It's the busiest waterway in the world.
Come on, skipper! Get a move on. That way.
A gateway to our nation.
Over 90% of the world's trade travels by sea.
It's not just TVs and refrigerators, it's everything around us.
Protected by a multi-agency task force,
it's a unique stretch of water.
This is Warship Tyne. Warship Tyne, Channel one-two, over.
Got that, over.
It's very difficult to police the Channel.
To board every vessel's an impossible task.
It's a place where swimmers
and Sunday sailors fight for space with cruise liners...
..and cargo ships.
It's like trying to get across the M25 during rush hour.
For some, the English Channel is their place of work.
If my mum came out here and saw what I was doing up here,
she'd tell me to get off straightaway.
For others, it's a playground. Whoo hoo!
But for those who venture onto its unpredictable waters...
We're just going to assist the moving of the casualty now.
Controlled over lifeboat.
..it can mean life or death.
Just drag him onto the boat.
I hope my babies get to see this and see what Daddy does for a living.
Today on Channel Patrol,
it's a busy day for the team
parking up huge cruise liners in Southampton.
I will just be given guidance as a ship gets nearer to the quay side.
Just coming into position.
Time is money for a mammoth cargo freighter.
But thick fog threatens to halt it in its tracks.
If the weather closes in, we would then have to abort,
turn the ship round and come back.
And that's a big problem for us.
And fog also jeopardises a team trying to swim to France
and back again.
Visibility is very minimal.
We could well have a ship coming towards us at 22 knots.
The English Channel is one of the busiest shipping routes
in the world, with up to 500 vessels a day in its waters.
Huge cargo ships travel through it day and night
and deliver goods to us from all over the world.
Britain is an island.
The UK handles 510 million tons of goods a year
and 95% or more is actually routed through UK ports.
But now, as international trade grows every year,
these vessels have got bigger.
A whole lot bigger.
The largest ones that we handle can carry 18,000 containers
and it's important that we get them in quickly and out quickly.
The APL Merlion is one of a new breed of super-ships
known as bulk carriers, which traverse the Channel
en route between the Far East and some of Europe's greatest ports.
At 368 metres long,
she is 62 metres bigger than London's tallest building,
The Shard, and can carry up to 14,000 20-foot containers.
Everything from televisions to cars, chemicals to meat and vegetables,
can be transported cheaply from the Far East to Europe.
Captain Wong and his crew
are in charge of navigating this mammoth ship.
We are really doing a very good service
to society, basically.
Because we shift goods around the world at a cheaper cost.
Without us seamen, everything would be expensive.
With vast distances to cover and tight deadlines to be met,
ships like the Merlion have to run on time,
or costs can quickly escalate.
Today, the Merlion is loading up in Hamburg, Germany.
The freighter is nearing the end of a two-and-a-half-month trade loop,
which started in Shanghai and will end in Southampton.
But first, she needs to get through the Channel,
which poses its own challenges for a ship her size.
And she can't afford any delays.
'Time is very precious. Container ships, such a big ship,'
we cannot get delay on this departure time and time delays.
So mainly, it's to get in on time and then get out in time.
The Merlion has just a few hours left to load
and unload before setting sail again.
Otherwise, she will miss the critical tide window
to leave the port.
At exactly 6pm, the ship casts off,
and, with over 79,000 metric tons of goods on board,
is ready to make her way through the English Channel
and on to Southampton.
Hamburg poses special problems for a ship like this,
which could be catastrophic...
Being able to pass under the two-and-a-half-mile
Kohlbrand bridge.
If the tide is too high, the ship will hit the bridge.
Too low, and it will run aground, blocking the harbour
and closing the port to other shipping.
With around 20 ships docking in Hamburg each day,
the cost would run into millions.
There is only a 30-minute window
where the water level is just right,
and even then, the Merlion will only just clear the bridge.
Normally, we get something like one metre below the bridge.
So... And the tidal streams do come up very fast. Very fast.
The height of the sea water in relation to this bridge
is so critical to this type of shipping
that it carries a digital readout that is constantly updated.
