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Icebreakers are the underrated workhorses of the world’s waterways. So, what exactly is an icebreaker and what do they do?

In order for a ship to be an “icebreaker” it must have these three features:

1. power to push through thick ice
2. strengthened hull
3. ice-clearing shape.

This way icebreakers can mow right through all those frozen waterways.

An icebreaker is a “special-purpose ship.” They’re built to move and navigate through ice-covered waters, clearing paths for other boats and ships for safe travel through waterways.

There are a lot of brave and dedicated sailors who work and live on these freezing beasts.

It’s a very cold and isolated life, but it’s also beautiful and magical… and even cozy.

So, what is life like living on one of these ships?

Well, there’s a very informative thread on Twitter that describes what life is like aboard one of these magnificent and much-needed vessels.

A user by the name of “????????????” shared the following:

I can’t begin to describe the bizarre desolation of life on an icebreaker. You’re in a rarely-transited, ever-changing, completely inhospitable place more barren than the desert.

You are reminded every day that you have no business being where you are. It’s a very weird feeling.

Everything on deck is always frozen. Tasks that would take five minutes in summertime take an hour. On ‘soft water’, you’ll get bow-legged from the waves. On ice, your bones rattle, because everything is always vibrating and grumbling loudly as the ice breaks beneath you.

On the Great Lakes, 1000′ freighters weighing up to 100,000 tons can get frozen into quickly-moving sheets of ice. If they’re not broken free, they’ll be pulled into shoal water and may sink. These ships carry iron ore to the steel mills in Ohio.

Without icebreakers, heating oil can’t get to homes up north, and men would be laid off at the steel mills. McMurdo station in Antarctica would starve.

I can’t say I’ve ever had a better job, and I’d go back in a heartbeat.

I’ll also add – when you’re inside the skin of the ship, you’re insanely cozy. Waffles and coffee hit the spot when the wind chill outside is -40f.

Cozy, indeed. And speaking of snug spaces, in the video below, we take a peek inside the homey cabins, well-kitted kitchens, and even a gym filled with memorabilia, aboard an icebreaker called “Kontio”:

So, next time you turn on your heater this winter, take a moment to thank an icebreaker, because without them, we’d be freezing.