-[water splashing] -[seagulls squawking]
[dramatic music playing]
let's throw this one behind the back for you.
[mike] this is episode is dedicated to the memory
of nick mcglashan.
A dear member of the deadliest catch family.
He'll be missed.
Rest in peace, nick.
[nick] you know,
a bad day of fishing
is better than a good day at work.
[waves crashing]
[tense music playing]
[mike] October, 2020.
One year after mother russia set her sights
on dominating the global market
by overtaking alaska's
$500 million crab business...
[sig] I've been out here since 1978, fishing.
That's 42 years.
And I don't think, uh, we've ever had been
in the position quite like this.
[mike] ...The fleet arrives in dutch harbor
to an industry in crisis.
[sig] guys are going a little stir crazy.
We've had the quarantine, either by land or at sea.
Nobody in, nobody out.
[mike] government shutdowns and regulations imposed
in response to covid-19
threaten to end generations
of alaskan crab fishing.
[jake] if we don't catch the crab on time,
and catch it all,
then I'm afraid next year,
we won't have a season.
[josh] if we have no season, man,
everyone loses their jobs.
[mike] the fishing game locked down,
and unable to conduct its usual summer survey.
[scott] there's a lot of uncertainty
whether there's any crab out there or not.
We have to prove that those crab are there.
[mike] uncertainty about the health of crab stocks,
they force the state to shut down the fishery.
[casey] the entire fleet needs to work together.
The question is, will people move their ego out of the way?
[mike] now, with half the fleet tied up,
the captains that remain must quickly ensnare
the entire 5 million pound fleet-wide quota,
or face a potential multi-year closure.
[scott] if this fishery is closed,
we're gonna lose our market share in the world,
russia's gonna step in,
they're gonna fill that market share,
and we might not be able to get it back.
[mike] to save their livelihoods,
captains pull together.
It's like, "how did I let this happen,
how did this happen?"
I get it, man. I get it all the way.
[mike] dig deep
to excavate the tragedies.
[man] I don't wanna go through that.
-[machine whirring] -[mike] and triumphs.
[casey] oh, yeah.
That's better than fact.
[mike] interrogate their adversaries.
[sig] bill made a statement, you're the worst greenhorn
-he's ever had. -Yup.
[mike] analyze never before seen footage.
[man] yeehaw.
[mike] and call on the help of a retired
bering sea legend to bring his 40 years
of fishing experience to the table.
[man] get it, johnny.
[jonathan] we need a group hug. I'm serious.
[mike] captains leave no stone unturned,
and spared no feelings.
Your veins are coming out, dude.
[bleep] yeah, they are.
[bleep] judge me for that.
[mike] to make sure this season
isn't their last.
[sig] hey, mandy. I think now is a good time
to lower that quarantine flag.
Welcome to the dutch, guys.
Get this season started.
[seagulls squawking]
[mike] one week until departure day.
New emergency orders
restricting businesses and gatherings.
[mike] captains and crews of the alaska fleets
emerge from their 14-day quarantine.
But it's the skippers who must band together
to confront the threat to the fishery.
[tense music playing]
[mike] joining sig hansen of the northwestern,
and jake anderson of the saga...
I just quarantined in a hotel room, this is a
step up from jail sentence.
[mike] ...This retired captain
of the storied time bandit,
jonathan hillstrand.
[jonathan] least our boat we've got vacuum,
and we can, you know...
You can walk down the galley,
you can got to the engine room.
That's crazy. I'm just glad we got a job.
[jake] I had a mullet.
In quarantine.
[sig] you had a mullet?
Yeah, it was a real mullet.
Like it was longer than yours.
And I was excited by having a long hair...
What's a wrong with a mullet? Mullets are cool.
They were cool, like,
when god invented dirt.
And you were like 14, and john was, like, 31.
But they're not that cool anymore.
[sig] so, anyway, let's start with the saga.
Oh, my god. How did I know?
[sig] last year, we were racing
against the russian fleet,
what was your strategy to beat them, jake?
Hiring one of the best king crab fishermen around
-out of retirement. -Thank you...
Thank you, buddy.
Not a bad strategy.
-I want something... -It paid off,
in more ways than one.
[mike] five months before the coronavirus
turned the world upside-down,
jake brought in a secret weapon
to fight the russian threat.
[motorcycle revving]
[jake] one of my closest friends,
the man, the myth...
Jonathan hillstrand.
[sig] I understand why, you know, jake would want
your experience
and everything you bring to the table,
but, I mean, what was in it for you?
I got full price for my crab, so,
instead of leasing it out, I got to catch it.
And I... And I missed... I missed you guys.
Anderson.
[jake] hey, dude, you made it.
[mike] jake welcomed john with open arms.
And five days later,
so too did the bering sea.
[woman] you're looking at footage of typhoon hagibis
that made landfall just southwest of tokyo.
[mike] in the form of a 950-square mile storm.
[waves crashing]
[sig] I mean, right out of the gate,
you get smacked with this typhoon hagibis,
I mean, how did you guys prevailed during that deal?
-Uh, we got our asses kicked. -Yeah.
That storm, you know, wrecked half the hemisphere, man.
It started out down in the equator, man.
That thing just wreaked havoc everywhere.
It killed... I don't know how many people it killed,
that hagibis was no joke.
[waves crashing]
[jake] the best prize goes to the guys
who get to the dock first,
and that's gonna be us this time.
This is our chance.
It's our chance right now,
and we're not running from nothing.
The russian boats are not shutting down,
I guarantee you that.
[mike] keeping the russians at bay,
meant riding out to 50-knot winds,
and 30-foot seas,
instead of making a costly trip
back to dock.
[jake] ooh, watch out.
[mike] and while the fleet withstood
the typhoon's onslaught...
[jake] well, here comes a big one, watch it.
[man] watch out, watch out.
[mike] ...Some crewmen weren't so lucky.
[jake] that was when you had the window down
and I was turning...
[jonathan] that wave came over the wall,
and knocked tony...
-Knocked tony... -...From the bait station...
...Put his hand down.
You had a guy on deck,
-did he get hurt? -[jonathan] yeah.
-He got hurt, yeah. -[sig] what happened?
[tense music playing]
watch out, watch out, men.
-Watch out, watch out. -[jonathan] watch out.
Run for it!
[bleep]
[man] oh, watch out there.
You guys okay?
[man speaking]
[man] hey, jake.
Tony's hand hurt pretty bad.
[jake] bring tony inside.
[man] I'm sending him in right now.
[sig] what happened?
[jake] the wave hit, and, you know,
he didn't have his sea legs, and dropped
because I have a really... I have a really light bow,
so shoves everything up, you know, so...
So, the force was twice as bad?
Yeah.
[mike] greenhorns often take the worst of it on deck.
[jake] you okay?
-You think you broke it? -Yeah...
It looks pretty messed up.
[mike] and greenhorn tony avellino
is used to more delicate work.
Did he break it?
Yeah. Broke his thumb, I think.
Well, he's, uh, he's like, a neurosurgeon, right?
He's the head of neurosurgery.
He needs to stay on land.
[jake] I know. I don't... I don't understand it either.
-I tell him he's crazy. -He was tough.
He did... He stayed at the bait station,
he wasn't supposed to get hurt...
-[sig] mmm-hmm. -...But that hagibis, you know
-changed things, but... -[jake] yeah.
It's all fun and games until somebody gets hurt.
I mean everybody was okay and everybody was happy,
but we were on so much crab...
-Yeah. -...And we didn't know
-how long it was... We had to. -It's harvest...
-People don't... -You're on hagibis high.
-[jake] yeah. -[jonathan] you know,
you can't stop me from pulling, like,
that $5,000 a pot.
But when you take a wave like that,
you gotta shut down,
nothing is worth losing a life.
[mike] with the future of the fishery
hanging in the balance,
safety on the bering sea is essential
to a fast and efficient season.
[man] hang on, hang on.
[mike] but violent weather
isn't the only thing standing in the way of success.
Every captain needs a crew they can depend on,
if they have any hope
of bagging their quota quickly.
[cheering]
[mike] before setting sail for king crab last year,
summer bay captain wild bill wichrowski,
found his hired help to be,
well, not so helpful.
-[nick] um... -What's going on?
...Tony and kyle didn't come back
to the boat last night.
[bleep]
[nick] and, uh,
kyle is really [bleep] up,
drugs, man.
[wild bill] last year, the boat was ready,
I mean, gear was good. However,
I had two guys that decided
to party, fiesta.
So it was cut and run, I'm not gonna deal...
I can't deal with this anymore,
I have too many years of this
trying to babysit these guys.
[tense music playing]
[mike] hours before launch,
two of bill's deckhands
came back to the boat,
intoxicated, and unable to function,
breaking the law,
and summer bay policy,
postponing the veteran's season.
[wild bill] gave you a job this summer,
I gave you money for your family,
and you just spit in my face.
Get the [bleep] out the boat.
All right.
[mike] when half your roster gets cut,
who you call up off the bench
can be the difference between a w,
and the bite of a bitter loss.
[keith] so you lose two guys,
now you're scrambling.