We cannot afford error.
Because if you have an error, you knock down the bridge
or the ship mast will fall off.
Or the other way round, the ship will ground
and you will just block up the whole Channel.
And cost incurs,
and the other traffic coming into port will be all delayed.
The Merlion makes it under the bridge
with just six metres to spare.
Having left Hamburg, the freighter travels through the night.
Early the next morning, she's about to enter the Dover Straits.
VOICE OVER RADIO: 'Take care, Merlion.'
But thick fog is settling in over the Channel.
Yeah, good evening to you, sir. Erm, we've just come...
To help navigate the Merlion through the Channel's tricky waters,
a specialist UK pilot has been brought on board
to advise the captain.
Tony Tibbot has been sailing through these waters for 35 years.
'What is your present visibility?'
Yeah, about ten minutes ago,
we had one and a half miles at the foxtrot three.
Hundreds of vessels a day squeeze through the Dover Straits,
which at their narrowest point are just 18.8 miles across.
We have the Coastguard listening, one-six...
In the 1960s, roughly half of all shipping collisions in the world
occurred in the Channel,
so since 1971, a compulsory traffic separation scheme
has been in place here, dividing it into two lanes.
The Coastguard keeps a watchful eye
to make sure no-one breaks the rules.
Tony has first-hand experience
of the many potential hazards of this stretch.
The weather can change very quickly.
You only have to look out of the window at the moment
to see we've gone into dense fog.
You've got fishing boats, you have swimmers,
you have ferries, you have rowing boats, you've got recreation vessels.
It's busy.
Very much like a highway.
Except it's a highway where you have tides and currents.
To help negotiate the busy traffic,
the Merlion is equipped with AIS or Automatic Identification System,
which identifies other craft in the area,
and tracks their course, position and speed.
It's compulsory for all passenger ships and any vessels over 300 tons.
But many smaller boats don't have AIS - a major problem in thick fog.
I'm monitoring to see if I can pick up anything that may be
a small target, a recreational craft which may not have an AIS.
And that's the concern. Even in weather like this, people will sail.
You've got to remember it's a computer.
Sometimes the computer says no.
But on a day like today, it's invaluable.
It's all to do with safety and keeping the ship well-afloat.
Heavily loaded cargo ships like the Merlion sit low in the water.
The Dover Straits has a number of sand banks
which Tony must avoid or risk the ship running aground.
You can get a build-up of ships here.
And you can end up going quite close to the falls,
and you can see that the depths are clearly shown.
Anything less than 15 metres shows in white, bold if you like,
and the safety contour is the 20-metre contour.
While Tony must carefully navigate the Merlion
through the Channel's hazards,
she's also on a strict deadline to reach her final destination -
the port of Southampton.
One of the UK's busiest ports,
it not only handles almost 40 million tons of freight,
but 1.7 million cruise passengers also pass through here every year.
And every time one of these floating palaces docks,
it's worth 1.25 million to the local economy.
MSC Opera. VTS, one cable.
Keeping all of these giant vessels flowing smoothly in and out
of the port is Southampton's Vessel Traffic Service.
'0-1-4. Chip in as well.' Yeah, that's no problem at all, Barry.
That's no problem.
The watch tower never sleeps.
We're here 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days of the year.
Not personally myself,
but the whole team of us. There's about 20 of us in total.
We keep the port safe, bring them in, get them out.
It's 5am and duty watch manager Nathan Rowsell
is preparing for a hectic day ahead.
We have four cruise ships. The MSC Opera - first one leading in.
She should be up here for about six o'clock at dock head.
Followed by the Arcadia, followed by the Oriana then the Adonia.
And that is in turn followed by a car carrier
and then a very large container vessel.
So it's pretty busy this morning.
You can't float a ship that weighs 39,000 tons up the Channel
and park it in the dock.
With a unique tidal regime,
sandbanks and hundreds of pleasure boats to contend with,
it's a tricky business.
Southampton Vessel Traffic Service provides its own pilots
to help captains get their ships parked up.
