[reporter on tv] hard times for crabbers in alaska.
A noaa survey puts the local bristol bay
Red king crab population at an all-time low,
Guaranteeing a multiyear fishing ban.
Local fishers face millions in lost revenue.
[sig] this year, king crab is closed.
The last time king crab fishery was closed
Was 25 years ago.
With the crash in 1980,
Only the strong got through,
The guys who were smart,
The guys who were willing to do what it took.
We got our work cut out for us.
[narrator] the king,
Or, in this case, the king crab,
Is dead.
For the first time in a quarter century,
Alaska fish and game
Shutters the premier bering sea fishery.
It's just been mind-boggling.
We don't know what the future is.
[narrator] the $32 million question...
We fed our families and bought our houses
And sent our kids through school
All from crab money.
[narrator] how did it come to this?
The old-school mentality that we all grew up on,
We don't have that option any more.
Where do the captains go from here?
I wanna fish in norway, for sure.
Oh, I'm so jealous.
[captain] nato sig hansen.
Nato to sting here.
We got some golden crab to catch, boys.
[narrator] and how do they survive?
[bleep] duck, kyle.
-That's dangerous right there. -Yup.
[sig] we can do this.
We have to.
It's getting too tight.
[captain] we're gonna snap the tanker off.
Plus we're big enough right now.
[deckhand] now what?
[woman screams]
What's happening?
[captain over radio] we're taking on water.
You ain't gonna beat me!
[narrator] the king is dead
Long live the kings.
[sig] wow!
This is just empty.
We used to have family dinner right here.
They were here.
[sig] the hotel couldn't even take a chance to open up.
Couldn't find a seat in here this time of year,
Even last year.
Now, there's nobody to fight with.
Before it was just nothing but blood and guts.
This is... Scary.
[sig] there's nothing around, man.
But that's just the way it is now.
I've seen it before, you know.
When you have dire straits like we have,
This is what you get.
This is the result.
[narrator] how did we get to that result?
Well, last year,
Alaska fish and game suspend
Their usual summer trawl survey
Due to the covid-19 pandemic
Making it impossible to determine the size
Of the red king crab population.
So, we were the survey.
In a sense, we were our own survey
As the fishery opened, yeah.
So, everything's on the line last year,
We all could lose everything,
And... You go get a pirate.
Yeah. Sometimes it takes a pirate, right?
Buddy!
[narrator] to prove crab stocks were viable,
The fleet needed to tank
The entire 2.6 million pound quota
In record time.
Yeah, we got john back.
And, I think that helped, without question.
[narrator] and to make that happen,
Sig recruited a dutch harbor legend.
I heard he took you for a little joyride.
You got hillstrand driving, what could go wrong?
-Be nice. -I'll be nice.
You call it a "joyride,"
It was a ride of terror, how about that?
Oh, [bleep].
Yeah!
I don't think you know how lucky you are right now to be alive.
I wouldn't do that again.
You know, the last time I was over at his house,
He had just boughten a zr1 corvette.
Was doing that same thing.
Smashed the front end on his--
On his concrete like garden guard or whatever.
And he just came back from this,
I don't know, cigarette smoking rehab.
So, he's on edge.
The disc is in or his--
His phone is hooked up to the car and it's playing,
"you're now going to relax and calm yourself."
[imitating revving engine]
You know, dude, and he's... [laughing]
And he starts going sideways and the--
It just-- the traction control catches and
Boom!
And then, we're like that in the car,
And the-- the guy's--
The music's still going,
"and then, you will...
Let everything go."
How do you like that?
Oh, my god.
This is a nice car, huh?
She gets around. I like that.
Yeah.
Oh, this thing is fun.
[narrator] with a plan and a legend in tow...
Just gotta get through it together.
Okay, guys.
[whistles over radio]
Anybody on here? Anybody on the family channel?
...The fleet tuned in to the own private frequency
To share information.
Wizard on board, you guys there?
[narrator] but for bering sea crabbers,
Sharing is easier said than done.
[man over radio] sig, you got me?
[sig on radio] copy, copy, copy.
[jake on radio] sig, you on there?
It's jake.
Wizard here.
Wizard, wizard.
[jake on radio] hey, anybody on here? Hello, hell
[john] roadrunner-- roadrunner is here.
Yeah, I'm here.
[radio static]
[jake on radio] beep, beep, beep, beep, beep.
[over radio] sig?
The phone is dead.
I know when you're pretty much silent,
You're on hot fishing. I know it.
Well, if you're not 100% honest,
If you can read between the lines, then that's good.
-Didn't mean that you got the truth. -I do not believe you.
It wasn't always the truth, but it was a family--
-We had a family channel. -And that's exactly what I'm talking about.
It's hard to know who to trust.
[narrator] to catch their crab,
Some captains forged alliances.
[woman] you're tangled up with jake's pot.
Why would you do that?
I'm gonna do exactly what I think is best.
[narrator] but that didn't always go as planned
-Whoo. -Whoa.
Oh, [bleep].
They caught the-- [laughs] the pot's on fire.
[over pa] emergency, emergency, emergency!
Fire, fire, fire, fire!
Oh, that's right what we need here.
I've been watching it for 'em.
[narrator] readying themselves for the fall...
[john] ghost town, my friend.
I need a drink after seeing this.
You guys in?
Yeah, man.
[narrator] captains josh harris,
John hillstrand and casey mcmanus
Band together, hoping the past can guide them forward.
-Cheers, johnny. -Yeah.
[all chuckle]
We've had a really difficult couple of years now.
Look at what we had happen last year, you know.
We've learnt a lot of life lessons
Between all of our boats.
Like, john, all of a sudden,
You got a sudden opening in the wheelhouse.
I mean, how did that come about?
[cell phone ringing]
Oh, hey, abby.
I'll see you tomorrow, right?
[narrator] for nearly three decades,
Johnathan and his brother, andy,
Ran the time bandit.
What?
Oh.
I was just really looking forward to pissing with you.
Okay, get better, brother.
I'll talk to you later.
What a shame.
[narrator] without a hillstrand as cocaptain,
John went looking for the next best thing,
A harris.
[john chuckling]
-Hey, boys. -What up, johnny?
-How are you? -What's goin' on, my brother!
I'm gonna ask you a question,
But don't say nothing for ten seconds.
I need him to go fishing with me for king crab.
This year.
Uh, just give us a little bit to talk about it.
See if we can get some stuff figured out.
All right.
-Cool. -Yeah.
Down the road a little ways.
We're trying to build this business still.
We're trying to make it better and better.
But I owe the man.
I owe him a lot.
I spend two and a half, three years over there,
You know, rebuilding our life
In order to get this boat.
You know, he was there for me.
But it's taken a long time to get this boat up to par.
It is nerve-racking to leave it.
We needed to band together as-- as brothers
And fish together.
Save the fishery.
We did good, we had a-- it was a great, great time.
[narrator] for king season,
Josh joined john
As cocaptain of the time bandit
While still owning the cornelia marie.
Man, you can't make this [bleep] up.
[narrator] together, the two boats
Became a single armada.
[man on radio]
[john] oh, no.
Oh, no.
There's a bunch of draggers here.
Oh, hey. I'm gonna set some gear down.
Is that gonna be safe down here?
Is these [bleep] guys russians?
You seein' this over here, mcmanus?
All these [bleep] draggers?
That's right.
Dude, I'm seeing 'em, too.
I got this russian guy,
He's telling me I can't set no gear here.
Legally, he can't tell us we can't fish there.
If our gear's in the water, we're actively fishing.
He has to avoid it.
You know, he's towing around this massive net behind the boat,
With big rollers that are just chewing
The bottom of the seafloor up, right?
They're just destroying our whole area
And they're destroying our crab.
These draggers are drawing a net big enough
You could scoop up the statue of liberty in one of 'em.
Okay, guys, let's set.
-Yeah, baby. -[deckhand shouting] here we go!
[cheering]
Pot's going over.
[casey] these guys don't wanna play nice.
He's gonna be all sorts of pissed off, but I don't care.
Your boat's coming from the west
And we're gonna set our gear two tenths apart.
There'll be no place for him to drag.
This russian's gonna be outta here soon.
So, I acted like a trawl, I turned our ais off,
And we went around in a little zig-zag pattern
Like we were towing a net,
And then we just shot all that gear out.
