific fleet,

the Joint Typhoon Warning Center is

tracking a storm in the Western Pacific.

MAN (off-screen): This just came

in. All right. Forecast

CAITLIN: Wow. That has

increased significantly.

NARRATOR: Hurricane force storms in this

area are called typhoons.

The Joint Typhoon Warning Center is there

to alert US military assets if

one is considered a threat.

The new storm is still a long way

from land, but its behavior is troubling.

It's intensified far more

rapidly than expected.

Predicted to pass safely to the north of

Guam, it's heading west towards Asia.

The officer on duty is

Lieutenant Caitlin Fine.

MAN (off-screen): If this really

is rapidly intensifying

CAITLIN: Mm-hmm.

MAN (off-screen): Our next warning

will likely be more intense.

NARRATOR: Its terrifyingly rapid growth

has marked this typhoon as a special case,

and even inspired its name.

Hagibis,

a Filipino word meaning speed.

As they watch, the intensification

becomes even more expl*sive.

And it's just getting started.

CAITLIN (off-screen): We see rapid

intensification pretty frequently,

but this degree of rapid intensification

was really, really fast.

This is tropical storm Hagibis at 50 knots

on the 6th October at 06:00 Zulu,

and you can see that it's wrapping,

but it's not that well organized,

it's not that strong.

24 hours later,

at 06:00 on the 7th of

October, it is 150 knots

and then 160 knots and then 165 knots.

NARRATOR: Overnight, Hagibis

has undergone some of the

most rapid intensification ever seen.

Its maximum wind speeds have

increased by 100 miles per hour,

making Hagibis a category

five super typhoon.

The most powerful storm of

the year anywhere on earth.

At 950 miles across, it is one of the

largest typhoons ever recorded.

In a matter of days, this mega storm

could make landfall in East Asia.

Around the world, our cameras are with

forecasters as they battle to predict

where Hagibis will go next

and who lies in its path.

CAITLIN: So, just one day later and the

model shifted significantly from,

from this,

bigger spread, our model guidance shows a

straight northward path there,

at the end through 120 hours.

Then one day later,

model guidance has shifted,

showing a more pronounced

re-curve and landfall on Tokyo.

NARRATOR: The forecasts

are unanimous.

In less than three days' time,

Hagibis will make a direct hit

on Tokyo, Japan.

One of the most populated

regions on earth.

As Hagibis bears down on Japan,

vessels filming for National Geographic

must react fast to the news

it's headed their way.

TALATI: Good morning everyone.

TALATI: BW Shinano

at Kashima Port

Where you can see the seas

are not so bad at the moment

But the next two days' time it will

be very very bad weather here

and probably the port will be closed down

NARRATOR: Oil tanker the BW Shinano is

headed from Kashima, near Tokyo, to China,

but her planned route would put her on a

collision course with Hagibis.

Instead, Captain Talati makes the decision

to depart immediately and head north

and then west, to put the Japanese islands

between her and the typhoon.

Hagibis is now less than

24 hours from Japan.

REPORTER (off-screen): Japan

bracing as a powerful typhoon

is expected to make landfall

in the coming hours.

NARRATOR: Japan has issued its highest

possible level of warning,

with one third of its entire population

advised to evacuate

or move to a higher floor.

ERIC: Everybody is quite concerned with

the strength of what's about to hit us.

NARRATOR: Those that remain are racing to

board up their houses and businesses,

and the nation's many fishermen

are moving their boats

as far inland as they can.

ERIC (off-screen): The water in the river

is moving faster than normal

and apparently there's

gonna be huge storm surges, and

I'm a little curious to see

what effect it will have on this river.

Like is it gonna overflow?

NARRATOR: Shinano's detour into the Sea of

Japan means she is more than 400 miles

from the heart of Hagibis,

but still experiencing its effects.

TALATI: This is the

captain reporting

Overcast skies, strong winds, rough seas

This is the effect of storm Hagibis

NARRATOR: Had she not moved,

it could have been much worse.

