Bering Strait - Part 3

Thursday 7 August 12:00 – Depart Wales

53 - Making good speed with Cape Mountain in the background

It was slightly un-nerving as I walked down the beach to see the boat that would be carrying seven of us across the Strait, a tiny sixteen foot fishing boat, powered by a single outboard motor. My only experience of water before this was crossing the Channel on a P&O car ferry, so the thought of covering the same distance in something not much bigger than a bath tub didn’t fill me with joy!

I donned my life jacket, but to be quite honest it wasn’t really worth putting on. Life expectancy in those waters is measured in minutes, not hours and any rescue helicopter or boat would be too far away to reach us in time.

“So how often do Whales attack small boats?” I asked.

“Not that often,” came the reply, “but it does happen.”

I felt so much better!

Sunni set his GPS and we pushed out onto the calm sea. There was mist in the distance and as we sped away from the shoreline at a steady eight knots.

After three hours on the water, reading my latest copy of Land Rover Monthly, Little Diomede homed into view, the jagged rocks of the 1200 foot high rock peaking through the mist. A small boat came out to meet us and guide us into the slipway. There, perched high above the seas was the white Defender 110, hiding behind a 40 foot container, providing some shelter against the wind, rain and crashing waves.

Jerry, our safety boat captain was there to meet us.

“Don’t let him disappear,” said Steve. “Today is probably our only day for getting the job done.”

We unpacked our kit bags and carried everything up to the Land Rover, stepping over the Whale bones. A young puppy trotted by us, proudly showing off his Seal flipper, which he flipped into the air and caught. There were bits of dead animal everywhere, mixed in with old oil drums, rusting lorry trailers and rubbish strewn all over. It was an environmentalist’s worse nightmare. Why on earth didn’t they clean the place up?

Dan checked all the levels, jumped in and fired up the Defender. All was well, even though she’d spent nine hours in sea water and then two weeks battered by storms. Our first problem though was trying to get the Defender passed a large tracked digger that was parked right in the middle of the makeshift track. This involved driving underneath the boom, but the guys had got it up there, so it must be able to get back down again.

With Adam driving, we each took up a position where we could guide the vehicle through. Gingerly negotiating the rocks, planks of wood were positioned to step from one large boulder to another. It was a tight fit, but with much shunting back and forth, she was free to drive down towards the sea.

With a clear run to the slipway, we quickly started work on re-building the Defender. The inflatable floats, propeller and rudder were stored inside, while the large out-riggers were carried down to the assembly point.

I’d not seen the new vehicle before, only the original prototype, so Dan set me to work on re-fitting the rudder and swash-plate. The whole design was simple and easy to put together, there were no fancy complicated additions, just a great design that worked. The floats and outriggers were the same and within minutes I knew how it all went together, that was the beauty of Dan’s design.

33 - Steve Burgess at the healm

With the rudder and prop back on, I moved on to help the others. Adam had already positioned all the bracing bars were secured to the chassis and it was now a case of fitting the large red frames that supported the floats and connecting up the hydraulics, which raised and lowered them as required when entering and exiting water.

The last job to do was to inflate the large floats. There were 5 chambers, of which two could be punctured and the Land Rover would still float. After five hours of frantic work, we were ready. It was six pm and although we were close to the Arctic Circle and it wouldn’t get dark until gone 1 am, we were keen to get going. Losing the safety boat in the dark was one scenario that we didn’t want to happen.

I jumped on board the boat with Adam and we cruised around just off shore while we watched Steve and Dan trying to launch the vehicle. The tide must have been slightly lower than when they landed, as they struggled to scrape past the jagged rocks and onto the open water. We could hear the propeller striking the rocky sea bed as they tried in vain to free themselves from the island. After twenty minutes or so, with Dan struggling to free rocks from around the Land Rover, she broke free. Next stop, mainland Alaska.

The seas were flat calm, the islands of Little and Big Diomede sheltering the waters from the strong currents and the Land Rover set off at a good pace of 4 ½ knots. The safety boat circled the Land Rover so we could check that all was OK, Dan gave the thumbs up from their end. Things were looking good.