Jim Russell has over 15 years' experience
navigating this stretch of the Channel.
A pilot knows the waters.
It's a little bit unfair for a captain to come into foreign waters
with lots of hazards
and lots of other shipping
and to take his ship to the docks.
We all know where the hazards are.
We're here for a safety element, to reduce that risk.
Jim is heading our to get on board the MSC Opera cruise ship,
ten miles out to sea.
She is carrying passengers
travelling from Spain, Portugal, France and Guernsey.
Back at base, a regimented approach
is required to park these gigantic vessels.
At countdown, and for yourself on 14, please.
They're brought up in the order they're coming up to the berths.
So the MSC Opera, for example, she's going furthest up into the docks,
so she'll be boat number one and come up head of the convoy.
They're all on time this morning,
but it only takes one ship to have a delay of five, ten minutes
and that can throw the whole plan adrift by an hour or two hours.
It really is a... It's a juggling act, really.
It's not just, "There it is. That's set in stone."
It's constantly changing.
'14.' I thank you.
It has to work.
We are running one of Britain's largest ports,
with some pretty premier ships coming in.
You know, it's not just a walk in the park, it's...
It's good fun, but it's hard work.
Arcadia, VTS, five cables.
Just beyond Southampton's harbour,
the massive, 2,400-capacity cruise ship MSC Opera
awaits expert pilot, Jim.
You're there giving advice to the captain.
We've both got a vested interest to get the ship into port
in a safe manner.
Some jobs are more routine than others, so there's always pressure.
But that's part of the job.
What could potentially go wrong?
Well, it's probably best not to think about what can go wrong.
Hello. Morning. Hello.
I'm not expecting any untoward issues today.
Hopefully a nice routine passage in through the Solent.
Jim enters the bridge to help bring this giant into dock.
Getting a ship like this in smoothly
requires many different skilled staff working together.
While the on-board crew get the MSC Opera ready to tie on,
the dockside team are in position to help bring her in safely.
Berthing officer Brian Butcher has been dockside for 12 years,
parking up almost 3,000 cruise liners.
I will just be giving guidance as the ship gets into position
as we have to insure that the air bridges are in the right positions,
and also store doors and baggage doors are clear of any
of the bollards and obstructions.
Manoeuvring such a large amount of metal takes time
and a lot of communication. Opera 100.
Possibly 40 metres to come ahead now. Four zero.
'Coming ahead. Thank you.'
The final metres are critical.
Crashing into the quayside
could cause untold damage to the multi-million-pound ship.
And that's 30 to go. Three zero metres now.
'30, thank you.'
The pilot will we giving the master advice all the way in.
And ten to come ahead. Ten metres now.
'Ten.'
Creep in the stern slowly now. Just under a metre to go.
'Stern under a metre.' And just coming into position.
'Position. Thank you.'
All right. That's a successful positioning.
All that remains now is for the ship-to-shore walkway
to be put in place so its 1,700 passengers can disembark.
It'll be bustling within the city. Good trade for the locals.
When we get lots of cruise ships in, it's very good.
But it's not just colossal cargo ships and cruise liners
who must carefully navigate their way round the Channel's hazards.
During the summer and early autumn,
there is also human traffic crossing through its waters.
Tiny lone swimmers, battling to make their way to France.
Fewer people have successfully swum the Channel
than have conquered Everest, and eight have died trying.
This can truly be classed as an extreme sport,
and it's one of man's greatest
physical and mental challenges.
But this team, who are training in a lake near London,
are not just attempting to swim from Dover to France,
they're also planning on swimming back.
We've swum the Channel, all of us. It was hard.
This is going to be twice that.
The round trip is a minimum of 52 nautical miles
and will take up to 30 hours to complete.
Endurance, dealing with hypothermia, the cold,
mental exhaustion and physical exhaustion and, of course,
the fact that we can't sleep.
Those are the things that are going to get us.
Whether we've bitten something bigger than we can chew, I don't know.
But you have one single thing in your mind, focused, and that is France.
To get there.
The team is raising money
for a charity that's close to Dr Habibi's heart.