As Hagibis meets cooler

water and hits land,

its winds de-intensify to the equivalent

of a category two hurricane.

But not enough to make Japan safe.

As it makes land fall, the super cell t

hunderstorms from inside the typhoon

spawn a violent tornado.

WOMAN: Oh no, is that lightning?

MAN: That's a tornado.

It's not good. Take cover

NARRATOR: Hagibis's large size and the

long time it's spent over open ocean

means it is carrying an unprecedented

volume of water, which falls as rain.

As its core crosses Japan's

main island of Honshu,

some areas receive three feet of rainfall

in just 24 hours.

Rivers burst their banks and

mud slides engulf houses.

Catastrophic flooding,

rather than high winds,

have become the k*ller in this typhoon.

Hagibis causes $15 billion

worth of damage,

and 98 people tragically lose their lives.

As Hagibis leaves behind a

broken Japan, forecasters fear

it may not be the end of

this rule breaking monster.

Thousands of miles away,

our cameras are with crab fishermen in the

Aleutian chain, waiting

to start their season.

But Hagibis is about to change everything.

RICK: It's gonna be a heck of a blow with

a lot of wind and a lot of waves.

NARRATOR: After devastating Japan,

typhoon Hagibis is mutating.

CAITLIN (off-screen): Having

made landfall in Tokyo,

we determined it was

extra tropical and then this

infra-red image here at 1000 Z,

on the 13th of October, you

can see all the convection is

displaced as it's being blown away by the

jet at the upper levels of the atmosphere.

NARRATOR: As it leaves

behind the warm waters that birthed it,

Hagibis is undergoing a transformation.

No longer drawing energy from the

heat of the tropical waters,

it is now powered by

the extreme difference in temperature,

where hot and cold air meet to

become an extra tropical cyclone.

Less organized, more chaotic

and much, much bigger.

CAITLIN: It's gonna head north east,

carried along by the jet

into the Bering Sea.

Certainly, you know, it's still moving on

with a lot of energy.

NARRATOR: In its extra-tropical form,

Hagibis has entered the jet stream and

is being catapulted north east,

directly towards the Aleutian Island chain

and the Bering sea, home of the

Alaskan King Crab Fleet.

OFFICIAL (off-screen): Good morning, we're

going to do a briefing at the lead desk,

thank you for your

attention to this matter.

NARRATOR: The Aleutians are

west of the Alaska Peninsula.

The National Weather Service in Anchorage

call an urgent briefing t

o issue warnings for

the fishing fleet that Hagibis is coming.

OFFICIAL: Let's take a quick look at

what's going on on satellite here,

and things are relatively

quiet out our windows but

out over the Bering things are

starting to take shape with the remnants

of Hagibis and so that is

kind of our forecast problem of the day.

NARRATOR: In under 48 hours,

Hagibis will enter the Bering Sea

bringing with it waves

in excess of 40 feet

right where the crab

boats will be fishing.

The weather service issue urgent warnings

to the fleet, to change their departure

plans and avoid the Bering Sea.

The vessels carrying our cameras must make

a choice their lives could depend on.

To ride out the storm

at sea and risk being rolled by a wave.

Or to crowd into the port where winds

could smash their boats together.

CAPTAIN: Security call Kari Marie outbound,

east channel, searching for opposing

traffic, channel 16,

channel nine Kari Marie.

With the possibility of 40 to 50

foot seas, 70 knot winds, it's just,

it's not worth the risk.

NARRATOR: With just 12 hours before Hagibis

strikes, the Kari Marie and dozens of other

crab boats will take

shelter in Dutch Harbor.

CAPTAIN: We're in.

Tight squeeze, but we got it.

RICK (off-screen): So this is us

getting the boat ready for

really bad weather in Dutch Harbor.

We don't want to part any lines, we don't

want to break free, we want to stay secure,

safe so we can sleep at night, not get

woken up at 3:00am to fix the tie up job.

