[ticking]
[narrator] The pendulum is swinging for the miners.
- [ticking continues] - [narrator] After weeks of battling brutal weather...
This [bleep] wind is picking up.
Oh, man. It's [bleep] choppy out here.
[narrator] ...and battling each other...
You wanna fight [bleep]?
[both grunting]
[narrator] ...which way will the pendulum swing as time runs out on summer?
We don't have a whole lot of mining days left.
We need to get as much gold as we can in the little time we got.
[narrator] Will it swing towards gold and riches and goal lines crossed...
Yeah! Myrtle's back up and running, baby.
[Kris] We can turn this around and make some money.
[narrator] ...or to failure...
[Shawn] The boss is here now.
Just got to keep this piece drilling without any breakdown.
[narrator] ...and disaster...
[man] Hose, hose, hose!
[speaking]
Come up, Bryan. Come up, Bryan.
[bleep]
[narrator] ...and ruin?
[Kris] Wow, where's the gold?
We're [bleep].
So, I should be on the water today with my big operation
but, I'm--
I'm learning a lot of hard [bleep] lessons this year.
Hard.
Painful.
I'm gonna-- It's so painful I'm probably gonna be feeling it next year,
all the [bleep] that I've learnt this year.
Yeah, I'm gonna be walking with a limp, dragging one leg
getting [bleep] so hard this year.
[narrator] Kris Kelly's season is swinging in the wrong direction.
His excavator barge, the Mistress may be down for the count.
So, now he's forced to rely on his suction dredge,
the newly revamped Reaper.
A lot of realization going on.
So, I realized the Mistress is pissing me right off beyond belief.
[Brad] Throw a reef out. Rest in peace.
You know what? Shut the [bleep] up. What would you know?
- You can't even get this [bleep] boat going. - Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- Calm down. - You know this [bleep] boat,
- that's the easiest thing in the world. - Andy.
[Kris] The Mistress isn't done.
So, this is where I'm at right now.
The goal was 500 ounces.
Right now we barely have 20 ounces.
I've got a $125,000 payment in two weeks
and we're no where near close to that.
The computer for the excavator on the Mistress is fried.
So, it's down until it's repaired.
All I have right now is the new Reaper
which has got no gold this season.
But right now I do have a Hail Mary plan to save the day.
- We're almost there! - [man] Yeah.
[Kris] Get Anthony ready to drag that rear.
I'm coming to learn some things from Kris and Andy.
Right now I need another diver on the Reaper with Andy and I
so we can work as many hours as we can and get gold the rest of the time.
So, I'm gonna give my buddy Anthony a shot.
I hope he delivers.
So, right now, we're on a hunt for cobble.
So, we're gonna drive around for a little bit until we find a cobble bed.
And then we're gonna start prospecting there.
You know, just because cobble is 100 times easier to see gold.
We don't have time to look around for cobble,
we don't have an underwater camera right now either.
So basically we're gonna use the anchor to find us cobble.
It's called anchor trolling.
You pull the anchor along with you when you drive.
If you feel super soft, it's sand.
If you can feel something resisting, banging, like a clanging,
"bing, bing, bing, bing, bing," it's cobble.
It's not an exact science but it's the best we have right now.
Okay, now we sit here.
It's like trolling, trolling for cobble.
So you sit here and you feel sand, sand, sand, sand, sand, sand, sand, sand,
and, you know, like--
So you gotta be a man right now because this could rip you off if you're a [bleep].
- [Anthony chuckles] Right. - You know, if it catches a big rock
- it could rip you off-- - [Andy speaking]
- [Anthony laughing] - Hey, you know what, shut up.
This isn't the first time I've done this, I swear to God.
I know, I watched you go in the water lots of times.
Remember when he threw the anchor and went in with the anchor?
- Anchor away. - [chain rattling]
[Kris] Ahhh!
Seven years ago when they caught me slipping one time...
- [Anthony laughing] - ...throwing in an anchor.
A smart person would have let go.
[Kris] It's a patent pending move.
- Anchor away! - [ding]
[Kris] Ahhh!
Okay, we're on rock.
[Brad] Drop the anchor.
[Kris] We found some cobble.
We're gonna get the boat started,
and we're gonna start making some gold.
And you wanna know how we're gonna do that?
Because we can see the [bleep] gold we're mining.
Like, all you have to do is [bleep] look.
That's the beauty of a suction dredge.
[motor starting]
[man] Okay, float the hose!
[Kris] I wanna send Andy down first. I want him to do the prospecting.
And then when Andy gets on gold and after he does his shift,
I'll jump down there and get the easy gold.
It's all working out great.
Okay. Go, go, go.
[Andy breathing slowly]
- [Kris] Check, check. - [Andy] Yeah, I got you.
[Kris] Okay, so tell me when you're on gold.
[Andy] I will.
All right, everything's going great.
[bleep] It's nice to have that for a change.
[Andy breathing underwater]
[Kris] Literally, to make $100 in the Bering Sea,
you just have to drop your hose for long enough.
It's that easy.
[Andy speaking]
[Andy breathing underwater]
[Andy speaking]
Well, that's [bleep].
[Andy speaking]
Like I said, anchor trolling is not an exact science. What can I say?
Maybe punch a couple holes, see how deep it is.
[Andy speaking]
[Kris] Okay.
[Andy breathing]
[Andy speaking]
[Kris] Is there any gold in it?
[Andy speaking]
You know, if you want to, we can go a little bit,
uh, south... south, uh, west, and I think that's gonna be a better cobble field.
[Andy speaking]
[Kris] Okay, let's figure it out.
[Andy breathing]
[Brad speaking]
No, I know. I don't know what happened.
I don't know why that didn't work out.
Honestly, sometimes when you're dragging the anchor,
it can get hooked on sand patches and it feels like you're on cobble.
So much for anchor trolling.
What, uh... Where...