[john] here we are.
Bigger than life.
In your face, mr. Russian.
No backing down on the time bandit, no backing dow.
Look at that pot, holy moly.
[deckhand] welcome to the time bandit.
[all laugh]
Is there paper bags around here to breathe into?
I think I might puke out of excitement.
-Oh, [bleep]. -[laughing giddily]
-Yeah. -Whoo.
Yeah!
Look at that, dude.
[john] that was a great moment
When we caught 'em and...
And they didn't get dragged up this time.
[deckhand] light 'em up.
Whoo!
Let 'em fly.
Oh, yeah.
Whoo!
[john] well, that's to send a message right there.
[narrator] devising a plan to protect the grounds
Works to strengthen the cornelia
And the time bandit partnership.
But alliances are impossible to sustain
When partners can't
Or won't share information.
[cheering]
[casey] I wanna get these pots in the water
While I still got real estat
Before anybody else figures out what I got going,
I'll have 'em all in the water.
[john over radio] mcmanus.
Mcmanus, mcmanus.
I mean, how's everything going over there?
[john] it's not adding up.
Doesn't he get it, you're not supposed to do that?
We should try to see if we can sneak up on him.
Here, try these on, it's nighttime vision.
It's nighttime vision.
[narrator] to shine a light on casey's deceit,
Johnathan kept him...
In the dark.
Sons of bitches, we got you.
Game's over, buddy.
[josh] the jig is up.
[cheering]
We got ya.
Oh, god.
What goes through your head,
Before you leave seattle, you buy [bleep] like that?
You stay up a little too long
And you're watching a little too much home shopping network
And they come out with this,
"you can get ten for the price of"--
They have night vision goggles
-On the home shopping network? -Yeah, no, but if you buy two...
If you buy two.
Did you pay shipping and handling on the second pair?
No.
[josh] I love you guys,
And thank you for giving me the season, man.
You guys are awesome.
Now get out of here.
We can't miss you if you don't leave.
[laughs] all right. [bleep]
[narrator] after josh spend a successful fall season
On the time bandit...
[casey] you like apples?
[deckhand] whoo! Yeah!
How you like them apples?
Oh, [bleep].
[narrator] ... He reclaimed his spot as cocaptain
Of the cornelia marie
To help tank the boat's 1.2 million pound opilio quota.
Dude, you can't fit another crab in there. Look at that.
-Like, you cannot-- -[casey] oh, my god.
You cannot fit another crab in there.
-[deckhand 1] yeah! -[deckhand 2] whoo!
[cellphone ringing]
Hello.
Hey, man. Johnathan.
Hey, buddy.
[narrator] but the partnersh with the pirates remain...
So, we're- we're down here by magoo...
[narrator] ...Or so the pirate thought.
Best pot I've seen is 20, dude.
20 crab.
This sucks.
[casey] yeah, no, it's frustrating.
Well, how far did you end up?
Did you find anything? What's going on?
Uh, we're all the way up to the 60 20 line.
-We're getting into little snips here and there. -Okay.
We're a long ways up here, dude.
So, just searching away.
Really?
If you wanna come play,
I'm sure we'll find something at some point.
Yeah, I'm-- I'm not coming up that far.
I think I'm just gonna find 'em down here somewhere
[deckhand yelling]
That was what?
-What'd you say? -Johnny, johnny,
Let me call you back.
Take care, bud. Bye.
[bleep]
Not really very friendly from...
Working together,
'cause they're lying to you.
Tried to call josh, he goes,
"casey's just dropped the phone in his mug."
Right?
I was gonna lie to you because
The only thing you could do with my information
Is give it to somebody else.
-I would never do that. -You weren't gonna come up there.
-If you-- just from you saying that... -No, I know I--
-But in your head-- -...You're making me angry right now.
No, but you'd protect your information right?
If you think that I would do that to you, I wouldn't.
Just [bleep] me.
I was gonna lie to you because
The only thing you could do with my information
Is give it to somebody else.
[john] just you saying that
Might make me angry right now.
I get it, and I'm not mad at nobody.
That wasn't like king crab where we had to share.
-Yeah. -But you should have shared.
But you didn't.
Opies, we didn't have a deal.
But we did have a deal that we were
Gonna tell each other what we got on our first pick.
We did?
[narrator] realizing his partners weren't playing it straight.
I thought he was my buddy.
I thought casey was our buddy.
I might have to go find those guys, see what they're up to.
[narrator] ...Johnathan tracked the cornelia marie north
Near the russian line.
[john] I gotta call you right back.
They didn't have to tell us, 'cause their crew did.
I heard it on the loud hailer.
Those guys...
[shouts] those guys.
Yeah!
Okay, guys.
Whoo!
I hope they're on something 'cause I'm up here with 'em.
Got more than I almost set.
Sure as [bleep], there's cornelia marie her.
And then, when I came back a day later to pull it,
Five hundreds. Whoo-hoo.
So, it wasn't the 700s you were pulling,
But it was still fives.
But it stretched for a long ways but...
-Oh, we had learned later... -...You had just stopped.
-...It stretched forever. -Yeah, a long ways.
And you could have called your buddy in and been a hero.
But you didn't.
That's all I gotta say.
I just didn't know I can trust ya. I just...
I don't know, I had a lapse in judgement there
Where I felt like I had to keep my guard up.
[reporter on radio] forecast the deep and powerf low-pressure system
Will likely have a pressure of less than 930 millibars.
What?
[narrator] but working with each other
Wasn't the fleet's only obstacle.
[reporter on tv] a massive storm in the bering sea,
Considered the strongest sto
The turbulent region has ever seen.
Wave heights of 50 to 60 feet.
[narrator] the constant barrage of high seas
And subzero temperatures...
Polar vortex is a cold dome of low pressure sitting
Atop the north pole.
[narrator] ...Hamstrung production
And kept the captains on the defensive...
We gotta watch our asses,
'cause there's not gonna be any warning apparently.
[narrator] ...Turning a difficult year
Into a nightmare.
[captain over pa] watch out, here it comes!
-Watch the rail! -[deckhand] watch yourself!
-Aah. -Ugh.
I know last year, we just kept...
Taking hit after hit after hit with waves.
Guys, hang on, hang on.
[grunting]
[keith] we find a way to get through it, right?
I mean, sometimes, you just say, "okay."
We'll jog.
We'll wait till the weather comes down.
But early in the opi season,
You wanna try and get that crab on the boat
And the gears set.
So, you'll take a few chances.
Oh, man, this is gonna be gnarly.
This is gonna be gnarly.
Hello.
[narrator] to produce during the polar vortex,
Captain keith colburn converted his wave wall
Into a sail.
I might be able to hold this string
Literally with the weather on the port side
And drift down the string sideways.
And just let the wind
Blow us down from pot to pot.
You remember when I was trying to do that squirrelly
Drift down on each pot?
We took a huge wave over the port side.
Let's get-- whoa, whoa, whoa.
Heads up, port side, watch out for the next one.
Watch out for the next one.
[deckhand] watch out!
Aah!
[keith over pa] boys, hang on.
We're gonna roll pretty hard here.
[deckhand] hold on.
Aah.
Oh, [bleep].
Damn it.
I can't even remember all the bad waves this year.
There were too many of 'em.
[narrator] on the summer
Wild bill took one hit
That defied gravity.
We came across this one wave,
It-- they were big,
Almost to where you couldn't just jog straight into it,
You had to drive 'em.
The galley was weightless.
[deckhand] wave, wave, wave, wave.
-Watch out! -Watch yourself. Watch out!
[bill] what the [bleep]?
[glass shattering]
What was that?
Can we get somebody in the galley?
[over pa] I never heard that sound on the boat befor
[crew member] holy [bleep].
[glass shattering]
Losing the refrigerator door,
That's a first.
[bill] we have this big stainless refrigerator a
Most refrigerators just have two pins
Where the door fits down on it,
It had enough momentum
To lift the refrigerator off the pins
And then it hit the deck and just exploded.
And we had just been grocery shopping so
Everything came flying out of the fridge.
And the smell that came upstairs,
It was pickles and barbecue sauce and...
When I looked down the stairs and I could see it,
It was like big puddles of muck.
