The Dalmatian coast and 101 ways to have fun … Welcome to Dubrovnik: 1,000 years of history enclosed by fortified medieval walls … and the starting point to my latest cruise … It’s like walking through a film set. Cruising with Jane McDonald s6e4: Adriatic
There are more than 350 passengers on this one and we’re all in for a treat as we explore 380 miles of coastline over the next week. ibid.
I go blowing bubbles in Venice and visit the oyster capital of the Adriatic. ibid.
Don’t miss the unique experience of a Venice’ gondola. A standard 25-minute private ride during the daytime costs around 80 Euros. ibid.
This time I’m totally tropical cruising the Caribbean on this spanking new and blinking high mega-ship. Along the way I’ll be taking an airboat around the Everglades, doing my best bongo in the Bahamas, reliving memories in St Thomas, and enduring a perfect storm in St Maarten. Two weeks sailing around the world’s most stunning sea. Cruising with Jane McDonald s7e1: Caribbean
Look at it! It’s massive! … With a staggering 19 decks the Sky Princess accommodates 3,500 passengers … 7 decks of retail bars and eateries, plus 16 restaurants, along with 3 pools, a spa and a theatre. And for those who are feeling lucky there’s even a casino. ibid.
We are sailing. Come on the Caribbean! … With 19 decks and over 1,800 cabins this ship is a giant of the seas … a980-seat theatre, a cinema, a casino, and a huge central piazza where you’ll find the duty-free shops, some of the 16 on-board restaurants, and loads of activities to keep you occupied while sailing. Cruising with Jane McDonald s7e2: Grand Cayman
I’m cruising Britain’s favourite river, The Thames. It’s a special time because I’m bringing along two of my oldest girlfriends, and our mate Neil. Cruising with Jane McDonald s7e3&4: Thames I & II
The river is actually 215 miles long. The non-tidal section begins as a trickle in the Cotswolds. ibid.
We’ve hired the whole river cruiser for our little group. ibid.
A 4-birth river cruiser that started life as a working Belgium cargo barge 83 years ago. The boat has been lovingly restored into a floating hotel. ibid. II
Cologne, birthplace of Au de Cologne where my Rhine adventure kicks off and there’s my ship … I’m booked onto a Christmas market cruise taking in the Rhine’s glorious sights with plenty of time for the shops. The best bit: I get to travel in high-end luxury on the SS Antoinette. It’s bedecked with Brazilian marble and Venetian glass … Everything here is a regal blend of comfort, luxury and style. Cruising with Jane McDonald at Christmas I, Channel 5 2019
I’m headed to Norway: it just under 780 miles from Basel to Bergen on a 24-hour drive if you fancy the road trip. Cruising with Jane McDonald at Christmas II: Norway
I’m here to explore Norway’s dramatic coast. From Bergen we make a couple of quick pit-stops at Alesund and Trondheim before officially entering the Arc Circle near Stamsund. We’ll then venture further north to picturesque Tromso, continue the coast via Honningsvag and conclude our Christmas cruise on the winter wonderland of Kirkenes. ibid.
Hurtigruten: There’s 216 cabins on board with a bakery, ice-cream bar, sauna and fitness room. And on decks there’s two hot tubs and a bar. ibid.
M/S Scandinavian Star is an ocean-going ferry. For 19 years she carries thousands of passengers and vehicles across the seas. Until a routine crossing turns deadly for 482 people in just 45 minutes. Seconds from Disaster s1e4: Fire on the Star, National Geographic 2004
Fire alarms go off on the bridge to warn the captain … He sounds the ship’s general alarm to alert everyone on board. ibid.
The fire is completely out of control … The final victim count at the rear of Deck 5 is 76 … A pile of bedding on Deck 3 ignited … Something is fuelling the fire as it races through the ship … The wall-lining is in fact extremely flammable. ibid.
The English Channel: the world’s busiest shipping lane. Every day tens of thousands cross it be ferry. It’s a safe routine trip. Until one ship capsizes just over a kilometre outside port. Within 90 seconds hundreds of people are fighting for their lives in the icy waters. 193 died in Britain’s worst maritime accident since the Titanic. Seconds from Disaster s2e5: Zeebrugge Ferry Disaster
The cheap ticket deal means the ship is packed with passengers too. ibid.