[Kris] Let's just, uh, troll out that way a little bit.
I think we're on cobble.
We're gonna give it the stick test.
Oh, I'm glad I'm back to the old-- the old days.
You know, the proven methods of hitting it with a stick,
useful for thousands of years by people.
We're on cobble.
There you go.
Okay.
[Andy breathing]
Okay, now we've established that,
everything is back to being good.
You on gold yet?
[Andy speaking]
[Kris] I feel like everything may officially be falling apart for good.
Who knows when the Mistress is coming back?
Who knows how we're gonna make this big payment?
And who knows if we're ever gonna find gold.
If today's a bust, I think it's safe to say the dream is over.
How's it going down there?
[Kris] There is cobble somewhere around here.
[ticking]
[clock strikes]
[narrator] Back in the harbor.
[Zeke] That could be a project.
I have to get this skiff in the water because
right now I'm stuck. My dredge is all the way out there.
[narrator] Zeke Tenhoff aims for a big end of season push.
But the low tide has other plans.
The full moon is just, like, just stretching on the whole planet
and, like, squeezing it.
You know, like, it's pulling the water way out.
Yeah, I don't know. It's pretty heavy boat. [sniffles]
[speaking]
We're headed into the homestretch of the season
and I got hit with a total curveball this morning.
My tender, Steve Riedel, just announced this morning
that he's quitting, and he just bailed on me out of nowhere.
It's really just not efficient enough to operate my dredge on my own.
So, this couldn't be happening at a worse time during the season.
Everything was fine with Steve but then, like, he, like, called me up
yelling in the morning about how we need to talk about how
it needs to be more fair.
And like, it's like, what are you talking about? It doesn't make any sense.
He says he doesn't have enough control.
He feels like it's asymmetrical.
Yeah, for sure it's asymmetrical.
Like, I spend all my money and all my time doing this.
I think he should be paying me.
I might be able to drag the boat back out on the water
but I don't think I wanna dredge without a tender.
I'm gonna have to jack this up so that it can slide on the plywood.
I'm shooting for 50 ounces with my dredge this summer.
So far I've got about 20.
But until I get a tender on board, I'm not gonna be able to get any more.
It's a little precarious.
But, it might work.
No.
But, like, Steve,
you had, like, a big, huge, like, freak out this morning
about how everything is totally untenable.
And then,
you show up now like everything's fine. And it's like...
I don't know what's going on here.
It sounds like this isn't, like, the thing for you to do,
- so... - It is--
[Zeke] The bow might slide over pretty easily right now.
- [clattering] - [Steve] Whoa.
- All right. - [Steve] That just worked great.
- [boat running] - [Zeke] Good to go.
[Zeke] So, yeah, I don't know--
I don't know what you want to do, Steve.
I mean, it sounded on the phone earlier like you got other things to do.
You'd rather do other things, and that's fine. I'll make other arrangements.
- Okay. - [Zeke] Um...
- [Steve] Enjoy your day out and... - Well, thank you.
- Thanks for the help. - [Steve] Zeke.
Zeke is his own man and he doesn't like to share power,
doesn't like to share responsibility, nothing.
I mean, it's-- He's a one-man show.
And I can deal with that only so long and then the one-man show gets really old.
We're just trying to make things work.
Like, I'm constantly trying to make things work.
Like, what has he brought to the table?
Is Steve the best tender? I mean, not really.
He's not really reliable.
I think it's 'cause he smokes too much weed in the evening.
I think that's why.
But, he... he knows his way around the boat and it was working out for me.
He was a decent fit.
So I need to find another tender fast,
otherwise the season is just gonna wind up in the lost column for me.
Just need better people around me.
Just wanna go out and mine some gold.
[clock chiming, ticking]
[car door shuts]
[seagulls squawking]
[Shawn] We've lost a few days,
haven't been able to get out mining.
We had a spud well crack out on us.
We've been welding around the clock.
You gotta get the spud back in so we can get back out to mine.
[speaking]
[narrator] Swinging into the last push of summer,
Mr. Gold looks to get the Myrtle back into fighting shape
for the final battles that lay ahead.
We got everything fired up, and we gotta go off to the outer cell,
and drop the spud in.
Started the season with a huge goal.
Three thousand ounces.
But it's been a tough slog thus far.
Equipment problems, weather, beef with the Kellys...
It's just about pushed me over the edge.
Right now the Myrtle's down with a broken spud well.
It's critical we get her back up and running because time's wasting.
And Dave, the big boss, he's coming out to take a look at the operation.
The pressure's on.
It's starting to get cold way earlier than usual.
It's 22 degrees this morning.
[man speaking]
[Shawn] Gonna be tough. We're gonna have to fight through it.
We're in a really hot spot. I got the drill logs and drill holes.
As long as we keep everything working on here and everything running,
we'll get it.
Nate's got the spud hanging on the crane.
Drop the spud in, get a new bottom cable on, go mining.
When you got a behemoth as big as the Myrtle, anchors are no good.
Instead we got two 60,000 pound spuds.
They get raised and lowered with steel cables
to keep the Myrtle in place while she's digging.
One of the spuds cracked the pocket that holds it in place.
We got her patched up but now comes the hard part.
We gotta get that spud back in place.
It's a tiny bull's-eye that we have to hit.
It's a pain in the ass.
It's heavy, big, it's dangerous.
[radio crackling]
Okay, go ahead and go in lightly towards the ramp.
[man on radio]
[Shawn] Once we get it in this pocket, then we'll be good but...
we gotta get it dropped down and in the pocket, so...
Okay, keep her there?
All right, we're good then.
One step closer.
Drop the spud down, thread the new cable,
wind 'em up, tighten 'em up,
go mining.
[speaking]
Torch. [laughs]
Okay, it's good.
Okay. Down?
Here we go.