There's things that come up all the time.
I like to think I'm a damage control expert.
Because you have to expect the unexpected.
Yeah, there's-- there's a lot of downsides that
People don't ever realize, you know.
[jake] wind, 50 miles an hou
Constant beating of 40-foot waves.
[deckhand] watch out!
You can see the steel flex.
[narrator] just nine days into the fall season,
30-foot seas and 50-knot winds,
Slowed the saga to a cr
You had a rough go during that cuss-kicking cyclone, didn't ya?
My crew had it pretty tough.
[banging sound]
What the [bleep]?
-Hear that? -I'll get mase in.
[bleep] damn it.
[bleep]
[jake] I put the men on the rail to retrieve
Said life raft and
That was a really hard choice to make.
On board, I had like $500,000 worth of product
That I don't wanna die,
And I really wanted that raft on board
Because it's a ticket off the boat,
And I don't know what's gonna happen.
That was one of the most dangerous situations
That I'd been in with my crew.
[deckhand] watch out!
Watch out!
[narrator] on the cresting whitecaps of the bering sea
The saga crew fought to retrieve their lifeboat,
Come hell or high water.
[jake] I really wanted that raft on board
Because it's a ticket off the boat,
And I don't know what's gonna happen.
[over pa] hang on, guys! Hang on!
Guys, hang on!
[all grunting]
Hey, hey, guys, get off that raft.
Get off the [bleep] raft, marc!
Whoa, whoa!
You okay?
[bleep]
[jake over pa] holy [bleep].
Nice job, joe.
Scared the living crap out of me.
All's I saw was nightmares for two weeks after that.
It looked horrifying to me.
-It-- it-- -johnathan would have just
-Shot it full of holes. -Yeah.
[both chuckle]
[narrator] in the dutch harbor fleet,
The captain is only as good as his crew.
[shrieking]
[narrator] and in the face of record-breaking
Low-pressure systems...
Love you, freddy!
...The relationship between skipper and deckhan
Can be the difference
Between a season of success
Or failure.
I asked wade if he regretted coming on here,
And he said, "[bleep] yeah."
A bit early for that kind of attitude, but whatever.
[sig] you wanna try to keep your crew members.
You know, the long steady wins the race.
You only got one boat.
And you wanna try to keep that.
[deckhand] ah, yeah!
[narrator] on the northwestern,
A major mechanical breakdown...
Heads up!
Turn it off! Turn it off!
Turn it off!
What is it?
[yells over pa] what is it?
[narrator] ...Stretched that relationsh to the breaking point.
So, you were running the crane.
Yeah.
The crane broke, the pin broke,
And sig starts yelling at carl.
Well, he assumed that it was the guy that's not experienced
Running the crane running it too hard.
[crew member speaking]
[yelling] no!
Are you serious?
[yelling over pa] are you [bleep] serious
And then we start hearing it... [imitates metal creaking]
...Start falling over the side and...
We ran back there and then,
By the time we let sig know,
You know, he's already just screaming, you know.
Fire coming out of his eyes and
Everyone's like, "oh, glad I wasn't running the crane."
Why the hell did they have my brother on there?
[growls over pa] argh!
Why wasn't the best guy on the crane?
We have [bleep] rolling around!
You put the best guy on the crane,
Not the worst!
I blamed carl because he's rough on the crane,
-'cause he's still learning. -Mmm-hmm.
And, uh, I just figured,
"what'd you do wrong now?"
And I thought,
"you just killed my season."
And I kinda
Went ballistic on those guys.
I just wanna know, did he ever apologize to carl?
He apologized to me.
Oh, god.
I thought-- I thought it was carl.
No.
God, I'm so sorry, norman.
I'm so sorry.
Sorry I get so excited like that.
I'm-- I apologize, I'm so sorry.
Thank god it was norman
Because what would have happened to carl
If he was handling the sticks.
In my mind,
He was fired right then and there.
[clark] if carl would've been running it,
I don't know if he'd-- would've stayed on board.
-He might have-- might have thrown him over. -It's not fair to say.
In my brain, he was fired.
Whoa, dude, then what would you have done with me?
You'd have been fired.
But that's not the right way to run things.
It was emotions versus logic.
And in my brain, at that second, I'm like,
"oh, he's so fired."
You didn't say sorry to him?
-I don't think I did. -Come on.
What does he want, a christmas card?
[narrator] training new crew for fisheries
On unfamiliar grounds...
Mind over matter, dude.
...Requires that the young learn new habits
And the vets break old ones
♪ oh, I'm a green green, greenhorn ♪
♪ I wish I was never born ♪
[john] it says "die horn" on the back of his coat.
Die horn.
[narrator] last winter,
Crabber carl "blind dog" gorsegner
Brought his own unique set of habits
To the time bandit's dec
[john over pa]
Today, is hug a greenhorn day on the time bandit.
Ugh, I'd rather puke.
You ain't getting no hug, it ain't happening.
No one hugged me when I was a horn.
-Blind dog. -Blind dog, he's got--
Glasses like, thicker than the bottom of this glass here and
He's blind and he can't hear very well either.
And so, we called him blind dog
And-- but he yelled a lot.
So I changed his name to old yeller.
'cause he's just like, "god!"
He does not like greenhorns
Go on, hang your baits.
Come here.
Go, horn! Go!
Thirty-five years and I'm still out here.
How many 52-year-olds are shoving' the pots?
I don't know
What you do to dogs that can't see or hear.
Blind dog, you back there?
-Yeah. -Hey, blind dog.
Oh, hey!
-You gotta put the glasses on. -The man, the myth, the legend.
How's it going, casey?
[john] yeah, he got eye surgery, dude.
Whoa!
-Nice. -I just wear this for the readers.
And you see great now?
Perfect. 20/20, but I can't read.
I gotta have 'em for--
Well, I don't think the vision's gonna fix
The not being able to read part, man.
We're crab fishermen.
[all laugh]
He never learned how to read.
All right, dude, so I've been hearing stories
About how badass you are
And I heard there was a lot of different instances.
Supposedly, I got you kicked out of that hotel.
Oh, yeah, for life.
I can't even go to it.
-I'm not telling you the name. -Supposedly?
-Allegedly... -No.
-I can't go back to that hotel.
Tell us the story, what happened?
I was still drinking in those days
And we were all hammered up and
We had a bet who could stick their head
-Through the sheetrock... -Oh, that's right.
-...Into the next room. -Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
What type of bet is that?
-He tries to go and he hits a 2x4-- -but he didn't get all the way
Through to the other side, so I backed up.
I, "all right, watch this." I had a straight shot
And I ran as hard as I could.
I didn't know the stud was there.
There was a stud.
I thought I broke my neck.
I forgot all about that.
-That's why-- -I thought I broke my neck.
This is what I say about him.
Pound for pound,
One of the toughest [bleep] on the planet.
[narrator] greenhorns gave blind dog a wide berth.
[bleep]
Oh, [bleep].
[narrator] but the bering se
Didn't show that same respec
[casey] tell me this is the truth. I heard
John gave you guys a break
And you decided you wanted some ice cream.
[john] we're almost done with this trip.
We just gotta keep working
'cause we never give up.
And we're too dumb to stop.
[bleep]
[casey] you're bringing the ice cream back and got lit up again.
-Oh, yeah. -And dropped the ice cream.
A guy's gotta be protected
When he's bringing back ice cream.
So, it's safe to say on the time bandit,
The beatings will continue until the morale improves.
Oh, yeah.
No, there was almost a beating in the wheelhouse too, right?
Oh.
-Oh, that's-- oh, that's just... -What happened with that?
-What? -Come on, you guys are crabbers.
-Yeah, well, -that's just [bleep] that happened.
[carl speaking]
Johnny, you think I'm some [bleep] greenhorn, dude.
That's what it was.
You think I don't know what I'm doing.
Come here.
So, what exactly were you thinking
When you went up to the wheelhouse all pissed off?
I'm gonna beat johnny's ass.
Johnny, you think I'm some [bleep] greenhorn, dude.
That's what it was.
You think I don't know what I'm doing.
Come here.
So, what exactly were you thinking
When you went up to the wheelhouse all pissed off?
Well, I'm gonna beat johnny's ass.
[narrator] while sorting small and female crabs from the keepers...