NARRATOR: With so many

vessels now in port,

one boat coming loose in the typhoon

could destroy half the fleet.

RICK (off-screen): Whoa.

MAN: Right there.

Is that good?

RICK (off-screen): You're even.

We pull the lines even so they pull at the

same time and get tight at the same time,

then it's twice as strong.

NARRATOR: The king crab

season opens tomorrow.

Under normal circumstances, boats would

race to be first onto the best crab grounds,

saving time and money.

But the 40 foot waves predicted from

Hagibis could sink a crab boat at sea.

The Pinnacle is using her time

in port to pre-bait her pots.

MARK (off-screen): Yeah, there's

a bunch of us crabbers here

waiting for this to pass through,

so we're just doing a little pre-bait.

Normally we do this on the way up to the

grounds but it's going to be kinda rough

on the way up, so the guys

are doing it there and down.

A few scoops of herring and some squid.

NARRATOR: Hagibis is

now within 500 miles of Dutch Harbor.

RICK (off-screen): Outside, it

is pretty much flat calm,

the calm before the

storm, beautiful evening.

Crew's able to work

still out on deck, doing their gear work.

Not much wind at all but by

tomorrow, it's not going to be pretty.

MAN (off-screen): Heave line

one. Heave line one.

MAN (off-screen): Hold line two,

hold line two.

WOMAN: Hold line two, on.

NARRATOR: The US Coast Guard

has a specialist asset in the Bering sea.

A powerful ex-salvage

cutter, The Alex Haley.

BENJAMIN (off-screen): One of the big

challenges with this particular super typhoon is

the way that it's going across the

entire Bering and Gulf of Alaska.

As we look at the Bering Sea, this

whole region is going to be affected

by super typhoon Hagibis.

NARRATOR: To provide cover for

any crab boats that opted to

weather the storm at sea,

Commander Golightly needs to

move his vessel towards the storm.

BENJAMIN: Search and rescue is always a mission

for the coast guard and up there with the

fishing fleet, a $6.4 billion industry, we're

there to help protect that fishing fleet

NARRATOR: Hagibis is less

than eight hours away.

BENJAMIN: Dutch

Harbor is here.

Most of this storm is going to

be really pretty nasty in this area.

I'm going to go around the

corner here to Beaver Inlet

and basically position the ship in there.

The fishing fleet, as they go up and operate,

are primarily going to probably be maybe up

in this area, when they're

looking for the crabs.

And so if we needed to, we can get out and get

up to try and help them but we're gonna have

to bang into some pretty

heavy seas to get there.

ZOGBY: 31.

WOMAN (off-screen): Line one

ready to go back over.

MAN (off-screen): Alright.

ZOGBY (off-screen): 32. Roger.

NARRATOR: The Alex Haley needs

to move now in order to be in position

to protect herself and the fishing fleet.

The 40 foot waves

expected from Hagibis could overwhelm her

if she was caught in the open.

ZOGBY: We are, as you can see by the bulldog,

we are the bulldog of the Bering Sea,

that's what we've nicknamed ourselves

and we're pretty proud about that.

NARRATOR: On route to her new location,

the Alex Haley has a chance to practice the

helicopter maneuvers required to

undertake search and rescue in a storm.

(radio chatter).

BENJAMIN: Winds over 30 to 35

knots, seas over eight to 10 feet,

my ability to launch a helicopter

are significantly degraded.

So, we're constantly training

and trying to build in that expertise.

PATRICK: Alaska warning

point, Anchorage weather.

Good afternoon sir, we've issued, or

correction, we've upgraded our high wind watch

to a high wind warning for zone 195.

We're looking at winds of 55 to

65 with gusts to 75 miles an hour.

Roger that, Anchorage weather clear.

NARRATOR: At the National

Weather Service in Anchorage,

the forecast is rapidly updated.