[speaking]
[crane creaking]
[Shawn speaking]
[Shawn laughs triumphantly]
We're done!
All good. Everything went good.
[man speaking]
[Shawn speaking]
Yeah!
We got her all put back together.
She's nice and healthy.
It's time to get back out on the top cut, back on that pastry,
and load up the box.
'Cause Dave will be out here, breathing down my neck.
It's time to make every moment count.
Crane's off.
We're good to go.
Beautiful day out. We need to get out and get mining.
[laughs]
[narrator] While Shawn gets the Myrtle back to work...
[ticking]
[narrator] ...on the other side of the harbor...
[Vernon] So, I got to fly out of here.
I gotta attend a funeral back in the Carolinas.
But, uh...
[speaking]
And I feel, um, very comfortable leaving it with them.
[narrator] After weeks, struggling to put many points on the board,
Vernon Adkison's hoping a last minute audible will motivate his team.
[Bryan speaking]
[man] Looks pretty good.
[engine starts]
Another day at controls of the gold ship,
I feel confident taking it in and out now.
I'll go away, come back,
there'll be gold in the box waiting for me. I like that.
Conceivably, there'll come a point
where I can just call it in
and come into town every now and then and pick up my gold and,
head back to the Hawaiian Islands or Tahiti,
or some damn place.
But, who knows? I mean, it's so much fun in Nome.
I mean, what's Tahiti got that Nome doesn't have?
Well, hula girls, palm trees...
One thing they don't have in Tahiti is gold.
Not that I know of anyway.
I was aiming for 300 ounces. I've got less than 20 so far.
So, maybe putting the guys in the hot seat
to prove themselves
will finally swing the pendulum in our direction,
and we'll have some good fortune for the rest of the season.
Season's short.
We need to get as much gold as we can in the little time we got.
So, um, tell ya, for what it's worth. I'm not gonna be here.
So, you're gonna have to police yourself
and figure it out for yourself.
Thomas has been my tender
but now he's gonna be piloting the boat.
And that's no walk in the park.
Bryan is a ferocious diver
but now he'll be in charge of keeping the system humming.
And Gary, he's my gold gorilla.
He's gonna keep feeding 'em gold
and he better stay hungry because the end of the season is nipping on my ass.
Anyway, that's about all I got, guys, uh...
About time to get to the airport.
Training wheels are off and I gotta say,
my chances of a successful season hinges on today.
[engine revving]
[Vernon] That's it.
Everybody's all trained up to a high degree of proficiency.
Hopefully when I get back I'll be richer than I am right now.
[narrator] Across the harbor...
change is also in the air for another team.
[Emily] Rick took off.
We, uh, we're finishing out the season with a, uh, a new diver in the boat.
At least new this season.
Jeff, he's awesome.
We're on really good gold right now.
Hopefully we can get back to it today.
Jane, ready to go mine some G?
Shotty. Come.
[barking]
[narrator] With the homestretch of summer in her sights,
Emily Riedel is bringing in a heavyweight
to keep momentum on her side.
[Emily] I'm gonna come out with Jane.
Since Jeff's back on the boat for the first time, Alex and I are gonna go out and, uh,
get him all set up.
[speaking]
- How you doing? - [Jane] Hi.
- Nice to meet you. - Yes!
- Doing good? Awesome. - [Jane] Yeah.
[Emily] It's crunch time. We've had an awesome season so far but,
in order to hit 250 ounces, we've got to finish strong.
- So, Rick's gone now. - [buzzer sound]
I'm calling in my buddy Jeff Orzechowski.
- He's always produced awesome gold for The Eroica. - [applause]
He's my ace in the hole here at the end of the season.
And I know that Jeff's gonna get us there.
There we go. Life's short, right?
- [Emily] Yes. - [Jeff on radio] Looking really good.
We can put another ounce in the box.
- [Jane] Wow. - All right, well, you're gonna
be taking care of me today, huh?
- [Jane] I do. - [Jeff] All right.
[Emily] The plan this winter is for Jane to take over
when I have the baby. I still need to be confident
that Jane can step up into that position.
And I really need to, like, watch her closely
and analyze just to make sure that this is gonna work.
Yeah, the pressure is on for both of us.
[Jane speaking]
You what?
- How to get a rock jam out? - [Jane speaking]
[Jane chuckles]
Well, hopefully, we won't get any of those.
[Jane] I'm excited. I'm working with a new diver.
He sounds like he knows what he's doing, so that's good.
And, um, 'cause like, there's gonna be a lot of trust involved
and I would want him to feel like he's safe under water with me.
I had a dream last night that we found, like, a bunch of big nuggets.
- [man exclaims] - I was-- But I was, like, down diving
with a garden hose for some reason, and I was like--
It was like the garden hose size suction device.
- [man] Sticking on gold to it? - And I kept-- Yeah, I know,
it was a little thin and I kept finding all these big nuggets,
and sucking 'em up like... [mimics]
[Jane] And I'm happy to be of assistance
if you need any help.
I thought I'd get used to the new diver,
so I'm just kinda following around right now,
like, forcing myself for him to, like, get to know me
and, um, think that I'm fun.
Really run right now. [sighs]
Just doing chores.
I'm kinda materialistic and shallow sometimes,
and I just need to be like... [stutters] I'm a good person.
So trust me. [laughing] Hell [bleep] no.
Oh.
Just two or three?
[Jane] Oh, I see.
Yeah, they're setting three anchors out here.
Well, a skiff's gonna take one anchor out
and kinda just put it where they want it.
Jiminy Crickets.
I'm not used to boats having three anchors
but this dredge is gotta have it so it can, like,
stay in the place that we want, which is, like,
hopefully, right on the gold.
Okay, good.
But sometimes I also feel like
there's a soap opera in Nome
and I call it "As the Anchor Drags".
[instrumental music playing]
[Jane] Total soap opera.
The diver's getting naked.