In the old days, we didn't have tubs.
We had to go through 'em right over the rail.
But now you can just put 'em in a tub.
[narrator] ...Blind dog managed to get more product
On the deck than in the tank.
Carl. Blind dog.
Slow down, put 'em in the tub.
[over pa] that's a greenhorn move, dud
This is how I [bleep] work.
Don't [bleep] with me when I'm working.
I was waiting for you, then I go, you know,
This is gonna be dumb.
-Come here. -Huh?
Yeah, dude.
Well, then hear me you [bleep] son of a [bleep].
Giving you a [bleep] bad time.
Get 'em-- get 'em-- [bleep], hey.
You think I'm creating work, I know what I'm doing.
I know you are.
Don't [bleep] yell at me, ever.
Argh!
[bleep] disrespect, johnny.
All I do is respect you.
Wow.
[casey] there's that little piece of the dashboard
In between you guys.
You guys were barking like this
But I think you guys were like a couple of dogs.
When you move the fence, they just stand there
And stare at each other.
I wasn't gonna wait till you got over,
I was thinking you were gonna swing.
-Eh, no big deal. -You know, I know you're a good scrapper, too.
-What, you think this-- -was no big deal.
-Would you-- would you-- -okay, you went through that--
Would you have started with a right or a left?
I don't know, I'm so mad,
I don't even think about that stuff.
[narrator] with the fate of the fishery on the line...
I need to just have a talk with him.
[narrator] johnathan used a little sweetness
To diffuse a bitter argument
[john] that was just crazy [bleep] there.
I was having fun with ya.
[carl] all right.
[john] and I'm gonna have some banter with you once in a while.
We don't have to throw down.
-Yup. -You can do it right back at me.
Say, "what kind of skipper's this?"
Whatever, say whatever you want.
-Yeah. -Okay?
-You know that? -Roger, roger.
[john] okay, okay, there we go.
He came up to kick my ass
And then he came to his senses
Before we got in a fight.
And it was really close to us
Beating the [bleep] out of each other.
But like I said...
-But then go back to work. -...We would go right back to work.
Well, you know what,
I would have probably done the same thing.
-Yeah, no, thank you. -I like the diplomatic approach.
-So, that's a good move. -Yeah, thank you.
-Nice job, john. -You did-- yeah, you did a good job.
[narrator] clear communicati
And a hardy brew of coffee diplomacy...
[bleep]
...Brought down the temperature between
The wheelhouse and the deck.
[bill] help me.
Watch out, you guys.
Bad, looking bad.
[narrator] and a couple of near disastrous
Collisions last season
Illustrated the need for an extra dose of patienc
[bill] the starboard stern has a new christening
By my buddy, harley.
Jackass.
I think every one of us has got stories about
Near collisions or, you know,
Maybe fall asleep at the wheel.
Whatever the case may be,
We've all done that.
So, wouldn't you agree?
A little bumpy.
-Yeah. -Little bumpy?
-Yeah. -"near miss."
That's an interesting way to put it.
[narrator] eager to load pot
And return to the fishing grounds,
Summer bay says he'll move but he's talking about noon.
I don't have time to wait till noon.
[narrator] southern wind captain steve "harley" davidson
Threw lines despite a 40-knot onshore wind.
[steve over pa] I think it's started here.
I've seen this guy driving towards the exterior.
Help me, help me!
Oh, [bleep].
[over pa] watch out, you guy
Bad, looking bad.
Looking bad.
[deckhand grunting]
Oh, [bleep].
Nobody had a bag ready.
Neither [bleep] crew.
I mean, especially his crew.
What the [bleep]?
The wind pushed me into him.
That was a bad, bad deal.
And, um, do it-- you look at it,
And would I do it over? Yeah.
-Oh, I'm... Well, yeah. -But-- but at the time,
I had to get the pots on board and
I just wanted to spin the boat around. You just wanna...
-Keep moving, right? -I get it, man.
[sig] okay, what would you do different
If you replay it in your head?
Wait for bill to move.
And I've got a big boat.
And that shelter wall,
-The wind's gonna catch that shelter wall... -It's a sail, man.
...And it's just gonna blow me
And I got zero control.
There was a little beauty mark on the starboard stern.
To actually get in and fix it,
We would have to pull all the interior out
Of that corner of the state room and
There's foam behind it.
I mean, it wouldn't have been a cheap job so
Lucky you had geico.
Kinda let it go, didn't we, harley?
Yeah, that-- we let that one go, bill.
-Thank you. -Yeah.
Well, like, let's say you have a collision at sea,
You know, and you're not sure of the damage,
That changes the whole game too.
Oh, yeah.
[narrator] during the fall season,
And at-sea transfer of supplies...
Picking up some bait.
Some frozen herring.
[narrator] ...Became anything but routine...
[captain on radio] I'm gonna go in front of yo and circle around you guys.
Sounds good.
Stand by, deploy.
I'll fly by at home
And then you guys retrieve it.
Okay.
[narrator] ...As captain keith colburn
Made a beeline for disaster
Are you circling me on this one?
[radio static]
You circling me on this--
Are you circling on this one?
Hello, hello?
Do not circle me right now!
What the [bleep] are you doing?
Power out, power out!
Power out!
-Now! -Yes, sir.
Power up and get the [bleep] out of here.
I can't stop, you idiot!
[deckhand] hang on! Here it comes.
Power on!
You [bleep] moron!
[thud]
Wow.
[exhales]
Yeah, I don't know what to say, you know.
Well.
The guy decides to cut right in front of you
That I think does not have the experience
To be driving a boat out here.
Stuff happens, you know.
Well, I mean, we got rules out there
But it's prudent mariner, right?
There's rules and then there's common sense.
[bill] well, the rules of the road are one thing,
But that's under normal operating circumstances.
This was a whole different situation
-Where you guys were involved... -Exactly.
...In an activity. You were trying to transfer bait.
You are absolutely right.
You know, you're just making a transfer there.
It's an agreement between you two.
He said he's gonna go in front of you,
Do a circle around
And then he stops.
The why I kept saying, "power up."
I was literally
Staring at his stern
And there was no prop wash.
He was like a deer in headlights.
He turned right in front of me
And I am doing about 4 knots.
And then, pulled the boat out of gear
-And froze. -Oh, man.
Power up!
You [bleep] moron!
-[deckhand] watch out! -[thud]
He turned right in front of me
And I am doing about 4 knots.
Pulled the boat out of gear and froze.
Oh, man.
You seem like you feel pretty shook up about it.
You look pretty rough right now. [chuckles]
-You're emotional. -[keith] I'm...
I am justifiably agitated right now
Because something happened that should never have happened.
Somebody did something so incredibly stupid,
That it jeopardized his boat, his crew,
My boat and my crew.
I'm still upset
That my boat touched another boat.
Because guess what,
I have never had a collision before.
I mean, you bounce off of guys when you're tying up at the dock.
Things like that happen.
Well, now you're getting me pissed off at harley, so...
[all laughing]
-Hey, help me out here. -[laughing]
The thing to learn, I guess,
Is that, you know, when we're gonna do a transfer to somebody,
Make sure we got a plan worked out
Before we're getting close to each other.
I won't be doing any transfers with that vessel in the future.
[chuckles]
-No. Well... -God help us.
He is a very lucky guy
That that boat didn't get split in half by mine.
[narrator] after struggling to save king crab,
And just before the winter season,
The summer bay suffered a devastating loss
There are some worse days of a person's life.
That's on the list.
I can't imagine what you guys went through.
I honestly don't know how you guys
Held it together.
Who said we did?
[woman on pa] this is your final boarding call
For flight 7121 to seattle.
Hello.
[landon] hey, bill.
I've got some really, uh...
I've got some really bad new
-[woman over pa] now boarding... -[bill] are you serious?
[landon exhales over phone]
[landon] I just found out that, uh...
Nick died.
He's dead.
Oh, my god.
[landon] I'm really sorry to have to be the one
-To tell you. -[woman on pa] now boarding the ravn alaska charter...
[bill groans]
We're boarding here.
I'm getting on the plane here, so I gotta go, man.
[landon] all right, man. I love you. I'll talk to you later.
[narrator] on December 27th, 2020,
Nick mcglashan died of a drug overdose
In nashville, tennessee.
