Two sailors each man the replica boats, attended closely by guides in zodiac support boats. Suddenly, a leopard seal pops up next to the James Caird and eyes Wallace with predatory intent. It vanishes, then resurfaces again around the perimeter of the boat. Wallace warns the crew of the Dudley Docker to keep their bodies well inside the boat, just as the seal appears over its bow. The camera boat pulls alongside the Shuleykin first, rising and dropping with the swell by as much as eight feet.
Crew members drape a cargo net on the side of the ship.
With the rising and lunging of the boat, each person grabs hold of the net at the peak of a swell and gets hauled aboard by waiting hands. All on deck don hard hats when the crane moves to reel in the camera boat. Its swinging hooks finally grab hold, then lift the boat to the deck as the crew steadies it overhead. We unload in the driving sleet. Offshore, the replica boats and zodiacs thread through the ice to the stern.