Well, I mean, he's changing his clothes.
So I'm giving him his privacy.
His privacy?
Got married women on this boat. Can't be looking.
[laughs]
[Emily] Yeah, we're good to go.
[Jeff speaking]
[Emily] What-- What's it look like, jefe?
[Jeff speaking]
[Emily] Oh, nice.
[Jeff speaking]
[Emily] All right, poke away, brother.
[Jane] Oh, boy.
This is a good spot for gold.
Think it's 'cause of me. I'm like the good luck charm on the boat.
Really wasn't any gold until I showed up.
It's true story, puppy. Just remember that.
[dog whimpering]
[Jeff speaking]
[Emily] Yeah, hopefully, we'll make money today.
[Jane] Rockin' and rollin' down there.
[Zeke] What up?
- Hey, brother. - Hey, glad you made it.
- Yeah. - Did-- Did they find your bags?
- Oh, they lost 'em. It'll be on the next flight. - Oh, okay.
- All right, run on. - Yeah, gonna grab those
- bags there. - [Zeke] Sounds good.
[narrator] After suddenly losing his tender,
Zeke Tenhoff's hoping to catch lightning
in a bottle with a new recruit.
[Zeke] Right on, you made it.
My back is up against the wall since Steve quit on me,
so I called in a favor and I'm bringing up my friend, Nate, to help.
Nate's just a really intense high energy guy.
He's real tough, he's been on crab boats a lot.
But most importantly, he's a certified diver.
But he's never dredged for gold before.
So hopefully, he catches on quick.
[Nate speaking]
How was the bungee jump?
Nice.
[Zeke chuckles]
[Nate] So good.
Brush your teeth.
That's a daily reminder right there, folks.
You only get one set.
I'm definitely flipping the script getting Nate on board.
He's got a real can do positive attitude.
He really wants to be involved. Totally different vibe.
[Nate] They don't call me Nine Finger Nate for nothing.
I'm missing a finger.
The thing about Nine Fingers Nate is he's not gonna
bitch and moan about things like Steve Riedel.
And so hopefully, like, that good positive attitude
will help us, uh, get a lot more gold this season.
I need to get some more gold. I mean, I had...
That cleanup that I just had was-- I mean, it was a good cleanup.
I mean, I'll take it, like,
17, almost 18 ounces of gold.
But I know I can do better.
You know, there's-- where I left off there's more and...
We don't have a whole lot of, uh, mining days left
so I wanna make the most of it.
Ready to make some money, get some gold.
[engine starts]
- Yeah. - [Nate] Good to go.
[Zeke speaking]
Swing.
[Zeke] I'm going right back out to the pay streak
that I found last time I was out.
I don't wanna mess around. There's only a few days left
and I wanna hit the good stuff while I can.
And plus, this is gonna be Nate's first dive.
So I wanna be able to know that there's gonna be good gold
for him to see as soon as he gets down there.
Let her rip!
[breathing under water]
Rock and roll.
How's it looking down there, Zeke?
How's the visibility?
[Zeke speaking]
Uh...
Uh, hey.
Talk to me, what's going on?
[Zeke speaking]
[Nate speaking]
You know I'm saying? That scrilla.
Ducats, the moolah.
Frogskins, man, dead presidents. You know what I'm talkin' about?
Money!
[narrator] Ten miles east...
So Vern's not here today, it's just us guys.
So let's be on our game, let's show we got initiative
and let's get some gold in the box.
- [Bryan] Let's get some gold. - Get it.
[Thomas] Release.
[narrator] With the salty skipper away,
the Wild Ranger crew is ready to prove their mettle
by piling up precious metal.
- [man] And we're off. - No turning back.
[Thomas] I hope today everything goes smooth
and goes as it does while he's here.
Or even smoother would be nice.
That's what we're shooting for, smoother without Vernon.
Let's get this done.
[Gary] This'll be us proving that, uh, you know,
that we really don't need him on the boat that much.
I mean, we're-- we're a tight crew
and I think-- I think we'll do really well.
[Thomas] Yeah, it'll be fun to go prospect some different areas.
[Bryan] Vernon always likes hittin' the same hole,
which is good, I mean, we know there's gold there,
but we want better gold. So, um, we're gonna try
some new areas, um, since Vern's not here.
We'll try a little bit shallower,
maybe 8 to 12 feet of water
and see if, um, we can find some cobble.
[Thomas] All right. You guys wanna check out this area?
[Gary] Yep, put that camera down.
How're we looking down there?
- It's sand. - [Bryan] That's not what we want.
We don't want sand.
[Gary] We're on sand.
Vern always reminds us how much he spends on these cameras.
Let's [bleep] do it. I don't wanna ruin that damn camera.
A damn $1,000 camera.
[Thomas] We're using the camera under motor
and this is, uh, definitely a big no-no.
Just because of risk of sucking it up into our prop.
[Vernon] Y'all didn't tell me you put the camera down.
I'm up here [bleep] with this business.
I don't wanna run that camera
through the propeller like we've done before.
[Thomas] And it's definitely going a lot quicker
than when Vern's on board.
Having to anchor up and, you know,
just bring everything to a dead stop
just so we could drop the camera.
- So we're on the cobble-- - This is working great so far.
- [Gary] There's some cobble. - This is, uh, we're going a lot faster.
I mean, we just covered 300 feet of ground already.
We're on cobble and sand, now I just seen the cobble go by.
We're on cobble sand.
Nothing's wrapped up in the propeller.
[Gary] Oh, man, this is looking good, though.
I mean, we're making a map
so it's gonna take a little time but once we do this,
bang, we'll know... We'll be going here
all the time where all of our patches are.
All right, let's drop our rear anchor.
[Gary] All right.
Guys, ready?
You're, uh, pretty close to be ready?
- You wanna set the box? - [Gary] I'm ready.
[Bryan] Yep.