It was hard getting that news at first, you know.
I'm staying at matt bradley's house at the time.
It's right after christmas and...
Phone rings and it's this person that's, uh,
Supposed to be on that trip with him.
He said, "are you with people that love you?"
And I knew in that moment that that was it.
[bill] I don't know we could've done much more,
But... It still hurts really bad.
When he was going to nashville,
I talked to him for about an hour and said,
"do not get on that plane."
I said, "do not go. Do not go. Do not go."
We were so ready.
We had to show up and go make some money.
Landon calls me and gives me the news, you know, and...
I was hoping it was only "missed the plane,"
But it was the ultimate.
[josh] you know what? Nick, he'd come up to you and be like,
"hey, I like you."
Your brother's going through the same battle I am.
So he understood. And I'll tell you what,
We lost a really cool cat.
And a [bleep] great worker.
[bill] I don't know about you, but
I went through the anger thing for a while,
-You know, 'cause we all tried so hard and... -Mmm.
But then, there's other times where I would just think of
You'd look across the deck and he'd have that
Smile, that smirk on his face which... [chuckles]
...You knew he was up to something, but...
He was a pretty amazing individual.
Oh, no way. [chuckles]
Oh, my god.
[ship honking]
[john on radio] loud and proud, we're here.
[crew member over radio] we're here for you, buddy.
[man hooting over radio]
Wouldn't wanna be anywhere else, bill.
Yeah! Whoo!
-[chuckles] -[deckhand] yeah, baby!
[bill chuckles]
It's all of 'em.
[narrator] sacrificing fishing time...
[sig] not everybody wants to leave the grounds
Or what they're doing.
You know, once you start... Going,
You just wanna keep going till you're done, but...
You know, it's the right thing to do.
We cut our trip early.
[narrator] the fleet returne to priest rock
For nick's final hook toss.
[sig] you know, when we did the memorial,
I was very proud.
I know that, you know,
For bill, because it was family, right?
-I mean, it was out of just sheer respect. -Mmm-hmm.
[jake] I think what was hard than even nick's death
And knowing that I wasn't gonna see him again was
When I had his mom and family on the boat.
When they were throwing the last hook
And I was just looking at him mom and thinking,
"you know, a parent
Should never have to bury their child."
For nick.
[cheering]
Yeah, brother!
You look at all the loss that bill's gone through.
I mean, he has had a rough run of it
-This last year and a half. -Yeah.
It's hard to see a guy to go through that. And I think it's...
You know, I think it's kind of taken its toll on bill.
[john] you know, the saddest thing was
Nick had the ashes of his best buddy on the table.
In the net season, nick's ashes are on the table.
[narrator] just five months before nick passed,
Bill lost deckhand mahlon reyes
To heart failure.
Two-six-seven. Two-sixty...
[narrator] and last winter, former summer bay crewma todd kochutin...
I'm gonna do my best. That's just what I'm here to do.
[narrator]... Suffered a fatal injury
Aboard another vessel.
[gasps] I mean, we've lost boats.
All hands.
But to lose
Three crewman, three different ways
In one season.
[sighs] I...
I don't know if anybody's ever experienced it.
Well, they say bad things happen in three.
[keith] mmm.
And it [bleep] was three devastating blows.
[nick] "I came naked from my mother's womb
And I will be naked when I leave.
The lord gave me what I have.
He will wipe every tear from their eyes
And death shall be no more.
If you could say one thing to nick right now,
If you had that chance, what would it be?
I'd say, "don't wait for me. I plan on, uh, living a long and,
Uh, fulfilling life."
-I sure as [bleep] miss him. -[landon] mmm-hmm.
Me, too.
-I love you, man. -[sniffles]
I've been coming here for 42 years.
Lot of history here and...
Remember the food fight?
-The food fight was a good one. -Oh, yeah.
-That was all right. -We got thrown out of here
-For that one. -Everybody with cake on their head.
[laughs]
That was your fault.
[deckhand speaking]
[narrator] if all captains and crews had to dodge were dessert...
[narrator] ...Life on the bering sea would be pretty sweet.
-[deckhand shouting] heads up, heads up! -Heads up!
[narrator] but unfortunately...
Oh, [bleep].
-Oh, [bleep]. -Whoa, [bleep].
[narrator] ...A crab boat is a funhouse of physical torment.
Holy [bleep]!
-Ah! -Holy [bleep].
[grunts] [bleep]
Man down!
Oh! You okay, buddy?
Oh, oh, oh, [bleep]. That hurt.
Help! Help! Help!
-[bleep] -[narrator] and those injuries
Can sideline an entire operation.
[narrator] now, heading to new fisheries
And unknown grounds...
Oh, [bleep]. You all right?
[narrator] ...Crews face new obstacles
-Little poke. -[groans]
[narrator] but the pain
Remains the same.
Watch out. Watch out. Watch out.
Carl's down. [bleep]
You know, we had a lot of injuries
-Between us. -Yeah.
Stuff that can be scary when you're that far away from help.
-Right. -What'd you have happen on your boat?
Lot of injuries. I'm...
-I'm not used to that. -Right.
Watch your ass!
-[grunts] -oh, smashed. Smashed. Smashed.
-Oi! -What happened?
-This way, this way. -[groans]
Oh, [bleep].
Ow.
You've gotta be kidding me!
When I untied the pot and wyatt was supposed to wire up,
-You know-- almost squished my head... -It squished you.
...But it squished my shoulder.
I think you were there, like, over 15 seconds squished.
And he is so tough that
He can't even move his arm, he's like this.
And he walks over and he starts untying the other pot
-With the other arm. -[laughing]
It's hard to undo a pot tie with one hand.
Oh, yeah!
[indistinct shouting]
[grunts]
[john over pa]
[john] go up, got thrown by a pot
Like a ragdoll. These are big pots.
And they pull it over the rail,
Just a little bit wrong,
That threw him halfway across the deck,
Injuring his shoulder.
And then, eddie boy jr.,
The table got loose.
He went flying, took a table ride.
I don't know how fast he was going,
But he took a roll all the way back to the wheelhouse.
[deckhand over radio]
[john] he had a groin injury.
He ended up having to go home.
That ain't no good.
I just wanna be out there with the guys.
I love crabbing. I love crabbing with my family.
Sucks when I can't pull my own weight.
[john] the doctor said philip could work,
But he just couldn't do strenuous activity
And he'll be healed in four weeks.
Is he back with you now?
No.
You know, you wanna quit, go ahead and quit.
-I'm just gonna go home. Yeah. -Just gonna go home.
Okay.
Then, I probably won't ever hire you again...
-If you go home. -I was-- this was probably my last season anyways.
[john] okay.
Good luck. We love you, man.
Love you, too.
[john] in his mind, I can see he quit already.
-You know how when a guy checks out already? -Yep.
[john] to his defense,
He had a cracked bone.
So, he would've healed 'cause I wouldn't have made him work,
But it could've got worse.
And it's really tough
Because it's your family.
And... But they're all your family.
Yeah.
[john] last thing I wanna do is...
Feel like it that it's my fault if someone gets hurt
And permanently damaged.
And you have to call their mom up
'cause you broke the kid's back or you lost the kid.
And I never wanna call nobody's mom
And [bleep] have to tell 'em that [bleep].
No kidding.
So, we're down to three hillstrands on the boat. [chuckles]
[narrator] pain isn't alway a result of injury.
[crew member speaking]
[narrator] sometimes, it grows on you,
As with summer bay deck
David "big bird" scheetz...
I guess bird's got some...
Cyst-looking thing under his... It's just gross.
[narrator] ...Who ignored his pustule,
Until the pustule could be ignored no more.
I've got... My scalpel, got some alcohol wipes,
Got some lidocaine to numb the area for him.
I'm gonna lance it open,
And we're gonna get all that stuff out of there.
So, I'm pretty comfortable by doing this on him.
It should be any problem at all.
[bill] there's certain thing that I would rather not do on a boat.
And lancing an infected cyst is one of them.
At the same time, trusting this guy...
Have at it.
I should've called you. You come over and done it,
'cause I wasn't about to.
I'm not real big on cysts.
[narrator] scrubbing in for surgery,
Deckhand clayton gore.
Dude, that [bleep] thing is angry.