Hagibis is moving further north, but

it's grown so huge it's pulling in another

storm and steering it

towards the Aleutians.

PATRICK (off-screen): Up here in the

infrared imagery we can see Hagibis.

And this is our next storm

moving into the Bering.

NARRATOR: When two

large storms come within 1,000 miles,

they can begin to circle one another.

This rare phenomenon can alter the

tracks of both storms in a way that's

dangerously unpredictable.

As it approaches the Bering Sea, Hagibis has

sucked in a second major storm system from

Russia, and sent it spinning

in a completely new direction.

PATRICK (off-screen): You can see the circulation

center of Hagibis starting to move ashore

along the Siberian coast,

and it's helping funnel down

some colder air from Siberia and

then with this storm starting

to get really wrapped up.

That's helping pull the

dry air in even more.

That swathe of hurricane force winds will

continue to track across the southern Bering.

NARRATOR: Due to the power of Hagibis, the

second storm, which would have passed safely

over the western Aleutians, is now

heading directly towards the crab fleet.

PATRICK (off-screen): They lucked out

and missed the worst conditions yesterday,

that's not going to be the

case with this storm,

it's going to come right across them.

NARRATOR: For one

hurricane season,

National Geographic gave 1,000 cameras to

fishing boats and ships working

in the world's stormiest seas.

Right now, some of those vessels are in

the path of the biggest storm of the year.

One of our cameras is riding

with the Ardmore Dauntless,

a 52,000 ton tanker

carrying canola oil from

Portland, Oregon to South Korea.

As she approaches the Aleutians, she's

been caught up in the fallout from the

collision of Hagibis with

other storms in the area.

Captain Isaac is faced by

bad weather on all sides.

ISAAC: This is a weather fax

we have received now and

It is covering almost the

entire Pacific region

So there is no option of altering

and getting away from this system

We are expecting the wave heights

to be hitting around 6 to 7 meters

And as per our company policy we have

to avoid the waves of more than 5 meters

NARRATOR: The Dauntless is

designed to cope with waves up to 16 feet.

It's now facing a swell

of more than 22 feet.

But her course across

the Pacific is now set.

One of the world's busiest shipping

lanes passes right through the Bering sea.

The Great Circle Route,

connecting the USA with Asia.

PATRICK: The Great Circle route is

essentially like a highway on water,

where you're gonna just have

a lot of marine traffic

and you get one of these systems coming

through there with significant winds and waves,

it poses an inherent

hazard to not only the vessels themselves

but the crews on board.

NARRATOR: As she travels further

west, the waves striking the Dauntless

are getting bigger.

ISAAC: The safety of

the crew is paramount

Watch out for the high waves that

are going to hit us from the beam

NARRATOR: A ship being

hit by waves from the side, or its beam,

is vulnerable to taking

on water and even sinking.

ISAAC: We'll be passing south

of the Aleutian Islands.

And we have extremely

bad weather conditions

In the entire Pacific region now

NARRATOR: The Dauntless is now 250

miles south of the Aleutian island chain,

and the ocean is becoming

ever more turbulent.

ISAAC: We are expecting

wave heights to hit almost 7 to 8 meters.

Winds to go to 40 to 50 knots.

NARRATOR: The Dauntless is now

facing waves up to 30 feet.

Bering Sea mariners know

this shipping route

has ended in disaster in the past.

In 2004 the merchant

ship Selendang Ayu was caught in a storm

attempting this passage

between the USA and Asia.

She ran aground and

started to break apart.

The vessel that came to her rescue

was US coast guard cutter Alex Haley.

BENJAMIN (off-screen): If you end up

in the water, it's minutes of survival and

even with a dry suit and

proper gear, it's a few hours.

RESCUE CREW: We're dead

centre on the ship in about 30 seconds

US COAST GUARD: Ok. Roger that.

NARRATOR: They were able to

rescue 20 of the crew members.

But ship, cargo, and

six mariners were lost.