As we sailed further away from the island, the sun started to burn off the fog and we looked back and could just make out both Big and Little Diomede. It was a glorious day as we chugged along in a pocket of clear sky, fog hanging over the sea all around us. Hot drinks were passed around and Adam and I broke open our rations and shared them with the other four guys in the boat.

48 - 2 miles out to sea and making good progress towards Teller

Our progress was good, but after four hours on the water, we hit the Wales Current, which slowed us down to 1.4 knots and even as low as ½ knot at times. At that rate, we would take two days to complete the crossing! Jerry started to get twitchy in the safety boat, not wanting to be caught out at sea in the dark. Adam and I reassured him that all would be well and that we must continue heading for Wales.

Progress was painful, the clouds started to loom and the wind picked up slightly, making the sea a little choppy. Still, nothing that the Land Rover couldn’t cope with.

Every half an hour, Dan would climb out of the cab and do a walk-round of the vehicle. There was a slight leak within the hydraulic system that kept the outriggers pressed down into the water, so he would have to press his back against the vehicles bodywork and after giving Steve the nod to operate the hydraulics, would push his legs against the outriggers, so forcing the floats into the water more. This would lift the vehicle’s body out of the water slightly, so reducing drag and increasing speed.

The fog still clung low to the sea, but we could look over the top of it to see the majestic peak of Cape Mountain, which sat to the south side of Wales. Six hours had passed by, the sun was slowly setting behind us, leaving a glorious sunset in its wake. The sight of the Land Rover swimming towards us, with the deep red and orange of the sky lit up behind, will be something that I will always remember. The fog had finally been blown clear and we could at last see Wales village.

“What’s that?” asked Adam, pointing to a shape in the water.

49 - The most capable Land Rover ever built

It was a small fishing boat, coming out to greet us. We could make out the rugged shape of Dan Richard, sitting in the boat that was being crewed by his brother-in-laws. An avid land-lover, Dan had not been in a boat for 25 years, but this was a truly special occasion so he had made an exception.

The time was 00:50 on Friday 8th August 2008, when Steve Burgess and Dan Evans entered the record books for being the first team to successfully swim an amphibious vehicle across the Bering Strait. Best of all though, it was done in a Land Rover. Their total time for the entire crossing was 18 hours 50 minutes.

As they re-engaged the wheels to drive up onto the smooth sandy shore, a welcoming party of around 30 people came out join them and celebrate their momentous success. The currents had pushed them slightly north of the village by about ½ mile or so and as they drove back down the beach, crowded quad bikes drove alongside, beeping their horns. It was a true heroes welcome.

We were all tired, but when we stopped and thought about what we had done since leaving England, the speed of this achievement suddenly became clear. We only left the UK on Monday morning and there we were on what was really the Wednesday night having achieved the crossing already! We had all been set to be in Alaska for several weeks and we’d finished in under 3 days!

51 - Anyone for coffee

We turned in at 2am, exhausted, but this was only half the job done, we still had to get back to Nome.

Friday 8th August

We rose early, said our goodbyes and packed up the Land Rover ready for the next part of the journey. We had about an hour’s drive over a mountain pass, which joined the villages of Wales and Tin City, the military base at the foot of Cape Mountain. From there, the plan was to drop back into the water and swim down to the beach at Lost River once we had cleared the huge cliffs that lined the shoreline.

Sunni; ’Old Man’ and their younger brother, took their boat around the Prince of Wales headland to meet us at Tin City. I jumped in Dan Richard’s pick-up truck and we led the way, while the others drove in the Defender, which they left rigged up for amphibious work. It looked precarious as it made its way around the mountain tracks, almost as wide as it was long, but amazingly the Land Rover managed to pick its way around the jagged boulders.

The weather that day was even better than the previous, not a cloud in the sky and beautifully warm. I felt quite daft as I searched through my kit bag looking for my sunglasses and pulled out layer after layer of Arctic clothing, designed for temperatures of -30°C!