Yeah, well, after this, hopefully, it'll, uh,
Not be as angry, but...
Okay, I'm gonna go ahead and I'm gonna
Wipe it down.
I'm gonna go ahead and put some numbing cream on for you, bird.
Okay.
Are you ready?
-How do you let it get that bad? It was-- -exactly.
How do you let
Something that's infected
Become the size of a baseball
Before you start complaining?
[crew member] oh, yeah!
[clayton] okay, I made the cut.
-Whoo! -I'm gonna squeeze.
I know that feels better already, bird.
Whoo-hoo.
That sucker was ready.
[groans]
[keith] I mean, it's one thi to be a tough guy.
Nobody says anything until it's like
-Life and death. -Yeah.
And that makes our job worse,
When they guys don't tell us what's going on.
Yeah.
Yeah, that felt really good getting that damn thing cut open
'cause I gotta tell you, it was hell.
Just putting a shirt on, taking a shirt off.
By the time we get back to the ground,
You'll be ready to go.
[narrator] cysts, 1,000-pound crab pots,
Out-of-control tables...
[john] whoa! What is that?
[narrator] they're just a few of the booby traps on the bering sea.
Don't worry about me. I'm just a tree floating here...
With surveillance on it!
[narrator] but last winter o the time bandit, a unique of trouble took root.
I heard you guys tangled with a tree.
Yeah. Someone can hit this thing, you know.
It's in the middle out there and the fleet.
It's a navigational obstacle, you know.
[narrator] playing the good samaritan,
Johnathan plans to pull the 8-foot round trunk
Out of the water
Before it damaged the hull of an unsuspecting vessel.
Throw a chain line around that root.
[freddy] roger.
Okay, cowboy up, cowboy.
We decided, you know, let's grab it and throw it on the deck
And maybe it's worth something.
And, and we get it out of the way.
Anyway, maybe I can let freddy tell the story.
-Is freddy here? -[laughs]
-Freddy! -Freddy!
I gotta introduce him. Freddy "the hurricane"...
[all] maugatai!
Best nickname ever. What's up, cap?
Oh, how you doing, brother? Good to see you, bro.
-How you doing, bro? -Good. Pretty good.
[freddy] it was pretty tough trying to get the hook and throw the
Loop around, the line around.
It was not really catching it, and I figured, "oh, captain wants it,
We gotta go to go get it."
[freddy shouting] give it to me, baby!
[john] no. No.
No, freddy. No, no, freddy. No.
[over pa] no, freddy!
Man over board. Man over board.
This guy...
Jumped in the water without a survival suit on.
And I was scared [bleep] I'm gonna squish him between the boat.
Oh, my god, this is not good.
Hang on to that, freddy, so we don't lose you.
-Yeah, baby. -Throw him a life sling quick.
I was scared.
-Yeah, I'm sorry. -If I wanted a stump, I could care less.
-I care more about you. -Yeah.
I've got it. I've got it.
Come here, [bleep] damn it. Come here.
This is [bleep] up.
-They yanked me out of there... -[laughing]
-Come on, man, give me the rope. -Give me a chance to grab it.
Dude, do you ever get cold? Like, I've seen you myself
Swim in the bering sea in the winter time,
When most people would die within 30 seconds.
Yeah, it gets cold once a while. But you know,
When you, when you got a really good attitude,
Positive attitude and go lucky,
It will warm you up.
-[laughing] -what you didn't see is is carl.
He ran and grabbed a survival suit.
I totally-- respect. You know.
[narrator] in 33 degree wate
The human body will succumb to hypothermia in minutes..
I got it, I got it!
...As carl "blind dog" gorsegner knows all too well
When freddy went in the water, I saw the look in your eyes.
-That's why I ran and got that [bleep] survival suit. -Yeah.
You have to get someone in a survival suit.
That's where everyone screws up.
I've learned my lessons. I watched three guys die now.
[carl] freddy went into the water,
I instantly saw mike lyda again.
[josh] so what happened on that day?
[carl] me and marty were on deck.
We were on the boat called the sea fisher
And we had a six-high stack on.
And mongo was running the crane and he put it dow
And the boat rolled.
And the pot came loose, slid off the stack,
Went flying way out the port side.
And we're just standing there and all, [bleep], here it comes.
Coming back at us, million miles an hour.
Mongo, he just couldn't get out of the way in time.
That pot came and hit him,
And he held on to it and went flying all the way out clear of the boat.
Then, finally, he couldn't hold on any more and in the water he went.
Well, we threw the life sling and he was so cold that
Life sling was just bouncing off his head.
And then we got the picking hook down to him and he tried to pull up.
And when he got up, he fell back in.
Then I grabbed him and held on to him and I just pulled him-- he's 270 pounds dry.
And I just couldn't hold on.
And then he's just going, "don't let go. Don't let go."
Then I grab him and held on to him and I just couldn't hold on.
And then he's just going, "don't let go. Don't let go."
Then the boat rolled.
-Sucked him under. -Oh, my god.
-That's a terrible experience. -Sorry, mike.
Yeah. I love you, mike.
Yeah.
I know there was nothing you could do about it.
I listened to all that on the radio.
-That thing with freddy. -That's why he ran straight to get a survival suit.
You weren't gonna watch that happen again.
It ain't gonna happen. I'll die first.
[narrator] the near-freezin water of the bering sea is deadly during all seasons
But when the liquid turn solid...
That's nasty out there, man.
[jake] I don't like the way she's rolling around.
Boom, boom, boom, big wave. Done.
Game over.
[narrator] ...It takes down ships.
[jake over pa] hang on, hang on!
More boats than anybody wants to remember or try to count
Have sank out here due to icy conditions.
[deckhand] watch out.
You know what, I don't think that's a ice mirage there.
No, that's no ice mirage. That's ice.
[narrator] ...And swallows everything in its path.
Yeah, at the end of the season, we did get into the ice.
[narrator] on the wizard last winter...
-[bleep] things could be anywhere. -[keith] yeah.
[narrator] captain keith colburn returned to gear buried
Under 8 inches of arctic ice flows.
Phew. I can only pray that we get the gear back that's up here.
They're not just small chunks.
They're the titanic sinkers is what they are.
It's always intimidating when the ice starts to show up.
And when you're in it, there's always the danger of
Getting in the situation where your weather shifts,
And now, all of a sudden, you have...
Freight trains in 12-foot seas coming at you.
Better watch your speed.
It's going down the rail. You know, pretty good clip here.
You split that [bleep] right now.
It bumped and then tipped up on its side
Underneath the bottom of the boat.
Yeah. That's the stuff that gets scary when it gets back here.
Back towards the rutter. Yes.
I'm sweating bullets.
You are doomed if you don't get the heck out of there.
I was terrified of the ice 'cause part of the hull was real thin.
And then you get into these chunks of ice that just--
It's like a can opener.
Yeah. There's just so much more that goes into when you're working around the ice.
[over pa] pull it off the bottom slow until you know what's coming up.
[narrator] even with a crew averaging 11 years' experience,
That's [bleep] gone. Damn it.
[narrator] the wizard couldn't overc the bering sea's icy grasp.
One headache after another.
Leaving a pot behind or breaking pots off in the ice
Trying to get them out of the ice, you know, that's painful.
And you know, you lose six, eight, ten a year. You know,
Not long before you need gear, you know.
And steel prices are so crazy.
No, you know what, mouse, let's leave 'em.
Sometimes you got to cut your losses because
We're starting to lose the race
To get our crab delivered before the canneries shut.
So, we had to basically abandon six or eight pots.
That hurts.
Later the season, I got like two of them back.
But they were nowhere near where they started.
Hello. How's it going, man?
[narrator] in certain conditions, ice moves 25 miles a day.
Yeah, I do about ten miles above that.
[narrator] but bad news travels faster.
The ice is right there?
Wow. All right. [bleep]
I lost, I lost my last string.
Our gear is gone.
-[crew member] new hurt. -That's the old?
[john] I ended up losing about 11 pots.
And these are pots that have been with me
For 32 years.
I lost j-16 and
-007. Oh, yeah, man. -Stop it.
How many times have I been prospecting
With 007 and 007 finds the motherlode?
-I don't know how many times. -It's a good pot.
Yeah, so I had to do something.