And I think you made
a really stellar hire.
-Oh, my god. -[laugh] it's...
[wild bill] I find it hard to even repeat
his name anymore.
It was the weakest, laziest,
most condescending individual
I'd ever had on a boat in 47 years.
[mike] coming up.
-[nick] the worst greenhorn. -[wild bill] ever.
-[landon] yeah. -[nick] ever.
Get off deck [bleep]
[vasily speaking]
[sig] vasily, huh?
You're the guy.
Yup.
[wild bill] we all make choices in life,
and you made a [bleep] up one.
Pack your [bleep] man.
[mike] the quality of a captain's crew
often determines the quality of his season.
I should've got my sweatshirt back.
[mike] and how a deckhand meshes with others
can mean the difference between profit or pain.
[man] you got the most important job
on the boat, vasily.
[vasily speaking]
[nick] it says not for human consumption.
[vasily speaking]
[waves crashing]
[mike] wild bill's deck boss,
nick mcglashan,
with engineer landon cheney,
discovered first-hand,
how one bad beet
can spoil the borscht.
[keith] last year, the fleet was battling russia
to try and get the crab caught,
you guys were battling a russian
-on deck, too. -[nick] yeah.
The worst greenhorn. I've ever had.
Ever.
[mike] at the outset, bill's strategy to beat
the russians with one of their own
in his ranks preceded...
We're gonna have to tie the door vasily.
[vasily talking]
we got a problem?
[man speaking]
[mike] ...Slowly.
[seagulls squawking]
[wild bill] well, here's the first one.
I see four guys,
I don't see five.
And it's my russian.
[crane whirring]
well, nothing.
[man] oh, man.
[man speaking]
[man] what the [bleep] ruski
[mike] then, it went in reverse.
[vasily speaking]
[wild bill] this guy just got to keep his mouth shut
and do his job.
[mike] before wild bill
can even move his gear...
[wild bill] yeah, it's time to go.
[man speaking]
argh, my god.
[mike] ...Vasily was already trying
the crew's patience,
and in their view,
costing valuable production time.
[nick] why didn't you have any
of this bait done, vasily?
-What? -You do exactly
-what I tell you to do. -[vasily] I did,
I did every single
baits set, I think we ran out
-of... -[nick] then why are we doing
-bait right now? -Because we didn't have
-shad -[nick] well, you go get
one in the freezer.
That's your job as bait, vasily.
[vasily speaking]
oh, be quiet.
You know what? You're the greenhorn out here.
You need to start keeping your mouth shut
and doing as you're told.
I've about had it.
[vasily speaking]
[wild bill] what did I tell you?
I just said shut up.
He just said, "how many crab do we have on board."
you [bleep] [bleep]
you know what? Get off deck [bleep] you.
[vasily speaking]
oh, no. Oh, no.
[wild bill] hey you, clown,
I'm talking now.
[water splashing]
[mike] of course, the ex-summer bay greenhorn
has his own side of the story,
and captain sig is ready
for his interrogation
to commence.
Vasily, huh?
-You're the guy. -Yup.
[sig] so, bill made a statement
you're the worst greenhorn he's ever had.
What do you think about those words?
-Those are strong words. -[vasily] uh, right.
I'm pretty sure it was the dumbest greenhorn
that he's ever had.
But even in the word dumbest,
there's the word best.
And that's how they wanted me to look on the boat.
They needed... They needed somebody
just to take the beating,
and be the worst, dumbest,
laziest greenhorn
on that boat.
[wild bill] he just wants to get under your skin.
It's crazy.
[nick] go to your job.
Double standards again?
Take that [bleep] off before you go inside.
[suspenseful music playing]
what are you gonna do, huh?
Come on. What?
You're looking at me like you wanna fight.
Come on.
[sig] you and nick got into it
to where you're just about to...
You're at odds, and you...
You're almost to fisticuffs.
I don't know if you were into zodiacs,
but in chinese calendar, I'm a dog.
And the dogs are very faithful.
They very good creatures.
But if you keep kicking them, they will bite.
You wanna measure [bleep] too?
[vasily speaking]
[wild bill] hey, vasily, come up to the wheelhouse.
[suspenseful music playing]
[mike] with his offload in the books
after three long weeks,
the cold war between he and vasily
finally came to a head.
[wild bill] hey, stop causing problems.
[vasily speaking]
-[wild bill] no. -But nick has attitude
from the beginning.
He doesn't tell me what...
No. Nick is...Nick is one of the best deckhands
in the fleet, and you... And you know the least
about anything in the fleet.
You know what your position is?
Your position is labor.
If somebody says you'll move, you go move.
That is your job.
And you have never done that from day one.
[sig] if you had go through the hoops
-and do what they asked... -Mmm-hmm. Mmm-hmm.
...You think you would have been there now?
I mean, did you think you would have succeeded?
Mmm-hmm.
Uh, in my mind, I did succeed.
[suspenseful music playing]
everything that I've done in this boat
has an equal edge but you don't wanna hear it
-that's the problem -[wild bill] no, I don't
because none of it makes sense.
-Okay. Well for you -[wild bill] no. Stop.
You know what? We're done talking.
You are relieved of your duty.
I want you off the boat now.
[wild bill] no. You're here to say goodbye.
I will have the police remove you from the vessel.
This is private property. Get off my boat now.
[vasily] I just wanna make sure...
Get off my boat now.
[nick] there's nothing worse
than one bad apple on a team.
[wild bill] yeah.
[wild bill] this is the half a bushel
all wrapped up in one.
-[laughs] -[nick] yeah.
We tried every motivational technique we knew.
-Worst guy we'd ever have. -[nick] mmm.
[vasily speaking]
[vasily] I told him you're dead to me, so...
And once somebody's dead to me,
I don't go back.
I mean, I don't talk to them anymore.
I don't see them. I don't notice them, you know,
they're just gone,
whatever, blocked.
[suspenseful music playing]
he actually listed me as a reference
for another crab job.
[laughter]
[mike] though vasily and the crew
of the summer bay were a bad mix,
this season, if captains can't get along,
the chances of saving the fishery
are slim to none.
[scott jr.] uh, boy. We really need to be on some crab.
Keith. Mmm.
You know, last time I talked with keith
was years ago.
[mike] after seven years of bitter history
between keith and junior...
[keith] looks like he's setting gear back,
where he just told me there was no crab.
No white lie never hurt nothing.
[suspenseful music playing]
[mike] last fall, captain scott campbell
took a stab at working
with a truculent keith colburn.
-Junior, how are you doing? -[scott jr.] good.
If you want, I'll work with you.
We can, uh, try and get something
hammered out here.
At this point, I don't need a partner.
But thanks for the call, junior.
I gotta go. I got [bleep] to do.
[bleep]
grow up!
It pisses me off.
It's a sign that you're on good fishing.
[mike] but rather than rekindle a friendship...
[man speaking]
[man] here it comes.
Let me show you how we do this, buddy.
[buzzer buzzes]
[mike] ...Junior reignited
an old grudge
that set keith down.
[keith] it's the wild, wild west.
[suspenseful music playing]
[scott jr.] dude, keith, don't [bleep] do it.
-[mike] only to have keith... -Dump it.
[mike] ...Return the favor.
[wild bill] see, I don't understand,
that, both guys lose when you set each other down.
You have a conflict, that's fine.
Don't talk to him, you know. Putting your pots
on his pots, that's crazy.
[keith] yeah. That one unraveled.
But junior is cutthroat, and he doesn't care.
You know working with junior
that you can't trust
-a word he says. -Come on, buddy.
[scott jr.] what's going on, guys?
[wild bill] there's a guy here
that might, uh, shed some light
on the other side of the story.
So, we're getting the [bleep] side
-of the story now? -I don't know.
Of course. That's part of the story, keith
welcome back to dutch harbor, junior.
So, I'm getting, you guys tried to hook up,
-didn't hook up. -You came in anyway,
and he's ticked off. What do you got?
Well, the reality is, is that's what it was.
I tried to be a nice guy. Tried to work with keith.
He was being an ass [bleep] didn't wanna work with me.
[keith] you tried to be a nice guy? I know you...
-You said no... -I was already...
-...Right off the get-go. -Because I'm already set.
Hey, junior, here's some crab. Come, catch it all for me.
[scott jr.] well, maybe you should have.
[keith] oh, so the reality is, the hotspot...
I'm not giving you a hotspot...
[wild bill] hey, hey, hey, hey.
I'm tired of hearing the bitching and moaning.
What would it take for you guys to get along?
[tense music playing]
[mike] only months after junior and keith's
latest squabble, "wild" bill tries to put
their past behind them.
What would it take for you guys to get along?
Chances are, that ain't gonna happen, is it?
-Probably not. -Yeah.
[keith] mmm, although I heard
you got some inside information
that we don't have.
That is very true. Mmm.
-[keith] partner. -[laughter]
[suspenseful music playing]
[mike] healing damaged partnerships
before the critical upcoming season
will require a large dose of trust.
[sig] I wanna polish my image
because I know I've been a liar
for many, many, many years.
[mike] but trust is not a word
usually found in a fisherman's vocabulary.
