Steaming through ice is all in a day's work for the Norwegian built shrimp trawler, Mersey Phoenix - though skipper Andrew Titus had to endure many more days of doing so than he expected...
when he made his way across the North Atlantic headed for the Danish port of Hirtshals where she is due a refit...
though making just short of 20 knots through the Pentland Firth must have come as a surprise the entire voyage still took 8 days...
where our weather is somewhat kinder than he might experience than when working back home - turn up the volume to hear the ice crashing against the hull of the boat...
although the latitudes there, ie 56ยบ are on a par with Scottish waters, the ambient air and sea temperature are somewhat lower! The boat normally fishes for red shrimp so is unlikely to dip her trawls in the North Sea for a trial tow!
Though when it comes to actually fishing away from home - remember the Japanese squid boat, Daikichimaru No.1 that was fishing at Rockall back in October? - she has just begun fishing off the south west coast of Australia!