Then out of the blue the ship lurches violently … On the ship’s car deck something is desperately wrong … The Herald starts to veer off course … The 8,000-ton ship now starts to roll over. As The Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes there is a terrible grinding noise. ibid.
More than 500 passengers and crew fight for survival. ibid.
The world’s largest passenger liner Titanic steams through the mid-Atlantic to America. Over 2,200 people are on board. Then disaster strikes. She fills rapidly with water and sinks … Over 1,500 people are left to drown. Seconds from Disaster s3e1: Titanic, National Geographic 2006
The equip her with only twenty lifeboats. ibid.
North Vietnam, July 1967: America is bogged down in a messy ground war in North Vietnam. The body count is rising fast. Over 6,600 US military personnel have died. Seconds from Disaster s3e2: Aircraft Carrier Explosion
Sailing to her first tour of duty in Vietnam is the biggest of them all: USS Forrestal … a crew of 5,400 men. ibid.
The explosives are in poor condition … A flash and a loud bang; jet fuel stills on to the flight deck and spreads rapidly; a massive fire rips through the Skyhawk planes … The world’s biggest aircraft carrier, USS Forrestal, is on fire. ibid.
She lists badly and sailors struggle to fight fire above and below decks … They jettison multi-million-dollar planes and tons of bombs into the ocean … It takes another 16 hours to extinguish the fires below deck … 134 men are dead. ibid.
May 1941: A storm rages in the Atlantic ocean. A squadron of antiquated biplanes take on the most powerful warship the world has ever seen: Bismark. Seconds from Disaster s5e2: The Bismark, National Geographic 2012
The Hood opens fire … Shells reign down in the Denmark Strait. One salvo hits the Hood, pierces six decks of steel and explodes in the ship’s magazine, detonating three-hundred tons of ammunition. The huge ship splits in two and sinks in just two minutes. Over fourteen hundred sailors lose their lives. ibid.
On May 27th the British opened fire … Within minutes a hit destroys the command bridge … The British ships close in … The Bismark lists hard to port and capsizes. ibid.
Argentinian fighter bombers on a deadly low-level mission. A British warship tasked with being the bait. They are on a collision course that could cost hundreds of lives. And change the course of a war. Seconds from Disaster s6e9: Sinking the Coventry
The Falkland Islands, May 25th 1982: Britain and Argentina have been at war for 54 days … The pilots fly low in an attempt to stave off their enemy’ radar … A pair of outdated fighter bombers were able to sink one of the British Navy’s most technologically advanced ships. ibid.
December 7th 1941: An aerial strike force gathers and executes a surprise on the US Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor. Its aim: to bring a nation to its knees. Thousands die in one of the most devastating defeats in military history. Seconds from Disaster s4e2: Attack on Pearl Harbor, National Geographic 2011
In spite of their often heroic efforts, the sailors struggled to cope with the combined aerial assault of low level torpedo bombers, dive bombers and high altitude bombers. ibid.
Flying in precise formation, ten high-level bombers target USS Arizona. ibid.
20 to 30 minutes after the first wave of bombers hit, another 170 aircraft strike … The other main targets are the airfields. ibid.
Over 180 US aircraft are destroyed with more damaged. In total 4 American battleships are sunk, 4 damaged, and 13 more major ships destroyed or seriously damaged. In return, the Japanese have lost just 29 planes. ibid.
It has in fact totally failed … The attack is launched even though there is no chance of hitting the US Navy’s vital aircraft carriers. It is a critical mistake. ibid.
Ship repair yards were ignored … ‘18 of those ships were salvaged within a few months’ … The attack misses another important target … In the end it’s the submarines operating out of Pearl Harbor that strangle Japan into submission totally cutting it off from supplies of food and resources. But perhaps the most devastating blow the Japanese could have struck on the day was an attack on the US Pacific fleet’s fuel storage facilities. ibid.
Nagumo’s decision not to launch the second strike is the final critical mistake in the execution of the attack on Pearl Harbor. ibid.
Argentinian fighter bombers on a deadly low-level mission. A British warship tasked with being the bait. They are on a collision course that could cost hundreds of lives. And change the course of a war. Seconds from Disaster s6e9: Sinking the Coventry
The Falkland Islands, May 25th 1982: Britain and Argentina have been at war for 54 days … The pilots fly low in an attempt to stave off their enemy’ radar … A pair of outdated fighter bombers were able to sink one of the British Navy’s most technologically advanced ships. ibid.