The Children Of St Mary's Intensive Care, or COSMIC for short.
Intensive care is very expensive so COSMIC supports the unit,
provides funding for research and education
and supports the families of critically ill children.
The team, called the Cosmic Rays, hopes to raise £50,000.
And with them on the day, spreading news of their progress
via social media, will be 17-year-old Patrick Kane,
a former patient of Dr Habibi's unit.
Parviz said, "What about this?
"I'm swimming the Channel there and back this summer.
"We need someone to be on the boat,
to be a media rep." And he said, "Would you want to do it?" So...
The answer was, of course, yes.
As a nine-month-old baby, Patrick had suffered multi-organ failure
and spent three months in St Mary's.
I wouldn't be alive if it wasn't for COSMIC.
So it means a huge amount to me and I feel very indebted to it
and anything I can do to help, I always will.
Because of persistent bad weather on the Channel,
the team's attempt has been delayed by five weeks.
But today, despite the heavy fog, the challenge is going ahead.
Is the tide coming in or out at the moment? Don't you worry about that.
That's my job. Your job's swimming, all right?
THEY LAUGH
Lisa, Paul and Rob will join Dr Habibi to make up a team of four,
and the Cosmic Rays will swim the Channel as a relay,
each swimming for an hour before changing over.
Well, I said I wouldn't believe it until we start. And we've started.
Lisa is the first to swim from the start beach
along from Dover Harbour.
My first fear is
actually how cold it is.
But it's never as cold as you think it is.
Nevertheless, the sea temperature today is just 15 degrees,
half that of an average swimming pool.
It's a new hat.
Quite nervous, but... Once I get in, I know that I'll be fine.
KLAXON
Hooray! The Cosmic Rays are coming!
Well, the long wait is over. Finally. This is amazing. I now believe it.
It's happening.
As the team's strongest swimmer, Lisa is selected to go first,
to push out against the strong tidal currents that exist
around the Dover beach and get the team out into the English Channel.
She's swum well over 200 metres already.
But as Lisa gets further out to sea, the fog starts to thicken.
Dover Coastguard, Dover Coastguard, this is Sea Satin. Sea Satin. Over.
'Sea Satin. Dover.'
The success of this swim depends on expert knowledge
of the Channel's complex tidal currents.
'Roger. What's your present visibility like there?'
It was around about a mile when we started,
but it seems to have closed in a little bit now.
Pilot Lance Oram has spent 20 years guiding swimmers safely to France.
We're just keeping an eye out, mainly on the radar, to make sure that
obviously there's no vessels around us that are going to be a problem.
It's normally the small yachts and smaller motor cruisers
and things like that that are a little bit more difficult to see.
But hopefully, the sun will come out and it will burn all the mist off
and it will be a lovely day and it will make everything wonderful.
But as Paul prepares to take over from Lisa,
the fog shows no sign of lifting.
Yeah, second swimmer in today.
Feel a little nervous as it's the first swim of the day.
Lisa's been chucking along quite speedily.
She's a good swimmer. I'm slightly slower than her,
so hopefully I can just keep up the same pace,
but, yeah, just looking forward to getting on with it, really.
Best of luck, Paul. Good luck, Paul.
For the swim to qualify as being recognised by one of the official
Channel swimming organisations, strict rules have to be met.
KLAXON Go, go, go, go, go!
The swimmer entering the water must swim behind the previous swimmer.
He's gone round the back of you. He's gone round the back, don't worry.
Then the signal is given to start the next leg. OK, swimmer aboard!
Did you enjoy that? Yeah. Refreshing! Well done.
It's so misty, you can't see how far you've come.
Whereas normally, you're like, "I've gone nowhere."
Channel swimming observer Mike Ball
is also on hand to make sure the swim goes safely.
I think the visibility at the moment is probably...half a mile?
It's OK at the moment.
We are still within the inshore waters of the United Kingdom,
but when we start going into the shipping lane,
that's when we have to be very, very cautious.
The shipping lanes are like a two-way tanker super-highway.