BENJAMIN (off-screen): Lessons from the Selendang

Ayu are always in the back of your mind,

just kind of showing that

this could happen again.

RICK: Good morning.

Probably look like hell.

Didn't sleep well.

Hurricane Hagibis has come

to Dutch Harbor in force.

RICK: It is nasty

NARRATOR: Super typhoon

Hagibis, the largest and

most destructive storm on

earth so far this year,

has caused chaos in the Bering Sea,

sucking in a second major storm system,

and hurling it right towards the king

crab fleet hiding out in Dutch Harbor.

RICK: We keep blowing out our buoys because

we're surging into the boat next to us,

so we got to keep adding buoys so

we don't smash into the other boat.

But it is gnarly.

There was recorded winds this

morning of 97 miles an hour

and it is just a butt kicker.

NARRATOR: A few hundred miles to the south,

the oil tanker Dauntless has reached the

halfway point between the USA and Asia.

Her route has taken her directly

into storms south of the Aleutians.

This far north, storms bring

not only high winds and waves,

but also ice, snow and freezing waters.

Dauntless is dangerously exposed.

ISAAC: I'm expecting the temperatures

to be dropping to -2 to -3 almost

And that'll be sub-zero

And we are to ensure all our

lines are properly drained

This is a snow storm coming now.

NARRATOR: Extreme cold temperatures

can ruin her cargo of canola oil.

They can also

freeze firefighting and lifeboat rigs,

rendering life-saving equipment

useless, right when it's needed most.

Dauntless still has ten days and 2,000 miles

in front of her before she reaches safety.

MAN (off-screen):

How was it back there?

MAN: It was very

windy and very cold.

MAN: Pretty nautical

this morning.

MAN: Yeah the wind is

howling pretty good.

We're looking at about

There goes my hat

NARRATOR: The transit of Hagibis

through the Bering Sea has forced the

Dutch Harbor fishermen

to miss the start of the king crab season.

Having paid out for fuel, bait and

food, they need to fill their quotas with

the best crab if they're

going to make a profit.

MIKE: The faster we get this done,

the faster I get to go home to my family,

my wife, three kids.

MARK: Just waiting for this wind to die

down here for going on three days now,

I guess, so anyway I think

we're about ready to take off.

NARRATOR: But the sea is

dangerously unsettled.

The effect of Hagibis,

followed by the second storm it attracted,

is that major waves are

now expected in the Bering.

RICK: We are

chaining our stack down

When you get movement

and the pots are swaying back and forth

It creates more of a roll

And if we have a loose

stack and we're rolling

Really hard like we

will be when we get out

There's a chance that

the boat could roll over

NARRATOR: Capsizing is the biggest k*ller

of Bering Sea fishermen and the reason

this is the most dangerous job in America.

MOORE: It can get pretty nasty

out there so we try and do

everything we can, ahead

of time, at the dock here,

to make sure it's stable and secure.

RICK: Oh watch yourself.

Tight?

MAN: Yep

NARRATOR: With the pots secure,

they head out into the freezing Bering

for the overnight journey

to their fishing grounds.

They are about to find out what

Hagibis has done to the Bering.

RICK (off-screen): So the weather

started to pick up even more.

We're getting gusts up to

45, seas up to 16 feet.

So, we are going to jog tonight and

try and get some sleep with the boat

moving and slamming around.

Not looking forward to it.

It's going to be brutal.

So, alright, I'm going to bed.

NARRATOR: All across the Pacific,

ships are filming for National Geographic

as they feel the fallout from Hagibis.

MAN (off-screen): Captain sir, officer of

the watch, given the increased sea state,

spray and relative

winds increasing to 55 knots over the deck

I've placed the upper

decks out of bounds sir.

Aye sir.

NARRATOR: The Canadian Navy vessel

HMCS Ottawa is heading home from Hawaii to

British Columbia after a long

tour in the western Pacific

enforcing sanctions on North Korea.