[suspenseful music playing]
cornelia marie, this is josh.
[harley] harley, southern wind. How are you?
[mike] last season...
I'm thinking maybe if, uh,
we work together, we can, you know,
just cover some ground.
[mike] ...The cornelia marie who partnered
with the southern wind,
ran into some trust issues of their own.
Here to explain,
captains josh harris
and casey mcmanus.
Fresh out of quarantine, huh?
Dude, 14 days of germ jail,
I'm over it. I'm clean now though.
-How are you? -How you been, bill?
-What's up, bill? -Hey, brother.
-Nice to see you -how you been?
-Uh, busy. -Yeah.
-[casey] a little busy. -[wild bill] here we go again.
So, I was told that you guys
hooked up with harley on the southern wind.
How did that work out?
[suspenseful music playing]
definitely committed to do this right,
and be their friend and honest partner.
[mike] only hours after solidifying
their agreement...
[man] not good.
Damn it.
[mike] ...Harley had bad fishing,
and went to check on his new partner's progress.
[harley] they turned it off. What the hell.
[mike] only to find
that the cornelia marie's emergency tracking
beacon was turned off.
[harley] I'm definitely concerned.
[josh] well, the plan that we had
was we were gonna work together
and cover some ground.
[casey] we turned the ais off
because we got on a little tiny dab of crab,
but it wasn't much.
But there's also a bunch of boats
that tend to act like mosquitoes,
and they just go towards the light.
[josh] we just set out our gear
when he'd just call like,
five to seven times.
It was like, "okay.
Yeah. I don't think you guys are telling me the truth."
[suspenseful music playing]
[casey] who's that, harley?
-[man] yeah. -Yo.
[harley] you know, that's a bunch of [bleep]
the way you guys pulled on us here.
[harley] you guys, you're quiet like a church mouse.
God.
[harley] you know, we... My crew and I,
we know you guys have been holding back on us.
You're running around with your ais off.
A couple snakes is what you both are.
[casey] whatever.
[clears throat] [bleep]
I don't owe that guy nothing.
-We never lied to him. -No, no.
-We never lied to him. -Never lied to him.
He just didn't believe us.
[mike] whether the cornelia boys
took advantage of harley's trust
is still open for debate.
This is gonna be my secret weapon.
I think these might help me fly under the radar.
It's a time-released zinc.
[mike] but being trustworthy
is not a virtue harley is known for either.
There's jake's bags right there.
[mike] learning that jake and johnathan
were on crab, harley plans
a super-secret sense.
Yeah.
[harley] we didn't think it died off,
they'll move, and then, it's all mine.
[mike] to take crab out from under them.
[harley] countdown's on.
Won't have a clue what hit them.
[mike] it was the perfect crime
until it wasn't.
[sig] I mean, it sounds to me like you guys
were on pretty good fishing, you know.
And you were doing your own thing,
and then, you were bombarded by harley,
and kind of came guns blazing.
We saw him, but we didn't see any gear.
And then, as soon as I've seen the buoys,
I saw actual buoys pop up.
[sig] zinced. And I go, you got zinced.
-[suspenseful music playing] -[mike] after 24 hours,
the zinc is designed to corrode
in the saltwater, and release the buoy
to the surface,
except these zincs released
before jake and john
left their string.
-[joe] hey. -[man] what?
[joe] somebody's setting us down.
[mike] revealing harley's dastardly plan...
-What the... -[mike] ...For all to see.
Buoys are popping up everywhere, jake.
[suspenseful music playing]
[jake] those are southern wind bags.
He might have zinced you, man.
-Zinced. That's a thing? -Yeah. Zinc.
-[jake] that's a real thing. -It's called zinc.
Now we're gonna get [bleep]
I was like laughing. I didn't understood...
It took me a while to understand
because he's yelling.
I'm mad.
[suspenseful music playing]
[johnathan] turn it back.
I'm back.
[mike] making sure harley clearly understood
that this aggression cannot stand...
[johnathan] okay. We'll take care of this.
[mike] ...Johnathan went full hillstrand.
[johnathan] pull off those bags, buddy.
[jake] johnathan's pissed,
like, literally pissed.
-I just assumed... -[gunshots]
oh, my god. Oh, my god.
[gunshots]
[harley] hit them, johnny.
-[gunshots] -[johnathan] yeah.
[man] whoa.
[johnathan] yeah.
[suspenseful music playing]
[mike] now, that southern wind buoy
and the pot attached to it
sleeps with the crab.
[sig] hey, back in the day, my old man
had a, uh... It was a very complex zinc,
the timer.
You can set it up to a year,
and you could have a string, a long line,
a bunch of pots hooked together,
and then, all of a sudden, pow.
-Umbrella... -Releases the bag.
The bag pops up. You grab your string
and you're up and running.
These guys wanted to set before the season.
And then...And then, during the season,
your gear pops up, and it's kind of like
a 30-day soak on.
[sig] yeah. But, uh, you know, where that thing came from?
It was for drug, uh... For drug abuse.
[johnathan] well, it was drugs. I got you.
[sig] in florida, they were using that.
In speedboats, and then, they would
drop it down and pick them up.
And then, the keel would pop up...
I don't know how the old man got it.
You got to ask my papi.
[laughter]
[suspenseful music playing]
[mike] zinc timers in derby days
may be relics of the past.
But old-school knowledge
can mean the difference
between full pots or blanks.
[jake] well, I got to learn the most organized fishermen,
and the most disorganized fishermen
-are both... -I accept that.
...Like the same.
-They're... -[laughter]
-they...They both can... -The result is the same.
Like they super kick ass.
[sig] I mean, what's the difference between me
and john, you know? I mean, besides age,
what's the difference as teachers?
You scream at me.
[sig] I want the crab count and I want it now.
You're dead. I'm gonna [bleep] stomp on you.
And he tells me not to scream.
[johnathan] you're a [bleep] crab fisherman.
Go get a [bleep] baby.
[mike] but since taking the helm of the saga
six years ago...
Did he try too hard?
He tried too hard.
-He needs to let it go. -[jake] yeah.
[mike] jake struggles with an explosive temper
that persists to this day.
[indistinct chatter]
remember, I'm the [bleep] captain.
-Ooh. -[jake] get off.
Get the [bleep] off of my [bleep]
[bleep]
[laughter]
it's not funny. Wow.
It's funny, but it's not.
Whoa. That was a tough road.
-[chuckles] -wow, I am so glad
those days are over. It's...
I don't know if they're over. Are they over?
[jake] look at the boat that I had,
and look who...Look who...
Look what I had to deal with. I had holes in the boat.
I know. But that's what bugs me
because do you think you're the only guy
that's gone through that situation?
No. I'm not saying that.
Don't hire guys at 4:00 in the morning
at the [bleep] bar.
It won't stop him from hiring people
-at a strip bar. -[johnathan] the strip bar.
You're saying that like I had
like a big choice to choose from.
Bottom line is your... It's a different situation
today than it was then. Yes?
[johnathan] calm down. Calm down. Whoa.
Of course, it is, but then who... But it hurts,
I don't...I don't need to be judged,
-by the way that I... -Who gets the credit for that?
-Help. -[jake] I just don't wanna be
judged for that [bleep] I mean [bleep]
why one day my [bleep]
buckle under the damn pressure.
Stop [bleep] your veins are coming out.
[bleep] yeah they are.
Let's go to happier times.
[sig] take a break for second.
[jake] [bleep] judge me for that.
[tense music playing]
[jake] [bleep] cup of coffee.
[tense music playing]
[sig] take a break for second.
[jake] [bleep] judge me for that.
[mike] reacting to tough love from his mentors...
[jake] [bleep] cup of coffee.
[mike] ...Jake boils over.
[laughs]
okay. I guess we're doing this without jake.
What the hell? Wow. I don't know.
I get it. The guy has got passion.
I get it. He wants to be perfect,
-but you can't be perfect. -[johnathan] yeah.
He's got a little ways to go.
[tense music playing]
[mike] the next day, jake joins
relief skipper mandy hansen
to help clear his head.
-[mandy] it's good to see you. -Oh, long time no see.
[mandy] so, how are you doing? How are you feeling?
I heard you, uh, got into it yesterday?
[laughs] yeah.
Yeah. It was, uh...
I'm very touchy about...
-Losing my temper. -[mandy] mmm-hmm.
Uh, I don't like it.
I've never been proud of it.
And I really believe that anybody
in that same situation would've reacted the same way.
So, like to have somebody diminish
what I've built,
I mean, I've got... I've got
told by keith. I've got told by your dad.
I've got told by every other captain.
You know, you shouldn't be in the wheelhouse yet.
I've been fishing for 20 years.
I would go in one ear, out the next.
Who cares what they're saying.
[jake] and it... And it should, but it's...
And they're not gonna be on the boat with you.
Yeah, but you know that
becomes really hard when it's somebody that I trust.
Does that... Does that make sense?
Mmm-hmm.
I mean, I can... I definitely relate
to not being taken seriously.
I mean, I started the season off by taking
the gear out and storing in wet storage,
just have it closer to the grounds.