And in order to reach France,
the swimmers will have to cut straight across the middle of them.
It's like escorting a pram across the motorway. Er...
We're going across at something like 1.8 knots,
and once we get into the shipping lane,
we could well have a ship coming towards us at 22 knots.
So it's imperative that when you've got situations like this
and visibility is very minimal, that's when we have to be relying
on our radar and what the Coastguard is seeing for us.
As well as restricting the visibility for other shipping,
the fog is causing problems for the swimmers.
Weird with the fog, because you can't actually see land,
whereas normally, you're used to seeing...land still there.
I did your track. You've done about two miles. OK.
The tide is still coming in, so that was not a bad effort at all.
We've made good progress.
Rob is a last-minute addition to the team
after another swimmer had to pull out.
I wasn't intending to be doing this, this time last week.
And I received the call,
to which I thought, "No."
And as the week grew on, I sort of considered it more and more.
And then I knew that these guys really needed someone, so...
I implied I might be available, to which Lisa replied,
"What about Friday?"
OK, Rob. When you're ready, Rob. Cheers. Thank you. Enjoy!
Rob has the most recent experience of swimming the Channel,
having completed a solo swim two weeks previously.
As he changes over with Paul,
he wastes no time in picking up the pace.
Rob came very highly recommended, and as you can see,
he's actually a very strong swimmer.
So I'm very pleased with that.
He's the third leg. We're making good progress.
It's a bit rougher now, and it's going to get rougher still.
I'm next!
'Sea Satin. Dover.'
Good morning again to you, sir. It's information.
We're about to enter the south-west lane. 'Roger. Many thanks.'
Thank you, Tower.
With visibility still poor
and the prospect of navigating the busy shipping lane,
Dr Habibi gets ready for his leg of the relay.
KLAXON
Rob has made excellent progress
and the team are now over six miles out into the Channel.
That just covered a lot of ground.
You just swam us into the lane, anyway. Did I? Yeah. Good.
As the team gets further out to sea, conditions become choppier.
Bit more rocky now, isn't it? Yeah.
You know, change over you and me - definitely seemed to pick up a bit.
One of the biggest threats to a relay team is seasickness
as team members wait the three hours for their turn to swim.
I noticed that just before I got in,
I started to feel more queasy on the boat,
and that's generally a good indicator
of what the conditions are. Yeah, definitely.
The biggest risk is actually how well the team cope with being at sea,
because obviously, if people start to feel seasick,
they feel a bit rough around the edges, obviously,
and then they don't eat properly.
They don't get the energy into their system that they would need
for their hour in the water to swim efficiently.
When we're out on a boat at the speed that we're travelling at,
and where we are in the English Channel, there's no set wave pattern.
Because we've got the shipping coming down,
south-westerly in the English lane,
going up the shipping lane north-east in the French side,
and then cross-Channel ferries going back and forwards,
obviously, you get all the wash.
So it's like an oscillating motion
that is always different all the time, so...
For some people, yeah, that is not a nice feeling at all.
23 hours more to go. Yeah, something like that.
With the end of Dr Habibi's session,
each team member has completed an hour...
We'll see you in an hour.
Thanks. Go! ..and Lisa takes to the water for her second swim.
Come on, as quick as you can. Come on.
How was it? Very rough, actually. Yeah. Rougher and rougher.
I was feeling it as well, let alone in the water.
As the oldest member of the team, Dr Habibi's fitness is tested most.
Well done, Parviz. Good session there, mate. Yeah. I did get cramp.
Yeah.
The fog remains persistent
as the Cosmics gradually make their way towards French waters.
Since completing her second swim,
Lisa has been hit hard by seasickness.
SHE COUGHS
'Just not able to keep any food down.
'Which isn't great when you know you've got to swim.'
It's actually, when I get out, I go below to get changed.
It just doesn't work.
We're going to have to swim maybe another four, six swims.
So yeah, going to have to try and get some food in at some point.
But, yeah, we'll stick with water for now. SHE LAUGHS
And if one swimmer has to pull out, the team will fail.