CREW MEMBER: Wind

ships, you're 045.

NARRATOR: But her route has her on

a collision course with the shock waves

of the Aleutian storms.

BARLOW: Okay, what

you got this morning?

JACKLIN (off-screen):

Lots of weather sir.

Here's some of the systems

that are affecting us.

There's this low-pressure system

just in the Aleutians and it's got that

very tight pressure gradients

with the strong winds,

pushing a lot of seas towards us.

NARRATOR: To get home on time, they have

no choice but to push through the waves.

The closer they get to home,

the worse the conditions will get.

BARLOW (off-screen): We've sort of

got one route to get us home on time,

so we'll be going through

some of that weather.

So we're looking at upwards of six meters,

possibly more for seas as we transit home.

NARRATOR: Navy frigates

are huge and heavy.

Instead of being thrown up and down on top

of the swell, their size allows them to

punch through waves coming

straight at the bow.

But carrying out routine work always

becomes much more challenging in heavy seas.

JACKLIN (off-screen): Here we have service

analysis impacts, basically just strong winds

and projected four to five meter seas.

It could still build from now but

still severe impact on operations,

not really good for launching

the boats or anything.

Any questions, sir?

BARLOW: No.

Okay, thanks.

JACKLIN (off-screen): Thank you.

CREW MEMBER (off-screen): A

systems engage. A systems sh**t.

MAN (over radio): Roger.

(g*nf*re).

CREW MEMBER (off-screen): I

think they were a little short.

CREW MEMBER 2:

They were, for sure.

NARRATOR: For an active warship,

the building seas offer a chance to

practice range accuracy

in rough conditions.

If they have to do this for real,

it won't be in perfect weather.

(g*nf*re).

CREW MEMBER: Ceasefire.

Right, range here complete.

MAN (off-screen): Roger,

right range complete.

NARRATOR: In the Aleutians, Captain Rick

has finally been able to start fishing

RICK (off-screen): It is so

amazing to be off the dock.

We have been tied up way too long,

so it's time to play and have some fun.

Every time I leave the dock it's exciting.

It's a new adventure, it's part of my blood,

it's part of my soul, is being out at sea.

NARRATOR: They are fishing 170

miles northeast of Dutch Harbor.

But super typhoon Hagibis has brought

havoc across the entire Bering Sea,

churning out giant waves

and wind still gusting at hurricane force.

MOORE: My name's

Moore, I'm chief engineer

We are king crab fishing

in nasty weather.

It's probably blowing about

45 right now 20ft seas

It's a real trick for the

captain to drive up on the gear

Very critical he gets it close to the boat

So the guy on the rail

can throw the hook out and retrieve it

NARRATOR: After capsizing,

falling overboard is the

most common cause of

death for crab fishermen.

Accidents on the deck also

account for a high number of fatalities.

MOORE: Ok, I'm gonna walk

around here and do some work

Coiling the line

That's b*llet who throws the hook

He's been here eight years

That's Noah.

Noah has been here six years

Right now he's running hydraulic controls

Very important that he does it right

People could lose hands and lives

NARRATOR: The passage of the

typhoon has caused an unexpected problem.

Warmer water swept in from the

tropics with the storm can cause king crab

to shift hundreds of miles

making them harder to find.

The Aleutian Lady is turning up a lot of

undersized crab which must be thrown back.

If she can't make up for lost time

now, the risks will have been for nothing.

NARRATOR: The Ardmore Dauntless

has been pushing through

20 foot waves for over a week.

Drawing on his experience, Captain Isaac

orients the Dauntless to avoid taking

waves side on and steers

a more sheltered route

in the lee of the Kuril Islands.

After 18 consecutive stormy days,

Captain Isaac delivers her safely

to her destination in South Korea,

a little late but with

crew and cargo intact.

ISAAC: We reduced our speed

And we took waves on the safest side

And we are at finally the

next destination, very safe

And that is always a relief to do so

NARRATOR: Deep in the Bering Sea,

Captain Rick is hauling his crab pots.