We launched into the crystal blue waters and with the sun on our backs, slowly sailed down the coastline. When I visited Wales the first time, I couldn’t quite understand why people would want to live in such a place. It was in the grips of a fierce winter, -10°C was considered a warm day and the creaking of the ice against the shoreline could be clearly heard. But now I knew, as we gently meandered our way, hugging the rocky shore and admiring the scenery as we went. We were thousands of miles away from home but world’s away from our normal lives. It was purely magical.

For six hours we sailed along the coast, circling the Defender every now and then to take photos and make sure that things looked OK. She looked so at ease in the water, cruising along at a steady 5 knots. Eventually though, the steep cliffs faded away and we reached the long shingle beach that linked Lost River with the village of Teller.

59 - The amphibious Defender at Teller with a spectacular sunset

The Defender’s arrival onto the beach wasn’t as graceful as the landing in Wales. A steep pebble bank caused the floats to fowl and so prevented a landing. After a couple of attempts, Steve decided that he really must stop messing about and actually land on the beach. With maximum power applied and ready to engage the wheels, raise the floats and disengage the prop all at the same time, he attacked the beach at a 45° angle. Success!

The safety boat was unloaded, fuel, kit bags, spares and other provisions were stashed on the Land Rover and we said our goodbyes. I don’t know when I’ll see them again, but one day I will return to Wales. With Dan at the wheel, Steve and Adam sat on the floats, while I stood in the load bed and hung onto the roll cage.

The going was tough. Hard packed shingle gave way to soft sand and Dan had to put his foot down and power through. It didn’t help that washed-up trees littered the beach and we had to pick our way around them. Whenever we hit a really soft patch, we jumped off and pushed with all our might, as the tiny 2.5 litre engine screamed away, trying to propel the vehicle forward – all 4 tons of it.

We were getting low on drinking water, sweating in the heat of the sun and progress was slow. After an hour we came across an old dredging rig and were forced to take a path off the beach and move inland. Wood was strewn all around and we had no means of moving the huge timbers that blocked our path. The Defender was taking a hammering and we were getting tired. Steve decided that we would launch back into the water and all four of us would ride on board.

As we had no safety boat to accompany us, there was a slight risk, but the Land Rover had performed faultlessly and if we stuck close to the shore, we shouldn’t have any problems. To be on the safe side though, Steve got on the satellite phone and called Dan back in Wales to let him know what was going on. He in turn then called ahead to the village of Brevig Mission, where another of his relatives said they would come out to escort us.

41 - Dan and Ellen Richard

When the new safety boat arrived, we could steer away from the coastline and head directly for Teller, cutting across the large bay. As the sun slowly started to set, we could make out houses in the distance, clinging to the coastline, on the edge of the stunning bay. By 01:30 on the morning of Saturday 9th August we had landed. All there was left to do was make the 70 mile journey to Nome. The roads are quiet in that part of the world, so we took the prop off, raised the floats and set off! Two hours later we arrived in the old gold mining town. That leg of the expedition was complete.

Crossing the Bering Strait by amphibious vehicle had eluded the greatest explorers of the modern world, as well as multi-millionaires and billion pound car manufacturers. When you talk to Steve though, there's no real indication of his monumental achievement. There’s no cocky swagger, he's quiet and reserved, but underneath lies the heart of a true explorer.

He will always be in the record books as having been the first man to have swum an amphibious vehicle across the Bering Strait and he did it in a Defender. Steve’s Land Rover achievement must rank alongside those of John Blashford-Snell and the infamous Darien Gap crossing and I am privileged and honoured to have played a small part in his expedition.

60 - Outside the Board of Trade Saloon - Nome's oldest saloon

Unfortunately, this is where his expedition ends. 15 years of planning and financial commitment have taken their toll, not to mention the patience of his long-suffering fiancé Nicky. Steve now has a new challenge to keep him occupied, planning his wedding! The Defender is still in a container, parked up in Nome waiting to continue the adventure.

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Past expeditions