Somehow I screwed something up.
[mike] last season, making her first solo trip
before sig's arrival, relief skipper
mandy shells off a deck load of gear
onto grounds known as wet storage,
arming the northwestern with twice the pots
when the season starts.
[clark] hey, mandy.
What?
[man speaking]
well, I, um... Sig taught me
two-tenths so that's what I'm doing.
All right.
[mandy] it's a big deal for me to be out here on my own.
I wanna make sure that when my dad gets here,
we are turnkey ready.
-[man] oh. -Maybe it was just me up
in the wheel house, but I had it in my head
that I was gonna just follow the rules.
Follow dad's play book, you know,
every single point that he taught that time,
I was gonna do it.
The way he taught me was setting the pots
two-tenths apart.
[mike] at the dock, sig shows up to inspect
mandy's handiwork.
-[mandy] hey. -Hello, cap.
[mandy] welcome aboard.
That's 77 pots in the water.
So why is it 40 pots string?
That's eight, nine miles long?
Because you set them two-tenths.
Two-tenths of a mile.
No, when you fish, you do two-tenths of a mile.
You know, this is stored gear.
You know, you want them right and tight.
There's a lot riding on the season,
-that's not gonna work. -Well, you've always
-told me two-tenths. -When you're fishing,
and your prospecting, not when you're setting gear
like that. What are you thinking?
[mandy] so we're trying to save time,
and I ended up wasting more time.
And there's just a lot pressure trying to make
everything perfect for dad.
You know, I've always believed in you.
And if he hadn't told you anything,
you would've started setting at two-tenths.
-[mandy] mmm-hmm. -And you would've been,
why am I doing this so far apart.
This is... Hey, dump it.
-I would... -You would've realized,
you would've learned it on your own.
-Mmm-hmm. -But we spend so much time
trying to make the old man proud
and doing things his way,
that we forget that we're smart enough
ourselves.
-Right. -And we know enough.
We've been taught enough.
[mike] trusting their decisions will be crucial
to both mandy and jake as they navigate
the difficult season that lies ahead.
-[mandy] whoo. -[jake] whoo.
[mike] and wouldn't you know it, bad judgment isn't reserved
for just the young.
Veterans also make potentially
disastrous choices.
[water splashing]
oh, man.
I've been running around on adrenaline here
for the last umpteenth hours.
[mike] battling to fill his boats
-during a 32-hour grind... -[wild bill] we got up
at 8:00 in the morning two days ago.
[mike] ..."wild" bill also battles to stay awake.
[water splashing]
I'll tell you in an hour or so.
Let's be honest here, you know, you're working
as hard as you can, humanly possible.
And you work yourself to death.
Sometimes, you just kind of pass out.
Bill, you had a little episode
where it happened to you, didn't it?
Yeah this season, there was a lull
in the action, and that's all it took.
Hey, bill.
Bill.
[tense music playing]
whoa [bleep]
-[man] watch out. -[water splashing]
[man] ah, get down.
Get the [bleep] down.
[sig] no. It's a hard deal because, you know,
you're prioritizing your guys, their sleep.
[wild bill] twenty-nine times out of thirty,
there isn't a problem with it.
[sig] but still you fall asleep.
-You're still ticking, but... -But you can't...
You can't say it's okay to fall asleep out the wheel.
[sig] it's not. It's not. It's not.
-No, I... -That you can't jeopardize
the ship where you're gonna fall asleep.
-I get it. I get it. -And run into another
-guy out there... -[sig] it's a fine line.
-I mean... -Or your guys get hit
by a wave because you're sleeping.
-[sig] not okay. -It's embarrassing.
-It's dangerous. It's... -Yeah.
-[sig] yeah. -Yeah, it's a mistake.
I mean, we've all done the derby thing
where we've been up for days.
I've been there. We've all been there.
You lose it. You pass out. You're done.
-[johnathan] yeah. -Your body can only take
-so much. -Never personally ever fall
asleep at the wheel, but I woke up on the ground before.
Uh, out on deck, I was tying a pot.
All of a sudden, I wake up, the water's hitting my face.
-It's very common. -Don't want it to happen.
Not good, but it does happen.
At the end of the day, you know,
we're just trying to do our best and try to be safe
-as possible. -[johnathan] yeah.
-What it's all about. -When you do the first
little head nod, that's when you need to say
-we need a break. -[sig] yeah, man.
Anyway, we need a group hug.
-[man] yeah. -[johnathan] I'm serious.
-[laughter] -[mike] hulling fewer pots
per hour may cost time.
But slow and steady wins most races.
Taking advantage of fewer accidents,
break downs.
[crowd cheering]
[mike] however, when the bering sea
shows her teeth...
[woman speaking]
[mike] ...The captain can make all the right choices,
and still pay the ultimate price.
[man] oceans, have got a very long history
of swallowing things up.
[tense music playing]
[mike] this year, fishermen of the bering sea
prepare for a desperate race to catch the fleet-wide quota
quickly, and prevent a catastrophic closure
of the fishery.
[woman speaking]
[mike] but the loss of the scandies rose
with the start of 2020 winter season
was a stark reminder that there is more
than their finances at stake.
[tense music playing]
[mike] on new year's eve,
a distress call from the scandies rose
reverberated across the bering sea.
At the helm, veteran captain gary cobban.
[sig] it hit like a... Like a brick.
-I didn't believe it. -I didn't either. Yeah.
You can't believe that a boat of that size
would go down. A-and a captain that was...
Well, not just the boat, but the captain.
-[scott] ...That experienced. -Yeah.
He had, you know, 35 years of experience.
[mike] in dutch harbor,
the news staggered wizard captain,
-monte colburn. -[sighs]
[tyler] gary, that skipper, was...
One of monte's good friend.
But I know it's weighing heavy on him.
[engine humming]
[monte] oceans got a very long history
of swallowing things up.
He's the old man.
And gary,
we've been struggling.
[wild bill] monte, monte, how are you?
[monte] good. How are you, bill?
Good.
So, one of the hardest things about these losses
is reflecting upon them.
To revisit is tough to the [bleep].
[monte] it doesn't go away.
Gary was pretty much the only guy
that I talked to on the radio over the last five,
-six, eight years. -[wild bill] wow.
It was tough, you know, we've heard about
the scandies and, you know,
to be completely honest, I got to drinking
and obviously, way too much.
I do miss my buddy.
That's not an excuse...
For being a [bleep] idiot.
[wild bill] you say it's not an excuse,
but it can be a reason.
-Right? -You try to numb it out,
you know, that's... So, at this point in my career,
I'm probably the same with you guys.
I mean, I've lost more guys in bering sea
than I have friends left out here working.
-They all hurt. -[keith] yup
some just hurt more.
[wild bill] yeah. I just got a text.
They've found two rafts.
One was empty.
The other one had two guys.
Gary, art, brock, dave, and seth are missing.
[tense music playing]
[wild bill] I knew it was hard on our boat.
We had, you know, landon, he cut his teeth over there.
The look on his face when I had to break
the news was devastating.
Yeah, it was...
This is like one of the most [bleep]
up moments in our career,
but, uh, last night,
the scandies rolled over.
And they got two back, and then gary and his son
-weren't amongst them. -The [bleep] man.
[wild bill] they had a full stack coming from kodiak.
Iced up and rolled over.
-[bleep] -[wild bill] what else
[indistinct]
[man speaking]
[bleep]
[keith] well, scandies' tragedy hit everybody
pretty hard in the fleet.
I'm curious about that rose on your hand.
How long you had that?
[landon] oh, um, funny enough I got it
right before all that happened.
I was looking at that,
that day when we got the news,
it was just kind of an eerie feeling.
It kind of made me more scared than I've ever been.
For the first time, you know, um,
in my fishing career.
I mean, it just makes you realize we're all...
It could be anybody.
If it happens to them, it can definitely happen to us.
[david] heavenly father,
we are gathered here today
to honor the men lost at sea
and their fishing vessel,
scandies rose.
Captain of scandies rose, gary.
[tense music playing]
[bell rings]
[david] captain gary's son, david.
[bell rings]
you know, when I reflect on the loss of the scandies,
one of the things I think of the most was david.
You know, I broke him in as a greenhorn in 2011.
He was the best guy, you know,
he's just a really good guy.
So, I think of somebody like him
who had his whole life ahead of him
and it definitely makes me consider doing something else,
but, you know, when I think about what else
I would do, you know, what other skillsets I have,
I mean everything I've learned,
everything I know is here.
So, I feel like I'm best at home here
with what I am doing.
I have had hesitations about coming back out here.
I mean, it's only natural.
[monte] I mean, yeah, you just got to, you know,
turn the page, man.
Plow forward.
[dramatic music playing]
[keith] this just came from gary cobban's family.
[mike] days before the launch of the 2020 king
crab season, a package from the family
of departed captain gary cobban arrives
for monte and keith.
Hi, monte. Thank you for...
So very much for your kind words
regarding my uncle and my grandpa.
Please accept these as a token of our appreciation.
We're very thankful for everything you've done
said regarding the scandies rose.
Bradley.
Of course.