[Gary] Okay.
Coming down.
[breathing under water]
[vocalizing]
[exclaims]
How's your water temp, good?
[Gary on radio] Uh, yeah, feels good so far.
All right.
[Gary] All right. Let's take a look around down here.
[Bryan] How's the material looking? Pretty good?
[Gary] Yeah, it looks pretty damn good from what I'm looking at.
- Awesome, let's get some gold, buddy. - [Gary on radio] Sure.
How does it feel, you guys, not having Vernon on the boat?
It's a little more quieter, that's for sure.
So don't [bleep] around.
[shouting] Hey, you wanna fight, [bleep]?
What do you mean, I don't know what I'm [bleep] doing?
[Gary on radio] It's definitely more quieter.
[Bryan] Do you think it's a good way to find ground from now on,
um, you know, put the camera down with the boat moving?
[Gary] Oh, yeah.
- Yeah, I think it saved a lot of time. - [Gary on radio] Yeah.
[Bryan] Yeah, so far so good. We got a guy down dredging.
That's all that counts,
you know, the dredge box is going so we're getting gold nuggets.
Everything's working, but like,
you see all these lines, you know we...
Vernon'd be yelling about all those lines on the floor. [laughs]
[Vernon] Pick that [bleep].
Damn it. These cords on deck are my pet peeve.
It's a fire hazard. You damage these cords,
next thing you know, they're sparking off.
[bleep] burn you to death in the middle of the night.
[Bryan] But, uh, everyone's safe
and, uh, good day so far.
We'll see, we'll see.
[Gary speaking]
[Bryan] Oh, yeah, baby! Show me the gold.
[clock ticking]
[Dave] Oh, yeah.
Back in action.
I gotta watch out, the boss is here now.
Yeah, he needs to get his ass to work.
[narrator] After giving his golden beast a clean bill of health...
[Shawn] We should be good to go.
[narrator] ...Mr. Gold and Myrtle owner Dave Young
are ready to release her back into the wild.
[Dave] Just came into town. The Myrtle's been broke down.
Today's the day.
There's always more pressure when the boss
is looking over your shoulder breathing down your neck.
And thus far, this season hasn't gone
the way we planned for either of us.
[sighs]
[Dave] Forty-eight.
Gotta do a little better than that, Shawn.
We got a lot of money on the line.
[Shawn] This day needs to be a big day for us.
If not, this summer could turn out to be on the losing end,
and that could crush us financially.
Security, security, security.
Myrtle Irene leaving their harbor
and headed for sea. Any concerned or closed traffic
be standing by on channel 16 and 72.
Here we go, Dave.
We got the-- some drill holes.
I'm hoping they're not too deep.
And I think we're gonna load some boxes.
[Shawn] So I'll get the prime pump going
and get fired up.
Here we go.
Hey.
Feels really good to be back out on the water.
Seems like everything's working just fine now.
I wanna load this box up.
Myrtle's back up and running, baby.
Oh, yeah.
Need some love from the Bering Sea.
Hope I can just keep this in digging.
I have a feeling, gonna give out a good bounty this time.
Fill the box up in a day.
Yep, cobble to sand, it's gonna be good.
[laughs]
This stuff looks amazing.
Seem to be
working just fine now.
This looks like some really good ground.
Dave's in town giving us a hand.
Nice to see it up and running again.
Everyday we're putting gold in the box is a good day.
This is some good-looking dirt.
Now we just gotta keep this beast running without any breakdown.
[narrator] Ten miles east...
Hey, what's up?
[Brad speaking]
[Kris speaking]
[Brad on radio] I got good, black material.
Okay, that's great. Is there any gold in it?
[Brad speaking]
[narrator] The Kellys continue to swing and miss.
[Kris speaking]
[Brad speaking]
Uh, good report. I don't think he's on gold.
He's in a pissed off mood
which usually tells me
that he's not seeing [bleep].
You know, I know we're crazy people.
So we, uh, we're not in good moods
when we don't see gold.
You know, when we're-- we're working for free,
we're in bad mood.
And everybody's spirit will just, like,
will skyrocket. Morale will just shoot right up.
[Brad speaking]
[Kris on radio] Okay, come on up.
Don't worry, don't let this put you in a bad mood.
This is nothing.
You know when you get that feeling in the pit of your stomach
when everything's falling apart?
That's how I feel right now.
So as the captain, I need to fix
this sinking ship myself.
I'm gonna do my first dive of the season.
[valiant instrumental music playing]
Great moment in the history of the Reaper.
Kris is back.
His boat broke down, he's going down to put us on gold.
Just like the good old days.
It'd be pretty sweet if I go down there and save my season.
That would be a baller move.
All right, we just got Kris down, I think he's on cobble.
So hopefully, we got a nice gold-packed area.
[Kris speaking]
All right, that's good news.
[Kris speaking]
Kris is on gold!
Okay, get to work.
Finally.
[Kris speaking]
[Brad] Hey, you're up by the front of the boat.
You need to come back this way.
[Kris speaking]
Uh, moved a little bit but it's stopped now.
[Kris speaking]
Uh...
[Andy speaking]
It was doing it to me too when I was down.
[Kris speaking]
[Brad] What's he sayin'?
That you're a dumbass.
All right, he says that all the time,
he says that about everybody.
[Kris speaking]
[bleep], man.
Always something, dude.
[bleep] deja vu, dude.
Back working with my dad is a [bleep] joke.
He really doesn't give two [bleep] about what's going on.
Back here we are again.
Just going in circles.
[Kris speaking]
We were on gold.
But we have to stay there to make it work.
Is it your first day on the boat?
[Brad speaking]
Well then, what's your problem?
What's your problem?
[Brad speaking]
Set this anchor.
And then back up until this anchor's tight.
You know, they have one job.
Just keep everything on top from being a cluster[bleep],
and they can't do it.