Hampered by the storm, his first 108 pots

have caught only 78 crab.

MAN: Nothing. No crab

RICK: If I mess up and

I don't find the crab, it's just like man,

I failed my guys, I failed my crew.

It's such a huge responsibility.

MOORE: My hands hurt really bad

Everything on this boat is hard

I'm cold, wet, tired, worn out

RICK (off-screen): You've got to pick it

up and always know that there is tomorrow.

I mean you really never know

whether half mile away, one mile away,

you're going to have the motherload

and you just have to keep on going.

♪

MOORE: This is a big one, he

probably weighs ten pounds.

I thought we were getting $9 a pound

for this, so this guy's worth almost $100.

There's the crab in the tank.

Tank's full.

There's probably 70,000 pounds in there.

RICK (off-screen): You've just always got

to stay positive, 'cause you don't know

what the next day's gonna be,

what the next string's gonna be,

what the next pot's gonna be.

And lo and behold, I think

we nailed it right on 'em.

NARRATOR: HMCS Ottawa is taking a

direct line home through the shock waves

of the Alaskan storm systems.

JACKLIN: We're a w*r ship, we can't

let a little bad weather stop us from

getting to where we want to go.

Wooh, it's like going through a car wash!

NARRATOR: Taking waves on the

bow is the safest strategy but will burn

up to 20% more fuel and it

won't be a comfortable ride.

JACKLIN: It just makes life a little

bit harder for people getting out of bed,

walking down the flats, that's

what we call the hallways in the ship,

or even just standing in a shower and

trying not to bounce off the sides of the

shower as you're

trying to rinse the soap out of your eyes,

as you're bouncing back and forth.

We're just going to stay

in a similar sea state to this

for the next few days.

NARRATOR: In the Bering Sea, Captain

Mark Casto and the crew of the Pinnacle

are still fishing in

treacherous conditions.

MARK: It's 12:37 in the

afternoon, pretty good storm.

STEVEN: Steven

Jamieson, Pinnacle.

It's a little breezy out, so we'll try to

take you out there and see what happens.

NARRATOR: Veteran fishermen like Steven

know all too well the risks of the job.

Constantly stormy weather

in the Bering increases the risk of swells

interacting to form freak giant waves.

MARK: Heads up. We got a hell

of a roller coming there.

NARRATOR: Once the crabs are removed,

the pots have to be stacked and tied down

so the boat can move to the next location.

On the Pinnacle, it's Steven's

job to secure them

so they don't risk rolling the boat over.

MAN: Bay 26

MAN: Roger.

NARRATOR: To balance on the top of the

rolling stack, with no harness and only a

life jacket for protection, is

to take your life in your hands.

Falling into the freezing water

would mean almost certain death.

After five days of fishing in

the shadow of typhoon Hagibis,

the Aleutian Lady is about to

make dock with her cargo of crab.

RICK: It was a bear getting in here,

a wind was blowing us off the dock,

but we got in and I'm going

to take a walk around and

show you what we accomplished

the past five days.

Hey b*llet, grab a big one.

That's the baby.

There we go, both you guys hold them up.

Big old spiders.

b*llet: Sea spiders.

NARRATOR: The Aleutian Lady

was the most successful boat that went out

as Hagibis passed over the Bering.

Hagibis finally dissipated over Eastern

Siberia as it approached the Arctic Circle.

It will go down in history as a record

breaker, for its flood damage in Japan.

PATRICK (off-screen): Hagibis

went from tropical storm strength to a

category five typhoon

in less than a 24-hour period.

NARRATOR: The most costly

typhoon of all time.

Its impact felt thousands of

miles from its tropical birthplace,

threatening lives

and livelihoods across the Pacific.

In a world of accelerating change,

as storms become more

powerful and less predictable,

Hagibis was a warning,

summoned from the deepest

and largest ocean on earth.