So we did a little memorial for him, like. [chuckles]
I read off the numbers.
-And then freddy would dump some herring in the sea. -All right. [laughs]
[laughs]
Yeah, baby!
Okay. You guys ready?
We're all good!
This is in memory of pr, pot number pr.
[cheering] whoo, pr!
Thank you for your service, pr.
I wanna tear up. Ck-19.
[bleep] son of a bitch. This sucks.
It's funny that you say you had a memorial service for these pots because
When you hauling your gear, you don't even look at your sheet,
But you can see a little paint blob off the
Back of the buoy and you know what pot that is.
-Oh, yeah. -And you built a personal relationship with it,
You know, the third mesh back on the top has a little ding in it.
Like, you see this stuff and you see these pots
So many times up and down and up and down.
-Yeah. -Hurts to lose one.
Since I started running that boat, those pots have been with me.
And they're gone now. So...
They're in a better place now.
If that ice is coming down,
Uh, the way they predicted,
I know we're in harm's way.
[narrator] forced to abando his string after the crane collapsed...
I don't wanna leave a couple $100,000 of pots right there either.
[narrator] ...Captain sig was unable to collect his northernmost gear.
The crane broke.
You had no way to stack on your gear.
So you had to go to town?
Yeah. We didn't have a choice.
Ice is coming. It started picking up speed.
And my only saving grace was the fleet,
You know. And harley was close by the gear.
So, I got a hold of him.
I don't know when we will we back. So, I don't know
If the the gear's gonna be safe.
But we found really good fishing up above.
Maybe you can take a whack at them.
And move what you can.
Oh, I'd be happy to help you, pal.
[narrator] favors on the open ocean come with risk.
I don't know what to expect here. Could be doing a chore,
Or I could be hitting a home run. I have no idea.
There is nothing worse than being responsible for somebody's gear.
Oh, man.
Sig, he's leaving. He's broken.
I didn't know how long he's gonna be broken.
Now I got 35 more pots I have to move back, you know.
Well, you're helping a guy move his gear away from the ice,
-But you still have your gear to move away from the ice. -Yeah.
That's a pretty big deal on your part. Good job.
You know, I got a big boat,
I can grab his but I'm gonna get his crab.
All right, yes!
Yeah. Whoo-hoo.
Ey!
Hallelujah!
What you got for crab?
Two hundred.
Ho-ho-ho.
[steve] those pots of sig's were ful
Would you have moved all of them if they were empty?
Right. Pretty girl standing on the corner, are you gonna give her a ride?
All right. You know. [laughs]
Yeah, he's my buddy. I told him I'd help him. He was in need.
My answer is, yes. I would have moved them if they were empty. But...
They were a lot more attractive to go get when they were full.
It's not every man for himself when the ice comes down.
Yeah.
The fleet's already proved that they can do the right thing
Together. And I mean,
We may have to rely on each other in the same way for the future.
[narrator] this season on deadliest catch...
Hey.
Oh, my god.
Get him. Cut the line!
Yee-haw!
Yeah, baby!
We gotta get out of here!
[narrator] st. Paul...
We can see the breakers on the beach.
So, you went inbound st. Paul harbor?
[narrator] the northernmost harbor
For the alaska crab fleet.
[keith] it's susceptible to storms coming out of the southwest.
Getting in is treacherous. Getting out is treacherous.
[narrator] the hazardous inl
Serviced one of the only processors
That remained open for the entire winter season
If the big rusty carcass of a boat
Sitting right there at the entrance to st. Paul
Isn't enough of a warning sign...
-What is? -Right.
[narrator] but narrow shallows...
Ooh.
...Waves...
[deckhand shouting] get down!
[bleep]
...And ice...
We're getting pushed onto the [bleep] beach.
...Can turn this port into a terrifying gauntlet of disasters.
There's so many stories of boats that have had
Just treacherous moments either entering the harbor,
Exiting the harbor or even just tied up in the harbor.
Yeah.
[narrator] near the end of last season...
Yeah, so we're just getting to st. Paul.
I don't like being here unless I'm getting ready to off-load but
I gotta fix my generator.
[narrator] electrical issue forced captain jake
To challenge the notorious breakers at the mouth of the harbor.
[jake over pa]
[turbines start]
I was pretty confident when I was coming in to st. Paul to do the fix.
Until I got to the break water.
[jake] the approach is fast.
Then I will slow down,
And I will wait for what I think is the best moment,
In between the waves to cut in.
[dramatic music playing]
You have basically a hard right turn
And you either run into the break water
On your right turn, or the waves push you into the break water.
Each one of the waves weighs more than a warehouse.
Basically they are like moving walls of cement
And you have so much time in between. So you count them first.
[waves splashing]
[jake speaking]
And then once you make the move, and the decision to put the throttles down,
That's it.
Turn, bitch. Turn, bitch. Turn, bitch. Turn, bitch.
Get ready to hold your hats.
Full speed.
Oh, my god.
-Whoo! -[crew cheering]
[sighs] [bleep] me. [bleep] me.
Even though, I made it in there, there's that one part,
Where, like, my subconscious is telling me, "you shouldn't have done it!
You shouldn't have done-- [laughing] why did you do that to us?"
You know, but I had to commit and I knew I couldn't back down.
The harbor is on the south side,
-And that's why it makes it so difficult with the south-- -mmm-hmm.
...Southwest wind. If it was a north wind, no problem.
-Yeah. -The southwest wind kind of closes that harbor off.
-Yeah. -That's why it's so dangerous.
That's why it's so dangerous.
Whoo!
Oh, we are in it now.
[steve] you don't wanna do the turn right when those big ones are there.
[narrator] by the end of the winter season,
The southern wind had full tanks, ready to off-load.
[crew member cheers]
[steve] a little chance that we might be able to get into the harbor here.
It will take me at least two days.
[narrator] while a queue of boats waited for the weather to calm down...
If I get an opportunity to jump in front and get this crab off,
Good lord, get them off.
[narrator] harley risked delivering
In the face of the prevailin southwest wind.
[steve over pa] are you guys all ready?
-[steve] we were racing to get in there. -Oh, yeah.
When you are loaded with crab and you got to get off-loaded,
And you are worried what's gonna happen, you are driven.
We're straight in the channel here.
Oh, yeah.
Hawaii five-o.
[steve] there's some roller out front.
You get up to these rollers and it's gonna get nicer.
I started driving through the rollers out front,
Getting in closer, and it's not looking nicer.
It's looking like a freaking maytag washing machine.
And I am going, "son of a bitch."
Turning around was no longer an option after I got in too close
'cause now you are in those breakers.
-You get to that point where you are going in, -right.
Or you are going on the rocks.
I am going in.
[dramatic music playing]
Pull me in here, big boy.
[deckhand] oh, my god.
Damn!
[alarm beeping]
Freaking low pressure. Are you [bleep] with me?
[steve] when you go to make that turn,
You're got to make that turn in a hurry.
Well, my freaking low pressure alarm started going off,
Probably 'cause I was so panicky, I jerked it so hard.
The horn's going, the red light's one.
But now I'm-- full-speed, and I made my turn and I gotta go.
It's a biggie again, [bleep] damn it.
[deckhand] there it is. Here it comes.
Push, push, push, push, push.
[deckhand] watch it, watch it!
[crew clamoring]
Come on, come on. Bring it back. There you are.
Now, that's enough pushing.
Say hallelujah.
[all laughing]
You lose your engine or something goes wrong right there,
I could have been toast.
-One little engine is not gonna do it. -Even in calm weather,
-With no ice, -yeah.
If you lose power, you lose, you know, you go dark ship,
Or something goes wrong with the main engine,
-At the entrance to that harbor, -true. Right.
-You're gone. -You're on the beach.
-You're gone. Yeah. -You're on the beach. You're hitting that rock.
That's scary [bleep], man.
Looking back at how tough it was, would you do that again?
No. No.
We are getting older and wiser and we are supposed to learn.
Another year? No, I am not gonna do that again.
That's asinine.
[waves splashing loudly]
[steve] yeah, we got, we got, we got some big seas here.
[narrator] but st. Paul save its most lethal punch...
[bill] trying to get in the harbor with-- between these gigantic swells.
...For the 113-foot summer bay.