The anchor had so much slack in it
it was dragging all over the place.
Now I lost the pay streak I was on,
and now I have to find it again.
Even when I find the gold,
they find a way to screw it up.
[Brad] Yay, he's gone.
Everything's good.
We're almost on gold.
[Kris speaking]
[Brad] Yeah, full black.
Okay.
[Kris speaking]
We're on gold!
Hey, we're on gold!
Well, morale's high. Look at these guys, all smiles now.
Miles of smiles.
[Kris speaking]
[laughs] It says we're in Miami.
[laughing]
[narrator] In Nome, Alaska,
the pendulum swings on the final days of summer.
Now, each crew uses everything they've got to cash in
before the clock strikes midnight
on their dreams.
[Bryan] All right, man, you've been down four hours.
How's the ground looking?
[Gary speaking]
Yeah, that's awesome.
[narrator] Without their captain,
the Wild Ranger crew is on their own.
And on the gold.
Today's the first day without Vernon.
We're on good ground, it looks like.
There's a couple of inches of overburden.
[Gary speaking]
[Bryan] Yeah, man, do you wanna come up for a break?
[Gary] Okay, yeah, I'm coming up right now.
[Bryan] I don't think we need to go far.
So we're just gonna move the boat back,
maybe a 100 feet or so,
and try over there.
[Gary] Took the hose all the way around the backside of the boat.
Worked all the way around, punched about 10 holes.
We-- we've definitely proven
that we can do this on our own, so, uh,
Bryan's gonna go down and uh,
- just keep punching around. - [Bryan] No problem.
- [motor whirring] - You got it. There you go.
Yeah. Feels good.
All right. Cool.
[Bryan] All right, touchdown.
[Thomas] How you feeling, Bryan?
[Bryan speaking]
[Thomas] Hell, yeah.
[Bryan speaking]
[Thomas] Hose, hose, hose!
[Thomas speaking]
[Thomas] Come up, Bryan, we lost hose off the jet.
[Bryan speaking]
[Thomas] It came off the coupler.
[Bryan speaking]
[Thomas] Looks like our clamp got old and slipped off.
If we don't have one on board,
we're gonna have to cut this day short.
Yeah, I wouldn't reuse this.
Yeah, clamps rust out here in the salt water,
they just get chewed up real fast.
Oh, look at that.
[producer speaking]
- [Thomas] Yeah. - I think-- I think so.
[Thomas] We can do it. We got a clamp, luckily.
[Bryan] Thank God for backups.
One little $2 clamp could've cost us ounces of gold today.
Good thing Vernon's not here to see it. [laughs]
[bleep]
Pretend like it's your equipment and not mine.
[Thomas speaking]
[motor whirring]
[Thomas speaking]
[Bryan speaking]
[Gary] All right.
Well, keep on going, man.
I think Vernon would be proud.
[Bryan] Oh, yeah.
[Bryan speaking]
[speaking]
[Bryan laughs] Oh, yeah, baby.
Whoo!
[narrator] Twelve miles west.
[Zeke speaking]
[narrator] Zeke Tenhoff has found gold
between a rock and a hard place.
[Zeke speaking]
[Zeke] But...
[Zeke speaking]
Roger that.
[Zeke speaking]
[Zeke] So, if you--
[Zeke continues speaking]
Oh, big time.
[Zeke speaking]
All right, roger that.
Really pumped.
So I'mma get down there, get the gold,
hopefully get the cheddar.
Get the bread, you know what I'm saying?
There he is, he's up.
[Zeke] This is really challenging ground
for Nate's first Bering Sea dive.
I'm already pretty wiped from moving all those rocks.
So this'll be good opportunity to see if he can really
you know, not just talk the talk,
but like, walk the walk.
I'm [bleep] pumped, baby! Let's get some gold!
[Zeke] The clock's ticking on the rest of the summer.
I need Nate to be a difference-maker.
- [motor whirring] - Get my little tootsies warmed up.
See normally, I just gotta pee in it to get warm.
[Zeke] Nate's a big guy.
He's like a crab-fisherman guy.
He's done a bunch of diving before.
But you never really know who's gonna like, run with it.
How goes it down there? You at the bottom?
[Nate speaking]
Yeah, just look around all over there.
There's a bunch of gold all through there that I didn't get yet.
[Zeke speaking]
[Nate speaking]
[Nate continues speaking]
You seeing some gold there?
[Nate speaking]
Yeah, it's extremely obvious.
[Nate continues speaking]
[Nate speaking]
[Kris speaking]
[narrator] On Kris's first dive of the season,
the captain has swung fortune toward the Kellys.
[Andy] It feels good to actually see the gold that you suck up, huh?
[Kris speaking]
[Andy] Me too. Like right now, I have to trust you.
That [bleep] better be on gold.
[Kris speaking]
It was a rough start in the beginning.
But we-- we finally relocated our anchors
and we're on the spot, we've got a GPS.
Everything's good right now.
He wishes he could bring his excavator over here
and dig this easy hole 10 feet deep.
We're making money now with this load.
But the Mistress seems to be a non-profit organization.
[laughs] You know what I mean?
You just put money into it.
They don't get money out of it.
[laughs]
[Brad] Okay, Kris, you've been down for four hours now.
You ready to come up?
Yes, I think I'm ready to come up.
[Kris speaking]
Okay, I'll have him get suited up right now.
Here he comes.
So I did it.
I finally accomplished our mission.
As leader of the Reaper Nation, I got us on gold.
Now the next step.
What is up? Let's go get some gold.
Train Anthony so we can get a solid dive team
going on the Reaper at all times.
We need this
if we have any chance of hitting our goal
before the summer ends.
I didn't really explain the trudging at all to Anthony.
So we're just gonna throw Anthony underneath the water,
give him a little trial by fire.
But I'm gonna tell you,
I know he's gonna make it work.