On the back, it says, "forever in our hearts,
gary cobban jr., arthur ganacias,
brock rainey, david lee cobban,
and seth rosseau-gano."
and of course, there's one more thing in here
and this will remain in the wheelhouse.
It's got a couple of dog tag type of things on here
with david's name on it and of course,
captain gary d.
Cobban, jr.
Oh.
Put that up there.
I'm out, dude.
I'm going downstairs.
[mike] like tragedies before it...
[man] we're laying way over on our side.
[mike] ...The loss of the scandies rose
devastated the fleet.
But as with every disaster,
captains still had tanks to fill and no choice,
but to soldier on.
[sig] definitely not the way that anybody wanted
to start off their crab season
and you still got to go out there and do your job.
Right. And that's...
A huge mental drain
and it makes you question yourself,
you know, your abilities out there, your boat.
[tense music playing]
[mike] at the helm of his newly purchased
138-foot lady alaska...
This is a big ball of risk coming this far
where you know you got ice coming at you, but,
you know, the rewards can be big.
[mike] ...Captain scott campbell, jr.
Had his own brush with disaster.
It was a crazy situation, you know.
That's probably one of the very few times
I've been scared in my life, you know.
The scandies had just went down not too long ago,
couple of weeks prior, and here I am
in the same situation, heavy on ice, flooding.
[tense music playing]
[scott] this boat does not feel right.
[alarm beeping]
we are listing heavy to the starboard [bleep]
[man] what's going on?
[scott] we're listing heavy to the starboard.
Hey, everybody up.
-[sig] and sops? -[scott] yeah.
This was op... On my way out.
Everybody up.
We got to starboard run.
Get up. We're listing to starboard.
[alarm ringing]
[scott] holy [bleep] holy [bleep]
evacuate.
You need three people on that...
-[man] let's go. -[man] let's go.
[scott] ...Splashing around out there.
[tense music playing]
[sig] what a horrible situation to be in.
It was the scardest I've ever been in my life.
It really was.
[scott] what's going on down there?
We got two, three feet of water downstairs.
[scott] we got to figure out where that water
is coming from or we're gonna roll
this [bleep] boat over.
[man] whoa.
[birds squawking]
[mike] on the lady alaska...
We are listing heavy to the starboard [bleep]
[alarm beeping]
[scott] what's going on down there?
We got two, three feet of water downstairs.
[scott] we got to figure out where that water
is coming from or we're gonna roll this [bleep] boat over.
[man] whoa.
[scott] you have so many things
running through your mind.
What, why, and how for one.
Yeah.
[scott] and then, the next thing was, is,
"am I gonna live to tell this story?"
[tense music playing]
[man] there's water in the pumps right here, too.
[man speaking]
nah, man.
[man speaking]
it doesn't start.
Electric motors cannot take water.
[mike] exhausting every option.
All the electrical motors were under salt water.
-They were shot. -Uh-huh.
[scott] all our hydraulics were shot,
all our bilge pumps were shot.
Yeah. Perseverance, uh,
we got a pretty bad situation here.
We're listing pretty hard.
[mike] junior's last hope rested
with the deadliest catch camera boat, perseverance.
A daunting 16 miles away.
[scott] I need you guys to come and get over here.
Gonna need a little assistance.
So, on a scale of one to ten, uh,
as far as fear factor, where were you at?
[laughs] solid 10.
[tense music playing]
I need an update.
What's going on up forward there?
[man] we don't know where the water is coming from.
[man] whoa. Oh, yeah.
[man] holy [bleep]
we're super heavy.
I cannot get this boat to right itself.
This is getting worse by the minute here.
Anybody out there?
What do we got going?
[tense music playing]
[man] roger. We're on our way.
Hey, there's a boat.
Oh, thank god.
[mike] after scrambling to keep the lady alaska
afloat for a staggering two hours...
Perseverance, we are flooding.
I repeat, we are flooding in the fore.
Is there any chance you guys have a spare
bilge pump aboard?
[mike] ...Help finally arrived.
[man] yeah, roger.
We got a commercial boat bilge pump.
Thank god that perseverance was there.
Viewers don't know that there's a boat
that'll go around and go for boat to boat to boat
and follow them and must be in the new boat.
They wanted to follow us out.
I don't know what the outcome would've been
if we couldn't got the pump from those guys
to be able to get the flooding under control.
[man] here it comes.
[man] pump's in the water.
I got my eyes on it.
[tense music playing]
[man] got it!
We got the pump aboard.
Come on, baby.
[tense music playing]
[scott] yes.
[man] all right. Water is starting to go down.
Had he not been there,
you probably would abandon ship.
[scott] I would abandon ship. Yup. I would've had to.
[sig] is that right?
Absolutely.
Oh, man. Thank you. Thank you.
[man] yup. Yup.
[man] we're starting to get the water under control here.
Yeah. The list is starting to ride up here a little bit.
[sig] so, at the end of the day, uh,
where is this water coming from?
[scott] so, what happened was...
Is we had a huge stack on and one of the crew members
had left the fore peak door open and we took a big wave,
and it went in and flooded the bow,
and that got the boat listing, and then more and more
and more water went into that bow.
And the bow started getting heavy,
so it was a human error that caused that situation.
[mike] missing the smallest detail
on the bering sea can mean
the difference between life and sadly, death.
[birds squawking]
-can I tell you a story? -Sure.
I won't say the name of the boat.
This boat, same thing, they left the door open.
They were eight miles away from me.
I can see them on my radar.
One minute, I saw the radar, the dot.
-Mmm-hmm. -Next minute, it was gone.
They disappeared because they had left that door open,
down in a wave, never came back.
Yeah.
[sig] so, thank your lucky stars you, uh...
Oh, yeah. Yeah, I did.
If you don't believe in god, you will after that.
Exactly.
[dramatic music playing]
[mike] but before junior sides that catastrophe...
[wild bill] kings was one of the roughest seasons
I've had in a long time.
[phone rings]
[mike] ...Captain wild bill...
Hello?
[mike] ...Found himself in a dangerous dance.
[wild bill] we'll see how it goes.
I'm interested.
[mike] ...With a russian bear.
[wild bill] all right, then. Thanks.
[dramatic music playing]
[keith] you hire a russian, and then you'd go to russia.
[wild bill] I didn't have a very good
financial season and they restructured
their fishery over there.
[keith] so, you think you could go to russia and maybe,
-you know... -[wild bill] get a job.
Exactly. Get a job?
[dramatic music playing]
[mike] between the fall and winter seasons,
wild bill made the 3,000-mile trip
into hostile territory, searching for a payday.
Russia.
I've never been afraid of adventure, you know.
I've had a house mexico for, I don't know,
25 years and some people are afraid
to cross the border. It's...
[keith] you know, you're looking
at a different culture, different work ethic.
You have a elite oligarch mafia society
that control everything including the fisheries.
You're talking about gulags.
[mike] on a mission, the veteran skipper
started to pound the russian pavement...
[wild bill] I've never driven in russia,
but I drive in mexico all the time.
It's the same video game.
[siren wailing]
[wild bill] it sounds like a cop car.
[man] yeah. [bleep]
[mike] ...Only to find that the authorities
had other ideas.
[wild bill] oh, my god.
Oh, we're getting pulled over, boys.
It's the last thing I need right now.
[tense music playing]
[wild bill sighs]
I'm gonna get out and see what I can do here.
All of a sudden, we had guys in cheap suits,
and bad shoes, and briefcases.
So, at one point they said,
"well, if we don't finish this,
we might have to detain you tonight."
aka like,
[makes sound]
[keith] detained?
Yeah.
-Jail? -Yeah.
-Gulag? -Yeah.
[man in russian]
can I help you?
[man in russian]
[wild bill] put the camera down.
I don't think he's digging the camera.
[man in russian]
[wild bill] uh, I don't know what's going on here.
They want... They want passport.
[man in russian]
[wild bill] seriously, put the camera down
and you too. We don't need any of this
[bleep] right now. Put the cameras down.
[man in russian]
[wild bill] put the [bleep] camera down.
[mike] after some unsuccessful negotiations
with local law enforcement...
[wild bill] all right. We got the papers.
[mike] ...Bill's trip was brought
to an unexpected halt.
[siren wailing]
[wild bill] it was almost like they're implying
that we were there with cameras to...
-[keith] spy. -...Spy.
Do you spy with a camera this big on your shoulder?
Come on.
We're at the police station
and there was the biggest human I've ever seen.
He had to be seven foot eight.
He had to be this wide and he's in camo
with boots this big.
He kept looking at me and I'm just like,
"oh [bleep] no."
he didn't speak english but I did ask him
if he grew up near a nuclear power plant.
[laughter]
[tense music playing]
[mike] benefiting from some behind
the scenes diplomacy...
[wild bill] we were levied some fines
and we're allowed to go.
[mike] ...Bill and the crew were released
with a slap on the wrist
and a get-out-of-gulag-free card.
[keith] well, glad to have you back.
[wild bill] yeah. I sat in my room.
That was the time to get on the airplane.
It was unnerving.
I'm... I've been to a lot of dicey places.
I wasn't, uh, comfortable with this at all.
