STRANDED off the coast of Greenland and surrounded by icebergs the size of a house, the ship's captain had to make a split second decision.

"We've decided to turn back," he said, "the wind has changed and the icebergs are now drifting towards us."

With the help of two crewmen at the front, both with their eyes glued to binoculars, the captain then guided the ship to safety through the icy minefield.

But this wasn't a chilling scene from some bygone era this happened just last month on a cruise ship carrying two St Helens couples!

Billy Lever (66), of Carr Mill, who was on the luxury Fred Olsen cruise with his wife Betty and friends Derek and Jean Hewitt, described the ordeal as pretty hairy'.

He said: "It was frightening. At one point the icebergs were only 20 feet away from the boat - and they always say nine-tenths of an iceberg lies underwater.

"It was like seeing a fleet of double decker buses pass by the window!"

The 400 holidaymakers who had signed up for the 16-day cruise - which included stops at Iceland, Greenland and the Outer Hebrides - then waited nervously as the ship glided to safety along the Denmark Strait.

Billy, a volunteer at the St Helens Credit Union, added: "The captain did an excellent job. He drew the ship's stabilisers in to make sure we didn't hit anything and, with the help of an expert from Reykjavik, took us to safety further down the coast.

"We may have missed out on our excursion to see a glacier off Greenland but we were just glad to get through it."