Because the nozzle is sitting six inches from gold.
All he has to do is move the [bleep] thing around
and he's gonna get gold.
[Kris] Anthony is an underwater welder.
That's a pretty serious gig.
It's a lot simpler than it looks.
It really is.
I have a lot of faith in you.
- Gotcha. - I really do.
But he's never dredged for gold anywhere,
let alone the Bering Sea.
Hopefully, it doesn't overwhelm him.
[motor whirring]
[Kris] You're good. Yeah, you're good.
Go.
Sometimes, you know, you need that push.
You know? 'Cause you're thinking about it too much.
I knew he was thinking about it too much.
[Anthony speaking]
[Kris] Okay, now, there's two ways you can do this.
You can either be on your knees and suck it up
or you can stand up there like a vacuum cleaner.
[Anthony speaking]
He's just getting his feel for it.
But it's like, right off the bat,
he goes down there, he takes the hose off,
he goes right to work.
[Kris] Do you see any gold yet?
[Anthony speaking]
[Kris speaking]
[Anthony speaking]
[Kris speaking]
[Anthony speaking]
And when you see black [bleep]
that's where the gold hides.
So make sure you vacuum that a little harder.
[Anthony] Roger.
Okay. There you go.
He's not much of a talker.
To be honest with you, he's got that Southern drawl.
I can only understand what the [bleep] he says half the time anyway,
so we're cool.
What's the matter?
[man speaking]
[Kris] Okay, stop for a second.
And uh, clip the nozzle on its side.
[Anthony] Okay.
Stick your hand kind of in front of it.
Do you feel a lot of suction going on?
[Anthony] Uh...
[Anthony speaking]
[Kris speaking]
[Anthony speaking]
[bleep] Man.
It's not going good our first time.
[Kris] Here's the thing about dredging.
In theory, it sounds easy.
Big giant vacuum cleaner suck up free money.
But it's way harder than it looks.
And I should've gave him more of a tutorial
before just throwing him down there.
Now he's stuck on a rock jam and it sound like a nasty one.
Okay, man, just hook it up and we're done.
I'm gonna take you back to the harbor
and I'll give you a full demonstration on what we're doing.
[Anthony speaking]
I'm not pissed, don't worry about it.
You did a good job.
[Anthony speaking]
So we're gonna pack up.
But we'll clean the rock jam out on shore.
[Anthony speaking]
[Kris speaking]
- [Anthony speaking] - [Kris speaking]
[Kris speaking]
[Kris continues speaking]
[Kris speaking]
[Anthony speaking]
I should've stayed down there myself.
[Kris] Could be better. [clears throat]
It couldn't have gone any worse with Anthony.
Oh, yeah, I guess it could've.
He could've freaked out.
He could've tried [bleep] drowning himself.
Did you hear his breathing when he hit that water?
[breathing heavily]
- You're spitting all over me. - I know I was.
Imagine him spitting in my mask.
You'll be fine.
[Kris] As the captain, I need people to have belief in themselves.
Belief in the dream.
It's up to me to keep Anthony's faith in himself strong.
Otherwise, he'll never succeed and--
We won't have the crew we need.
I really want him to become a vital team player
for Reaper mining.
[Kris] Don't worry, my friend. I love you.
And it's gonna take a hell of a lot of problems
for me to stop loving you.
You never have to worry about that.
Hey, let me tell you what.
[Anthony speaking]
You made it into my place in my life
that is really hard to get out of.
I now consider you one of my good friends.
- [Anthony speaking] - You don't--
I know, but you know, like, let me tell you why you're gonna be okay.
I take care of my good friends.
And we still have enough of the season
that we can turn this around and make some money.
[Emily] Hey, Jeffrey.
How's the ground looking, dude?
[Jeff speaking]
I mean, this should be every bit of--
you know, at least an ounce an hour, ounce and a half.
[Emily] [bleep] That's awesome, dude.
[Jeff] Yeah.
[Jane] Wow.
Definitely a good day for gold.
[Jeff speaking]
I think this is really gonna pay off.
[Emily] Yay!
Nice.
[narrator] To finish out the home stretch of the season,
Emily's brought in heavy hitter, Jeff Orzechowski.
[Jeff] I'm seeing color
every time I move one of these rocks on the bottom.
[Emily] Oh, that sounds awesome.
Whoo!
[narrator] And the crew is firing on all cylinders.
[Emily] Good to have a team
that knows how to find and follow and produce gold.
[Jeff] Oh, there we go. Perfect.
I mean, I can see some gold right on top of this stuff.
[Emily] It's getting a bit choppy.
Copy?
[Jeff speaking]
[Emily] Roger.
[groaning]
[Jeff speaking]
[Emily] Yeah, dude, this sucks.
[Emily] We're at the point in the season where it's make or break.
But you don't wanna push it too hard.
There's still a line that you can't cross.
[Emily speaking]
[Jeff] Ah, [bleep].
[Emily] We still have a couple more days to mine but,
we can't damage the rig or get people hurt.
[Emily] Oh!
We gotta get out of here.
This weather's not goofing around.
The weather's changed,
the diver's been down long enough but,
we're gonna put a marker buoy down,
so when we come back, we're gonna start right back here.
They were like, "It's called a marker buoy."
So basically, the diver just comes up
and grabs the anchor and takes it down to his spot.
And the buoy lets us know up top where it's at.
Hey, Jane.
You wanna pull up his umbilical?
[Jane] Yep, we gotcha.
[Emily] You getting dragged around down there, huh?
Cold, yeah.
- [Emily speaking] - [Jeff] Yeah?
[Emily] Yeah, just 'cause, you know, I don't like the fact
that this-- this kind of, south wind is coming up a little bit.
[Jeff] Right.
I mean, all in all, there's gold in the box.
I think it was a great day.
- [Emily speaking] - [Jeff] Yeah.