[tense music playing]
[mike] on the upcoming season of deadliest catch...
[tire screeching]
woo-hoo-hoo-hoo.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
-Yeah. -[laughter]
[johnathan] how do you like that?
[scott] watch out.
That was [bleep]
[scott] we need another chunk of ice
[laughs]
[man] come on. Get out there.
[man] get out, get out, get out, get out.
[man] guys, get the [bleep] up.
[man yelling]
[man] oh.
Watch out. Watch out.
[alarm buzzing]
[man] whoa.
[mike] injuries are inevitable on the bering sea.
[bleep]
[mike] but keeping them to a minimum...
Are you kidding me?
[mike] ...Is paramount to catching
their quota quickly...
-[man] oh. -[mike] ...Or not.
[man] watch it.
[man] whoa.
[mike] which means this season,
one slip can be the slip-up...
[man] whoa, whoa.
[mike] ...That takes the industry down.
-[man] are you okay? -[man] I'm all right.
[man] hey, hey, can he walk?
Get him inside.
[keith] you put your rain gear on and you got on deck,
chances of getting hurt are really high.
The injury rate's, what, a hundred percent?
Everybody is gonna get hurt sometime.
[man] damn.
[mike] so, when captains are faced with the decision
between making a costly trip back to dock...
Mac, are you all right?
[mike] ...Or enduring some painful
bering sea medicine...
Yeah.
[mike] ...Well, it may not be an easy choice,
but it sure is an obvious one.
Look, you're on a boat and injuries happen.
We all know that.
Usually, the injuries happen to a deckhand
because of lose pot or something like that
or a wave.
But they can happen in the wheelhouse too,
-I've, uh... -[johnathan] yeah. Yeah.
-...I've heard. -[johnathan] and an infection will kill you.
Jake, now the elbow is hurting again,
so I tried to squeeze it to open up the old cut and,
uh, it's not coming out.
You got a medical kit, right?
-[jake] yeah. -[mike] last season, on the saga bandit
when johnathan's infected elbow needed draining...
[johnathan] hey, if you need to lance it.
[mike] ...He put his trust in dr. Jake.
[jake] you're my patient right now.
[johnathan] I trust you, dr. Anderson.
[sig] what injury did you have?
[johnathan] I had a chipped bone on my elbow
and it ended up getting infected.
You have to get the poison out.
Because I had so much poison in my arm.
Dude, it was so bad.
Yeah.
[jake] here we go.
[johnathan] get the evil out of me.
[grunts]
oh, [bleep] oh, gross.
Oh, god.
Holy [bleep]
-[man speaking] -ew, it's squirting.
[man speaking]
[johnathan] this is not good.
Oh, yeah. And that feels good.
That's so disgusting. Oh, my god.
[jake] it looked like his elbow was peeing.
[johnathan] that's just gross.
What a lot of people don't know,
when I left your boat, my elbow,
I ended up getting mrsa and almost died.
[bleep]
[johnathan] mrsa almost got me.
[mike] mrsa stands for methicillin-resistant
staphylococcus aureus.
It's basically a staph infection on steroids.
[johnathan] anderson lanced it for me.
And then, I went to town and I went to get it operated on
and I got mrsa in the hospital.
I never... I never even heard of mrsa
-then I almost died. -Like staph or something.
[johnathan] yeah. It could turn into septic
and it gets in your blood, and then you're dead.
I was in the hospital for a week
with every kind of iv, every kind of antibiotic.
And then, on the third day, the doctor tells me,
"well, you're not gonna lose your arm."
I almost lost my arm, dude.
I could have [bleep] woke up with [bleep] no arm, dude.
And then, heather had me...
My wife had to give me iv's three times a day
for seven weeks and the doctor goes,
"oh, my god. Thank god."
and I go, "I think I'm cured."
and he goes, "I've been praying for you.
I go, "my doctors were praying for me?"
I go, "what the [bleep] if I need divine intervention,
you should tell me that."
"you don't think you're doctoring
can fix me?"
I had... I guess I had a 50% chance to live.
-[sig] is that right? -That's what he told me later, yeah.
So [bleep] yeah, it was bad.
Mrsa can kill you.
[mike] johnathan kept his arm and the saga kept fishing.
But sometimes, continuing to work through
a serious injury...
[keith] this is the one that scares me.
This is new right here.
[mike] ...As with keith's umbilical hernia...
[keith] this lump is brand new.
[mike] ...Isn't the best decision for the boat,
the captain, or the crew.
[monte] we are 206 miles from russia, the mainland.
There's no medical support whatsoever.
I mean, zero.
Yeah, there's that cramp again [bleep] again.
There is something.
[tense music plays]
[keith] I took a fall in dutch and I think,
like, tensed everything up. That's when I was...
I went to the clinic and they diagnosed it.
But then, it started acting up when I sat on the grounds.
It's just, you know, just excruciating pain
all the way through my whole core.
So, you knew you had it and you went fishing anyway?
Yeah. Asking for trouble out there.
-Right? -And we all try
to be tough and...
Uh, "it hurts, but I can do it.
Uh, it hurts but I can do it."
right.
I got to go. I've got a plane to catch.
[mike] instead of gutting it out,
risking both his health and the boat,
the veteran skipper relinquished the helm
to his brother.
[monte] he left me a million pounds ago.
-[keith] I left him... -It was a lot last year.
[keith] I left him with a lot of work,
and a lot of ice, and a lot of weather.
-So you faked the hernia? -No.
[chuckles]
[man] woo.
[mike] but catching the wizard's quota
was the least of monte's problems.
I mean, this is about as bad as it gets.
[mike] navigating vicious 55-knot winds
and hole swamping 35-foot rogue waves
was his first priority.
The storms, you know, the super snow moon,
I took a couple of really big waves.
There were freak waves.
You know, the one came over the port wall
which basically just almost doesn't happen.
Watch out. Watch out.
[buzzer buzzing]
[man] oh.
Did you see that [bleep] beast?
[man speaking]
[monte] it got oj and oj got lucky and,
you know, he was okay, and then, uh, another one,
we were setting gear downwind and it came up from behind us.
And I've actually never seen that footage
of that big one that came through.
[man speaking]
-you do? -[man speaking]
-sure. -Yeah, let's see it.
[keith] the one that nailed todd, right?
Yeah.
[tense music playing]
watch out. Watch out. Run. Run.
Oh, god.
Whoa.
Holy [bleep]
yeah.
Damn it.
[todd speaking]
[man] he's [bleep]
-[todd speaking] -[man] oh, my god.
[bleep]
-[keith] oh. -That was a big one, monte.
Beauty.
The guys sitting in the middle of the boat
saw it over my head out the window,
you know, and todd got really hammered on that one.
He got pinned under the coiler
because he just dumped the pot,
and that thing came charging down the rail,
and he was trying to get the buoys over the side.
And everybody ended up in all the way up
in the bow in the corner, and it did a bunch
of tissue damage to his calf and he actually
was in the house for a solid 15 to 18 days.
And your reaction is so typical.
-That 10 seconds was... -For me...
[monte] if it'd have been 10...
[wild bill] ...When something like that happens, it's anger.
It's like, "how did I let this happen?
How did this happen?" I get it, man.
I get it all the way. That...
[monte] you know, if that pot would have went
over 10 seconds sooner, they probably
all would have been halfway to the house
or at a turn by then or whatever, right?
[wild bill] sure.
When you least expect it, expect it.
Yeah.
[mike] todd eventually made it back on deck.
[man] yeah, buddy.
[mike] but there were some wounds last season
that have yet to heal.
[mahlon] getting our gear in the water.
[cheering]
[mike] such as the death of dear friend and crewmate,
mahlon reyes.
[man speaking]
[nick] yeah, I'll... We'll be okay.
I get emotional at times, but, you know...
[wild bill] nick grew up with the guy.
They were, like, best friends.
Yeah. Losing mahlon is a tough one.
I still, uh, struggle with it today.
[tense music playing]
[man speaking]
yeah. I'll... We'll be okay.
I get emotional at times, but, you know...
[mike] just days before the start
of the 2020 king crab season,
the crew of the summer bay received word
that their friend and fellow fisherman,
mahlon reyes, had passed away.
That news sucked.
[mike] but it was only six months
before his passing...
[mahlon grunts]
[man] hey, bill, uh, something's wrong with mahlon.
[mike] ...That mahlon suffered
a season-ending injury.
[wild bill] he went to rearrange a pot
and his achilles snapped, completely separated
-from his heel. -Ooh.
It wasn't like he got smashed by a wave or a pot,
he just blew on them, right?
-Yeah. -Mmm-hmm.
I feel like somebody hit me in the back of the leg
with like a [bleep] crowbar.
It just, like, popped.
[nick speaking]
I mean, I never... I've been through some [bleep]
with him and never seen him, like, in that much pain,
so it was pretty bad.
[mahlon sighs]
um, you know what?
We're not... We're spinning wheels.
We're gonna go in.
Sweet. So, I cost everybody money [chuckles]
[landon] I will tell you right now,
we all love you, don't worry, and you're not...