[bill] they are monstrous.
Oh, [bleep]. There's a big one.
-[deckhand] watch out. -Hold on!
[crew shouting in video]
Hurry up. Let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Look out, look out.
[indistinct shouting]
Wow.
[deckhand] please help!
What the [bleep] am I doing?
[man on radio]
[bill speaking]
-[indistinct chatter over laptop] -[bleep]
[turbine whirs]
Run, [bleep].
-That's dangerous right there. -Yep.
Come on. Turn, bitch.
Hang on!
Oh, [bleep]!
[deckhand] hold on! Here's another one!
[waves crashing loudly]
[bill on video] ...We gotta get out of this...
[dramatic music playing]
What he was doing was dumb. That was dumb.
-That was dangerous. -Bill screwed that one up a little bit.
I would never do that with my boat. He is lucky someone didn't get hurt.
-Whoa [bleep]. -[bleep] everywhere. [bleep]
[bill] I was okay on the first one.
When the second one hit, I thought this might be it.
We might not come back up on this one.
I love bill more than anything but I am watching dj, who is their deck boss,
Pinned against the wall.
In no right mind, um, any day, would I ever make that call.
-That bad decision could have costed lives. -Yeah.
I've had a bunch of couch captains, retired washed-ups, that have seen this
That have chastised me for making a [bleep] decision. How did I go there?
They didn't have the whole [bleep] story.
[narrator] this week on salty takes...
It's harley's great day.
-Do tell. What's the best day of your life? -[chuckles]
Well, you know I am a hunter.
When I was archery hunting up at my cabin,
I was making love with my wife,
And I look out the window, and there is a freaking herd of elk in my backyard.
And so I grab my bow and arrow, and I slip out the door,
And damned if I didn't shoot this elk. Bang. Bare-ass naked.
-True story. True story. -[laughing]
You know, I am jumping up and down,
And my wife, she is going, "you are having a good day."
I go this is the best day of my life.
You are making love. Elk come to your doorstep.
Basically you are saying, that whenever you are with your wife,
-She is like the best elk call of all time? -[laughing]
-Yeah, that was a good bugle. -[both laughing]
I want to hear what the elk bugle sounds like.
-Let's see if you can do it. -[imitating elk bugle]
[both laughing]
[narrator] you know you are in trouble for shari this, right, harley?
Oh, brother.
[narrator] while bill surviv the brutal blows of st. Paul harbor...
I got a lot of faith in this boat. More than I did before.
What he was doing was dumb. That was dumb.
[narrator] ...But took the worst hits from his fellow skippers.
That bad decision could have costed lives.
I've had a bunch of couch captains, retired washed-ups, that have seen this
That have chastised me for making a [bleep] decision. How did I go there?
They didn't have the whole [bleep] story.
[dramatic music playing]
It was flat, calm a half hour before that. It came up like that,
And all of a sudden we are flying right at the jetty.
And if we wouldn't have made that turn, it was a risk.
But the other risk would've been losing all the crab
And the boat on the jetty.
-Had you known that it was gonna be that bad-- -it wasn't that bad.
-All I am saying is-- -who the [bleep] would say
They were gonna go in if it was that bad.
That happened instantaneously.
And [bleep] flying through the air. I had cuts in my head.
We had a foot and a half of water in the wheelhouse.
Who secured the forward hatch?
-That guy right there. -I did.
If you don't get that hatch closed,
That boat is not here today.
We all ran into the forepeak. As soon as he dogged that,
The ground went from here to here.
[waves splashing loudly]
There was a motor that we had secured down to the deck,
Like had orange twines, securing around shackles.
But the force of that wave broke through all of it, slid,
And it caught clayton between this bench this way and this way,
And just the sound of his voice was the most terrifying part.
He, he went to the straight like three years old, and he's like,
-"kenny, kenny, help. -"help. Help.
-My leg, my leg. Help." yeah. -My leg. I am stuck."
And it was just like...
I don't know-- I've never felt that. I feel it right now, I just...
We were about to open that door up at one point.
Yeah, if it would have stayed on its side another second or two,
You know. In that moment, clayton's foot's stuck
And like nobody was gonna get left behind.
-Yeah. -In a way, it was kind of a blessing that that happened.
One of the worst years out of 40-something for me.
We lost some people that were near and dear to us.
Should one of the guys would have gone over,
I probably wouldn't be sitting right now, talking to you.
Yeah.
[narrator] after enduring the tragedies of last year,
The fleet faces the 2021 fall season with their king crab bounty
Slashed to zero.
This year, I think, you are gonna fish anything you can.
[narrator] no longer about the fishery, captains now scramble
To save their industry.
-Every year is chaos. -[steve] uh-huh.
The definition of crab fishing is controlled chaos.
So what's your plan of adapting to the situation this season?
I want to head back to the old country,
And, and start something in norway.
-Are you gonna go fish king crab in norway? -I'm gonna give it a try.
-Oh, I am so jealous. -[sig] and what about you?
Well, I have some bairdi
And there is black cod out there.
I think those are my best options.
But will it sustain enough to provide for six families and the business itself?
We just have to adapt. And we have to look at what we worked before,
And what we can do better.
There's other small fisheries we can do.
There's a superb off golden season, with a 130,000-pound quota.
At ten bucks a pound, that's $1.3 million to split up.
That's something.
-Yeah. -We could make it on that.
You know, I actually have a license for it.
-You do? -I do too. I registered us.
Ah-ha! [laughing] we were thinking the same thing.
[keith] what are you gonna do?
I'll probably go back to basics.
Maybe get a paper route. Mow some lawns.
I got a feeling the guys are gonna stay together,
And then just move forward, somehow, some way.
-I think that's pretty much our only choice. -Exactly.
Oh, we gotta survive it, no matter what.
Life is full of hurdles. You either go over them, around them, or through them.
You don't stop there. You gotta keep going.
Yeah.
We trust each other now.
And we are gonna feel a lot better about working together.
100%.
-Then, here's to this golden crab. -[glasses clinking]
We will do golden together.
It will be a golden childs.
[dramatic music playing]
[narrator] at the end of last season,
Mandy hansen had a golden moment of her own,
Guiding the northwestern to seattle.
[man over radio] northwester this is the locks. Thanks for your patience.
Captain, come on in and get set portside.
Thank you.
All right. We will start it off.
-[narrator] earning her piec of the family legacy. -[mandy laughs]
-Nice job! -Thank you.
So do you feel like an accomplished captain now?
I mean, I made it through the locks.
-See? -[all laughing]
-I got something for you. -[mandy] huh?
-So that's mine? No. -That's yours.
-That's a big deal. -Okay.
-[mandy] finally got my fisherman's necklace. -[sig] yeah.
-So, is that gonna work for you? -Yeah, thank you.
[narrator] and though king crab is closed...
-[mandy] hey, guys. How's it going? -[all] hey.
[narrator] mandy's staying busy.
Let's see your tummy.
-You wanna see the stomach? [laughing] -yeah.
-Oh, my gosh, that's so crazy. -It's big.
[mandy] yeah, so any day now
I know you guys got a sailor,
But what about the middle name? Have you thought about that?
I actually have. We are planning on rose.
That's a nice name. But you know, your mama,
His mama, that's got a mary in it. You know that right?
How about this? If you guys make home in time, you can pick the middle name.
Ooh!
We are gonna do everything we can to get home in time, okay?
I know it's not a good year for the crab industry.
But we will figure it out. We always do.
All right. Miss you lots, mandy. Love you.
[all] love you!
You guys be safe.
-All right. Love you. -[mandy] bye.
[narrator] this season on deadliest catch...
You see your shot, take it!
[all screaming]
Holy [bleep].
[john on pa]
[sig] it's sig hansen.
I am looking for a boat in norway.
Sugar shane, welcome back to the family business.
[over pa] welcome to hell, buddy.
Whether, it's a boy or a girl, the child will end up fishing,
Whether the child likes it or not.
[captain] we've lost power and we're taking on water.
[man screaming]
-[deckhand] let's go. In the room. -My god.
Get some blacklights up. Brody, you go check that line.
[dramatic music playing]
Hey, hey! Whoa!
-She's [bleep] up. -I know.
We got a helo here. We'll get you off in the morning.
[pilot on radio]
[men screaming]