On his next swim, Dr Habibi seems also to be suffering.
I'm trying to ask him if he's got cramp, really.
There's not much I can do about it, but it would just be nice to know.
He's either got cramp, been stung by a jellyfish, or he might've...
I dunno, he might have a muscle injury. We don't know.
In fact, as the sea swell increased, Dr Habibi had swallowed sea water.
Now Lisa must press on, despite her seasickness.
And for Rob, who completed a solo Channel swim
just two weeks previously,
the challenges of swimming as part of a relay team
are starting to have their effect.
I do actually find it more difficult to get out
and start again than just to push through.
Getting out all the time and stiffening up
and feeling tired, and then you've got to jump back in the water again
and start off cold and work your way back up.
So it's more easy to pick up injuries.
While the swimmers battle sickness and injury,
experienced pilot Lance must keep a close eye on the radar,
to guide them through one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world
in thick fog.
The tankers are out there, even if the swimmers can't see them.
The Coastguard keeps him updated on the weather ahead.
'Reports of three cables or less in the area of the bank.'
Yeah, that's understood, sir.
Well, we've just noticed on the radar
that we've got a ship that's reasonably close to us.
As you can see, the visibility is pretty limited at the moment,
so we're just seeing what we can see from our natural eyesight.
Can't see a thing at the moment.
FOGHORN You can hear the foghorn in the back, and...
Just giving a warning to other shipping within the area,
and hopefully they will do the same for us.
The Cosmic Rays are making steady progress towards France,
but Lance is continuing to monitor the safety of the attempt.
If the fog worsens, the whole swim could be called off.
The Channel is the maritime super-highway,
bringing us 95% of everything we buy.
But as the cargo freighters who travel through it
become ever larger, it becomes increasingly difficult for them
to avoid other traffic in their path.
The APL Merlion is making her way carefully through the dense fog.
Specialist pilot Tony Tibbot
has been advised of the swimmers' presence by the Coastguard.
We've come across many things and we've just heard
that there are four swimmers in the inshore zone on the French side.
I admire them in many ways,
but it's something else that we have to consider
when we transit the strait with a large, large vessel like this one.
Despite being the size of three Olympic football pitches,
the Merlion has just 25 crew members on board,
who spend up to seven months of the year at sea.
Bad weather continues to follow the Merlion
as she approaches her final destination of Southampton.
Two pilots from the harbour's Vessel Traffic Service come on board
to navigate the ship through the last part of her journey.
Hello there, Captain.
The plan was to take the ship all the way into port,
but the fog which has dogged her journey through the Channel
is still causing major problems.
The problem we've got at the moment is poor visibility.
We're trying to do our best for the captain.
Get the ship as far as we can.
We're in constant communication with VTS up in the docks,
and they're telling us that the visibility's closing in.
That's a big problem for us.
So we've made the decision to go into Charlie anchorage.
That's the designated anchorage for a ship this size,
and we just wait for the visibility to improve.
Any delay in the journey will hold up the delivery of goods
and could cost thousands.
But with safety the priority, the Merlion's crew have no choice
but to weigh anchor here, and wait for the fog to clear.
The Cosmic Rays had almost reached France,
but although they desperately hoped to reach land during daylight,
the strong tidal currents have delayed the run in.
But just over 12 hours from leaving Dover,
team leader Dr Habibi reaches the rocks of the French beach.
Whoo! Whoo! Yeah!
Normally, we can then just chill out,
have a few drinks on the way back while we motorboat back.
But we're not. We're going to be swimming back.
Something that I think is dawning on us all now.
This is where the challenge really begins.
Yeah, I think it is, because it's at night and... It's cold.
I wouldn't say this is an anticlimax, but this is just halfway.
Now the sun has set, the team faces a new challenge - the cold.
And Rob is finding it hard to warm up after his last swim.
Rod's sorting me some soup out.
Get some energy and get some nutrients in me,
and then I'm intending to actually hit the sack because...
..I need to.
Basically.
As Dr Habibi returns to the boat
from touching down in France, Lisa must now take over.