It's not your fault, man, like,
it's gonna be okay.
You can get through it.
You know, seeing him laying in bed and...
And I know that feeling.
When I blew my knee out, it was...
It was devastating, you know, to think about, you know,
I'm not gonna finish this season with my boys,
you know, with my captain, and that alone,
that's tough.
[mike] after returning to town,
the crew sent off their fallen comrade...
Sorry, skip.
[mike] ...Not realizing it would be their final goodbye.
It's all good.
[sighs]
[somber music playing]
you know, the downside of that,
mahlon had a heart attack and passed away, like, uh,
within a week of being released.
[somber music playing]
crews are like family, the good ones.
The bad ones are like family, too.
There's some family you never wanna see again, but...
-Yeah. -...Mahlon was a good one, you know?
It's...
[mike] thirty-eight-year-old joseph mahlon reyes
served 15 seasons on the bering sea,
working the decks of the seabrook,
cave caution, and summer bay.
Throwing lines, we're gonna get out of here.
We'll make some money on the open grounds.
[somber music playing]
yeah, him and I grew up together.
I mean, I call his mother mom.
She raised me a part of my life.
You know, I got mahlon in the crab fishing industry.
Crab. Crab. Crab. Crab. Crab. Crab. Crab.
That's us.
[cheering]
[keith] I don't know what to say to you guys.
We lost another good one.
Over the years, there's a bunch
of passed wizard crew and I...
Like, just no longer with us.
It's not an easy job and it's not an easy life.
Sometimes, it's just as tough when you get home.
Wanna say anything else about your buddy, crewman?
I miss him and love him. And...
-Goodbye. -[nick] ...Hopefully, he keeps us safe.
This one's for your kids and your wife.
Smooth sailing.
Mahlon's gonna be on deck with you guys this year,
you know, absolutely.
[mahlon] losing mahlon leaves both a physical
and a spiritual void that'll be hard to replace
on the summer bay.
[keith] yeah. Um, well, we've been on debbie downer mode
here for half an hour straight.
I'm calling 1-800 kavorki in here
in about five minutes.
[laughter]
[mike] but no matter the cause,
when spirits plummets on the deck of a crab boat,
productivity follows suit.
[man] what the [bleep]
[man] the [bleep] wrong with you, man?
[man] I am [bleep] you want, james.
[man] don't [bleep] get out of my face.
[mike] up against the do or die season
where every team must perform at their peak
to save the fishery...
Damn it.
What the [bleep] I don't have time to deal
with drama [bleep] down on deck.
[mike] ...It pays to have someone
like maria on board.
Today is the day we set pots.
It's gonna be awesome.
[josh] she's got a smile every step of the way.
[maria] I have no complaints.
Today is a beautiful day.
[mike] on the cornelia marie, greenhorn, maria dosal
inspired crew and captains
during fall and winter season.
[maria] dear heavenly father, thank you
for bringing us all together here.
Please keep us safe, in your name, amen.
-Amen. -Amen.
[mike] she worked to master every task...
[josh speaking]
you will be throwing the hook.
[cheering]
[mike] ...And accepted some challenges
that others couldn't stomach.
[casey] who wants to go first?
Me.
Let's see if they got the guts for it.
[laughter]
nice.
-[coughs] -[casey] oh, yeah.
[wild bill] so, how did she do?
She actually did pretty darn well.
She really did a good job of keeping the spirit up
on deck when she'd smile and make jokes all day
and laugh.
[dj] maria's having too much fun back there.
She's supposed to be miserable.
Nice work, everybody.
Jolly good time.
[mike] but it wasn't always fun
and games for the young greenhorn.
[man] you okay?
[man speaking]
[mike] during opilio season, while stacking bait,
she got knocked out cold.
[man speaking]
wait, what are you talking about?
[man speaking]
[wild bill] she take a bait hit her
-in the head or... -[casey] she was, uh,
up high in the bait freezer
and the coil was hanging down there,
you know, and the coil plates, and we went up a good one,
and then it came down on her head.
[maria] yeah. I'm... I mean, yeah.
[man] you got a lump already here.
Does it hurt when I touch it?
Yeah, it's tender.
[casey] she had a little concussion,
but she toughed it out.
There's no such thing as a little concussion.
You had kind of a broken arm.
-Yeah. -We're crab fishermen, right?
[wild bill] yeah.
[maria] excited to be back.
[mike] mara quickly recovered
and finished the opilio fishery.
[maria chuckles]
[casey] very talented girl.
I think she'll go far in life.
[josh] it's a grueling job and most men can't handle it.
[mike] but she has since moved on to new grounds.
[casey] I'll miss having her around, but, you know,
she's into a different spot of her life.
-She's engaged now. -Yeah, I saw that.
We'll still see her in the cove.
I know her mom and dad really well
and I hadn't seen her for years.
She came by our boat to say hi
to the crew and somebody...
She picked up a guitar, she started singing,
and middle of the song she stops and looks at me
and goes, "are you my dad?"
[laughter]
I mean, that's a...
She got a great sense of humor.
She's a sweetheart.
[josh] she does. She does.
My message is to girls all around the world.
If you believe it, you can achieve it.
[chuckles] look at me go.
[mike] but not every crew has a solution like maria.
[sig] we're on a boat.
You're stuck out there for weeks, months on end.
-Right. -[sig] and you get into this rut where
it's just pot after pot and you just...
It's so mundane at times.
Sure.
[sig] we need to break up the pattern somehow some way.
-Break up the monotony. -[sig] exactly.
[scott] that's what you got to do because, you know...
You... You'll learn to appreciate each other
if you don't kill each other.
[grunts]
[mike] to keep everyone on their a-game,
captains and crews sometimes have to improvise.
-[shouts] -you [bleep]
[laughs]
god.
Why do you do that [bleep]
oh, my [bleep] god.
[man] cut.
[sig] after a while, it's so mundane
and so monotonous, you know, what do you do
to keep up morale?
Your guy jumped in a tank with a bar of soap.
That was my son-in-law.
[man] oh, my.
Are you ready?
[man] oh no. Just dive.
-[clark] hold on. -[sig] oh, no.
[laughter]
[sig] oh, my god.
-[man] boom. -[sig] you crazy bastard.
[laughter]
[sig] the smallest things can bring morale up mister...
Are you talking about my legs?
Yeah. I'm talking about your legs.
[johnathan] okay. Ninety degrees. I'm coming over.
[jake] hey, john, where are your pants?
Quit looking at me like that.
[laughs]
[johnathan speaking]
[producer speaking]
oh, dude [bleep] at this chicken legs.
[man] chicken legs, look at those chicken legs.
[jake laughing]
[mike] johnathan wasn't the only hillstrand
caught with his pants down.
Yeah, also those hands, so, you...
There's more crab than he had fingers,
so we had to take his pants off.
[mike] brother neal, also showed off his fine gams.
[laughs]
[mike] looks like chicken legs
run in the family.
My brother's crazy.
[jake] he's still out there.
Not even worried.
That's a man right there.
[laughs]
when in doubt, throw the pants out.
Well, you don't really need pants to drive a...
You don't have to wear pants
when you're driving your car.
I bet you're the only one who would ever come up
-with that, john. -Okay.
You don't need pants to drive a boat.
[johnathan] we don't need pants to drive a boat.
That's a fact.
See, I'm a morale booster, right?
I'm boost the morale here too.
Whatever it takes, you know. Like a little bet
or a little wager, like your guys.
[wild bill] well, you know the phrase
that's gonna leave a mark.
-It's... -[wild bill] it did.
-[sig] gonna leave a mark. -It did.
[laughter]
[nick] a couple weeks ago, landon made this bet.
Unfortunately for landon, he lost the bet.
Now, one crab each nipple, there may be blood.
[man] wait, what was the bet?
I don't remember.
[wild bill] I'm not responsible if it falls off.
[nick] ready?
[landon screaming]
[bleep]
[laughs]
[wild bill] if you're gonna be stupid,
you got to be tough.
[man] it kinda look like it hurts.
[sig] and what was the bet?
Well, if you saw the clip,
they don't even remember the bet.
I'm telling you, they're just like taking
-their shirts off. -They just wanna get...
Yeah.
It's like, "hey, girls look at me."
yeah.
[johnathan] well, I was disappointed when the...
On the... You put those crabs on his nipples,
but they didn't squeeze the crab belly
'cause a crab can really, you know,
clamp down a little harder when you squeeze the belly.
Anyway, so somewhere in america,
someone ate a couple crab claws that pinched
the guys nipples on your boat.
-The nipplator. -[johnathan laughing]
the nipplator.
[mike] but too much motivation
can sometimes cloud judgment.
They're gonna try and wait for as long as 41 weeks,
but doctor...
You know, dr. Linda doesn't want me to go
longer than that.
[mike] as captain jake discovered while racing
to make it home for the birth of his third son.
[jenna] I want this...
Of course, want you to be there,
but if you're not home, I still have to birth him.
[laughs] I'm so close. I'm almost done.
Well, no guarantees,
but I'll keep him in as long as I can.
[tense music playing]
you and I got something in common last year.
I had a granddaughter and you had a son
that was about to be born.