Good luck. Good luck. Good luck, Lise.
Thanks. Enjoy. Just...day dream. Or night dream.
'I'm really scared of swimming at night,
'and that's the piece that I'm really worried about,
'and I've been working out since yesterday
'what time I'll be swimming till
'and what time I'll be swimming at night.'
On you go.
Yet Lisa manages to combat her fear of swimming in the sea at night.
And despite the exhaustion and cold,
each of the swimmers turns out two one-hour swims
during the hours of darkness.
My first night swim was a bit disorientating.
Came out pretty tired.
Put my head down for a little bit of kip
and the next thing you know, the time's flown by, so...
The second night swim now is not looking that enticing.
It's pretty dark out here and it's only a ferry I can see.
Well done. Welcome aboard.
It's going well.
Nice cossie. There you go.
Yeah. No, I'm fine.
I wasn't feeling up for it when I got in the water, that's for sure!
Relying again on instruments only,
the skipper must steer the swimmers back through the busy shipping lane.
I think we are making good progress. The pilot's pretty happy.
The observers are pretty happy, so... We'll get across there.
We'll definitely make it back,
it just depends how many more swims we've got, I think.
I'll probably have to do one more after this and...
Possibly two more, who knows?
But at least it will be daylight by then,
so it will be a bit more pleasant. The sun will be up.
Channel swimming is as much a mental as a physical challenge,
so remaining positive will be vital to the team's success.
But they still have a long way to go.
Cargo freighter the Merlion is also hoping to soon complete
its journey through the Channel.
The ship's on a tight turnaround to unload and reload its cargo
as she needs to head back out to sea and on to her next destination.
But thick fog has so far made it too hazardous for the ship
to come into harbour at Southampton.
We want to get it up as quick as possible. She's lost 12 hours,
best part of, because of the fog.
But the terminal want to get it turned round,
the shipping line want it to get in, get out and get back on schedule.
So we're trying to move it as fast as we can.
The ship is finally given the all-clear.
Captain Wong is being assisted
by two new pilots from Southampton Harbour
to guide the ship through the last part of her journey.
The Merlion has so far negotiated her way safely through
the Channel's hazards.
But as she starts her approach to Southampton, it's soon clear
why this monster ship wasn't allowed into port in thick fog.
You have the biggest turn under pilotage in the world,
which puts the ship across the tide at its most vulnerable.
You have to know where the ship has got to be positioned
throughout that turn, um...
Cos it can get...wrong very quickly.
The geography of the Solent
means ships have to make a sharp right-hand turn
to get up the Channel into port.
With a freighter as big as the Merlion, it's no mean feat.
300-odd metres against the tide, it's going to go sideways
and you've just got to try and control that sideways movement
from...being pushed onto things that you don't want to be pushed onto.
The Merlion is safely through the turn.
The bridge team now have to carefully navigate
an area of shallow waters.
On that side of that buoy, there's no water for us.
There's about six, seven metres of water. Our draft is 12 and a half.
We will go aground.
Coming into port at midday has meant the Solent is bustling
with hundreds of other craft.
And as the Merlion takes almost 4,000 metres to come to a stop,
the pilot and captain must keep a careful eye on the busy traffic.
Right in front of my ship's bow. They never assume that in case...
their motor fails, or what, then you'll be in our way.
So I think it's not a very safe activity.
Hopefully they keep clear of us as we get closer.
This part of the Solent is very popular with pleasure boats.
The spatial awareness of your average yachtsman is not what it could be.
You can actually buy a yacht with no qualifications and disappear off.
It's the same idea as if you buy a car without a driving licence
and disappear onto the roads.
You wouldn't think twice about doing that.
You just would not do it.
So they don't appreciate how fast these things are going.
They suddenly turn and put themselves right in danger.
Where we don't want them to be.
It gets a bit fraught on occasion.
The harbour's Special Patrol Launch
is on hand to help keep other traffic out of the Merlion's path.
ASP Merlion.
'Roger that, ASP.'