Would you say that affected your fishing
and your fishing style?
Being at the birth of my son was definitely a motivator.
But at the same time, the closer
and closer I got to the date, the more frantic I got
and the worse decisions I made.
[tense music playing]
[mike] this week on salty takes.
[jake] I've done this show for a while now
and I know how important crew morale is.
So, I'm gonna do a little surprise for crew.
Let's rock and roll.
[man] all right. Let's go.
[mike] a camera man who is just a little bit...
[jake speaking]
[mike] ...Overexposed.
[jake] whoo.
[laughter]
that's a new face for a profile pic right there.
[chuckles] shows up in the wheelhouse
with just his underwear on.
Then, he says, "I'm going up on top of the house.
I'm gonna wave at the boys."
and I was like, "put your life jacket on,"
[laughter]
[casey] he went up there.
That looks like jake.
And our only camera man has lost his [bleep].
It's probably the highlight of my day.
It's [bleep] funny as [bleep].
Yee-haw.
-Oh. -[casey] like, no.
Go to do something to entertain yourself, right?
That is a good story.
[laughter]
[josh] that's a wrap.
[mike] last opilio season on the saga...
I'm so close and I'm almost done.
Well, no guarantees, but I'll keep him in
as long as I can.
[mike] ...Captain jake anderson
struggle to find the balance between family obligations
and safely harvesting the last of his quota.
I've got a lot of pressure.
My newborn child could be born at any minute,
so I better hurry and I better not stop.
I gotta do something quick.
[sig] do you remember one of the first rules I gave you
when you were working for me?
You still give it to me.
[sig] keep your problems where?
[chuckles] it's keep your problems at home on...
-On the beach. -Deep down inside of you.
That's right.
[jake speaking]
[mike] desperate to make it home,
jake pushed the saga farther
than she'd ever ventured before.
It's the treacherous northern waters
near the russian line.
I think you might have been a little out
of your realm making a decision to go north.
It was a really scary decision because I've never went
that far by myself. And...
So you took a... You took a big risk
to go catch the rest of your crab.
And that's what I was taught to do.
[man] oh, man.
Look at this crab.
[clear throat]
[mike] after enduring a slow start
with an inexperienced crew...
Okay, ross.
[mike] ...And taking a few licks on the process...
[yelling]
ross is not paying attention.
[man] you can't have your back
to the [bleep] pot like that.
[man] yeah.
[man] whoo.
[mike] ...Jake's long voyage north pays off.
Oh, my god.
[man] yeah. Whoo.
Oh, my god, dude.
How did that end up?
Well, I ended up catching the crab,
but I missed the birth of my son.
[jenna speaking]
[jake] just getting done and offloading,
about to leave the dock and head to dodge, yeah.
[jenna speaking]
I am so sorry. I tried so hard.
It's an aha moment of what we all sacrifice
as fishermen and when I look back,
when I'm your age,
I hope... I hope I don't regret the decisions
that I've made 'cause I love fishing and I love my family.
-Dad's home. -[aiden] dad.
[mike] though he didn't make it home
for the birth, jake and his wife jenna
welcomed eight-pound luka into their family.
How did he get so big?
Hi, I'm your dad.
[chuckles]
[tense music playing]
oh, we've been hearing about it.
I have no idea what it is.
[mike] but the happy news didn't last long.
[harley speaking]
it's been... It's killing people.
[mike] the 2020 opilio season unleashed a new evil
unlike any seen before.
[casey] I think some guys are not sending
their big cargo ships over to china because their
afraid they'll get quarantined or something.
Corona virus, what the heck?
[mike] a global pandemic.
[casey] my first thought was, "ooh, thank god we're in alaska.
We'll be fine, right?
-Wrong. -[chuckles]
wrong.
[man] terrifying man.
Everyone's sick.
[scott] my crew started freaking out,
you know, because they had families back home.
Nobody knew what was going on.
Again, you were out in the middle...
It was like 9/11.
Now, you're out on the ocean, you hear about
all this tragic news that happens,
and you have no way of knowing how severe it is.
[keith] how is it going to impact us.
If everything closes and nobody is eating crab,
do we even have a job?
[mike] lack of demand threatens crab prices.
[scott] well, hopefully, uh,
when can get this stuff and get it delivered,
uh, before they do a price drop.
[mike] turning the season's final sprint into a race
against the russians and the virus.
Uh, what's supposed to be, you know,
just the simple, go pick up the pots and send the gear,
30,000 pounds, you know, turn into something
that was totally different.
[tense music playing]
[mike] on the cornelia marie, casey mcmanus
had one last hurdle to clear before calling it a season...
[casey] look at that.
[mike] ...Without a harris by his side.
[groans]
[josh] this is like...
Yeah, I can take care of this, you know,
there's some time when you were a kid,
but what turn out to be just a little trip
turned into a whole new adventure for him.
This is the kind of stuff that'll grab pots
and move them to you.
I had 47 pots in the in the ice.
Big ice.
Yeah. Like 18 inches thick.
It was like an ester egg hunt in the middle
of a white field.
[casey] let's go. Let her rip.
There it is. Get it, get it, get it.
[man speaking]
[casey] they were hard to spot, but we got them.
I ended up losing one pot. Got all that.
Dodged a bullet.
Yes. Yes, we did.
-For now. -[wild bill chuckles]
[mike] across the grounds...
[sig] okay.
Last pot of the season coming up.
[mike] ...After pulling up 3.2 million pounds
of opilio crab...
[cheering]
that'll do it.
[mike] ...Topping 11.8 million dollars...
[wild bill] this would be the last crab pot
I harvest in opilio season.
[machine whirring]
[mike] ...Captains put a year of unparalleled
struggle behind them.
[wild bill] it's been a long season.
I've never seen anything like it,
hope I never see anything like it again.
[man] yeah. Boy.
[man] put them in the tank.
[scott] there were several times this season
where I thought I was gonna lose it all,
but at the end of the day,
just barely made it, to squeak by.
[dramatic music playing]
[sig] now, looking back, was it worth it?
No. We cashed in everything to get this boat out
in the fishery.
My future is now dependent upon the lady alaska.
If it doesn't work, I'm done.
I might have to come ask you for a job on deck.
I got a spot for you any day.
[tense music playing]
[mike] now, facing a shutdown of the fishery,
the burden of saving the crabbing industry
falls to the fleet.
[jake] so, we could potentially
lose king crab and bairdi.
Not just next year,
but if we don't catch this overall quota together,
it's a two-year shutdown, minimum.
That's where it hurts.
It hurts our market, it hurts our future,
and, uh, it's a lot at stake.
[mike] to prevent a devastating closure,
captains must combine forces.
Chuck norris is gonna have to work with rambo.
And then, van damme has to come out of the...
Yeah. Van damme has to come out of retirement.
Freddy krueger and jason voorhees.
[laughs]
[mike] the question becomes, who can push their ego aside
and fish for the common good and who will not?
[keith] you know what though?
Every time I get a chance to sit down with you,
I learn more about you.
At the end of the day, we're really similar.
How do we take that information
and find a way to work together.
I'm open, but I'm skeptical.
[tense music playing]
I know that we're in.
We're team players.
It's like charlotte's web, man.
Sometimes, all the animals gotta work together
to get to the common objective, right?
I haven't had kids for a while.
It's a little spider and there a cool pig
in there some...
I only watch the movie I could really...
Horse, goats, ants.
The biggest thing is trust.
Yo, can you trust the information
you're getting?
When it comes down to the wire,
you're gonna trust me?
I'm gonna have to, I don't have a choice.
[sig] you're gonna have to.
I'm gonna have to trust keith.
I'm gonna trust that he hasn't been catching crab,
but we'll know we're not to go.
[laughter]
answer the question, do you trust him or not?
-No. -All right.
-You don't trust me? -No.
You lied to me years ago when you were up
-on the russian border. -I told you about the...
Remember that?
But that's... But that's how we ever learn
[sig] then, I talked to you on the radio.
I go, "ooh. I don't"...
[sig] "oh, no, no. It's just a tiny little..."
[johnathan] that's a tiny little
"aargh, aargh, aargh, aargh. It's supposed to stand up."
I just... We'll have to talk about it more.
Good luck understanding me I don't even know
where my gear is or anything.
[mike] this season on deadliest catch.
[wild bill] I'm very anxious about this one.
I've never been so anxious about somebody
not feeling good.
[landon] possible covid-19 case.
So, this could ruin me.
[metal clanging]
[wild bill] you gonna trust casey out there?
I mean, this is the first time without you, isn't it?
It will be fine.
-Yeah. -Right?
[indistinct chatter]
no. [bleep]
[mandy] I need to make sure
that there's a king crab season next year
for part nine.
We don't have anywhere else to go.
There's nothing that I wouldn't do
to accomplish that.
[sig] where is my boat?
It should be right here, right now.
[jake] I just wanna kick sig's ass.
Fire. Fire.
Everything you got.
Dude, I'm gonna [bleep] hit you.
What the [bleep] are you doing?
Power up! Power up! Power up!
No!
[man] oh, no.
[man] oh.