Some days you've got the SP darting all over the place,
getting yachts out the way because
they just aren't paying attention to where they are.
With so much to contend with, it's hardly surprising
that Southampton Port requires all large ships
to have its harbour pilots on board.
It is compulsory for any ship over 61 metres in length.
But the captain of the ship is not obliged to listen to anything
the pilot has to say. He can come and do his own thing.
But if it all goes wrong, the captain's in a whole heap of trouble.
The Merlion is now approaching her berth, and for the pilots on board,
it's one of the most difficult challenges of the whole journey.
As freighters like this become ever larger and longer,
it's going to be a tight squeeze.
The Channel is only 200 metres in width. We're 50.
We've already taken up a quarter of that channel already.
Ain't a lot of room for error.
Dead slow astern.
Plan is to get the ship alongside those three gantry cranes.
So we've got to get the ship turned round
so it's parallel to the line of the berth, and put it alongside.
In a very confined space.
The pilots will have to perform what is effectively a handbrake turn
to get this huge ship into the berth.
We're going to keep going.
Keep going towards that concrete wall as long as we can.
It's a game of holding your nerve.
Hard to starboard.
Hard to starboard!
Three tugboats are needed to manoeuvre
this 150,000-ton giant round.
Stop on the third bead.
That's the turn complete. As you can see, we're parallel to the quay.
Perfectly positioned. Coming in nicely.
Got the two tugs pushing... 'Pushing now.'
A delicate touch is needed to bring the Merlion slowly alongside.
'Down to five metres.'
With a ship this size,
even a small knock could put the whole berth out of action.
'Yeah, that's a good position now. In position.'
He's happy with the position.
Everything went on smoothly. The pilots have done a good job.
At the same time, the ship is now safely alongside.
Fairly standard manoeuvre.
INTERVIEWER: Good job, well done?
I'd like to say so. Yeah?
For another group of travellers on the Channel,
there's still a little way to go before they reach safety.
Well done, sir. Brilliant.
The Cosmic Rays team has swum through an entire day and night
in their epic attempt to join the handful of people
who have succeeded in swimming to France and back again.
As dawn breaks, the mist takes over again.
But although they can't see land, the swimmers are nearly home.
Apparently, we're three miles away
from where we started.
Shakespeare Beach, which is all down to a fantastic pilot.
So that's where our landing position is going to be.
I don't think I'm going to make it, though, to land,
because it's too far for me to swim in an hour.
So I'll do my best.
They've done really well. Yeah, it's a good swim.
They've been pretty consistent in their speeds et cetera.
No-one's dropped out yet or had any really problems. So...
No, it's going to be a good finish.
Come on, then, Lisa. Swim number seven!
Just one mile from shore,
Lisa takes to the water for what will be the last time.
Enjoy, and we'll see you in an hour's time! Yeah!
Here we go. We've gone on this far. We left in fog.
We're arriving in fog!
You're looking invigorated! HE LAUGHS
In the wheelhouse, the S shape of the route the swimmers have taken
to compensate for currents and tides is plotted on Lance's screen.
It's been a really good track, I think.
We're just coming up to the 25th hour now.
As they do so, the coast of England comes into sight.
We're just 500 metres off the shoreline now,
coming in towards the...Shakespeare Cliff.
Which is just down the road from Dover Harbour,
so we're not far from where we started. Which is quite nice.
The journey back's been really tough. We've been very cold.
I'm still recovering from my swim.
As the cliffs become closer, so does Dr Habibi's target
of raising £50,000 for the children of St Mary's Hospital.
We're nearly there, I think.
The last time I looked at it, it was, like, 46,000.
So this is a phenomenal achievement and I'm very pleased
with the way the swim's gone and the charity donations have gone.
In just over 26 hours, the team have swum to France and back again.
Three cheers for Cosmic Rays. Hip, hip!
ALL: Hooray! Hip, hip! Hooray.
Hip, hip! Hooray!
With their journey complete, the team can finally relax.
But tomorrow, hundreds more swimmers, sailors
and professional seafarers
will venture onto the Channel's unpredictable waters.