Yeah.
[Emily] It sucks that Jeff's dive was cut short due to weather.
But he's already killing it and I'm so glad he's here.
This is [bleep] heavy. Oh, [bleep].
[Jane] Is it too heavy?
Jane's stepping up to the plate in her own, unique Jane way.
She's coming in to the job really well.
The team's coming together and we're on amazing gold still.
Um, we'll just have to see what comes out of the box.
[Jeff] Yeah, I think it's a great first dive.
Um, four hours on gold.
This is the kind of ground you wanna see.
Tomorrow's a new day and
we know where the gold's at, so.
Come back out and get another six hours in.
- [Emily] There you go. - [Jeff] All right.
[Emily] Atta boy.
I'm driving it straight to Nordstrom's.
[Jeff] Yes!
- [Emily laughs] - [Jeff speaking]
I need just the one.
- [Jeff] Yeah? Which ones? - [laughs]
- Actually-- actually... - [Emily] A jeans?
I was just saying I think, like...
[Jane speaking]
- [Jane] Men in designer jeans-- - [Jeff] Should not?
[Jeff speaking]
It's like, heterosexual. Like, just--
[Jane speaking]
- [Jeff] You would say what? - I would think less of you.
But me wearing AG jeans is yes.
I like Sevens.
[Jeff speaking]
Where is the auto-pilot?
[Emily] You are the auto pilot.
[narrator] Ten miles west.
[Nate speaking]
Oh, yeah, baby.
The boys are back in town!
Yes.
[narrator] Zeke's newest crew member is rocking out
with his hose out.
So you said, uh, you've seeing gold up in, uh, the rocks.
[Nate speaking]
[Zeke] This is exactly what I need.
Steve bails on me and Nate comes in
and just immediately and totally kills it.
Just totally turns things around.
Talk about total reversal of fortune.
[Nate speaking]
- [Zeke on radio] Hey, Nate. - [Nate] Yeah.
The suns going down, and we're starting to lose light.
I kind of want to think of start, uh,
start thinking about wrapping this up, and getting out of here.
- [Nate on radio] Oh, wow. - [Zeke] Yeah, you've been down for two and a half hours.
[Nate] Holy,[bleep].
Time flies when you're having fun.
Yeah, just head on back up.
[Nate] All right, roger that.
[Zeke] You never really know who's gonna run with it.
We'll see. I don't really know what the rest of the season is gonna bring us
in terms of dive time, but we got this boat,
my brother's got a boat in the water, like,
there's plenty of opportunity if the weather will allow it.
[chuckles]
- Yeah, baby. - [Zeke] Yeah.
- Whoo! - [Zeke] Right on, that was fun.
- That was awesome. - [Zeke] Saw some gold.
- Yeah. - Awesome.
You don't realize how tired you are until you come up,
because you're so in the zone.
And it's just like, it's like [bleep] just picking up money.
- You know, like, money, money, money... - [Zeke] Yeah.
...and you're like...
- It's so engaging. - [Zeke] That's what I'm saying. [chuckles]
That's the coolest job ever.
[Zeke] Yeah, I haven't really been able to do anything else.
[chuckling]
I don't really know if you can do anything else after doing that.
There's no other job where you're just picking up money.
Yeah, no. It makes me really happy that you enjoyed it.
I feel like, I'm like. [burbling]
Like, I'm, like, gushing.
You know, like... [burbling] How as it?
[burbling] It's [bleep] amazing.
I like it when people get it.
I think... I think I might get a little too much.
[Zeke] Well, that's... that's okay.
There's plenty of gold out here.
There's probably, like...
Somebody... There was an estimation that there was
three quarters of a billion ounces in between these two capes.
Well, butter my buns and call me a biscuit.
- [Zeke] You got it. - Whoo!
Whoo! That gold, gold, gold, gold I'm gonna bring.
[honking]
- [Vernon sighs] - [server] Hey, Vernon. What would you like?
Oh, let me have a Jameson's, please, on the rocks.
I don't know why, but people are very interested
in what I drink when I do this socialize thing.
[narrator] And now, another episode of Social Hour with Vernon.
Every now and then, um, I do like a little sip of Jameson's.
It sort of, uh, soothes the troubled brow.
Uh, it puts me in a more mellow mode.
Back in the old days, I used to like Tanqueray gin,
because I found out if I drank Tanqueray,
I didn't get into any fights most... most of the time.
[man 1] Go ahead, come on. Come on.
[man 2] Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!
[man 3 yelling]
[Vernon] This is a civilized drink here.
[Irish bagpipes playing]
If you read Campbell's books on mysticism,
he said that Jameson's was spiritual,
and people would ask him what he did to get into that spiritual realm,
and his answer was he drink Jameson's.
And that's why I drink it.
You read the label on it, "Sine Metu."
And it translates to the spirit of life.
[music stops abruptly]
[uplifting music playing]
I'm feeling more spiritual already.
[narrator] This has been another episode of Social Hour with Vernon.
[narrator] On the outskirts of Nome...
Dude, I can't believe how much gold was under those boulders.
It's crazy.
[narrator] Zeke, and his newest recruit,
truly rocked the day.
[Zeke] Probably five or six ounces in there.
All around under those boulders it was just painted beautiful.
Think that was probably my best dive
of the season for sure.
It's amazing the highs and lows that you have when you're mining.
Just a little bit ago, my tender just quit out of nowhere,
and I was almost down from the count.
But I got my buddy, Nate out here, and he totally rocked it.
It's a tough spot to work, but the gold is here in spades.
We just gotta get after it.
Oh, yeah.
Almost six and a half ounces. That was a good little run.
- Good. - It's good news.
[narrator] 6.23 ounces is worth over 11 grand,
and the pendulum is definitely swinging Zeke's way.
There's probably some more stuff
that I could have gotten with my six inch dredge,
but there's a lot more gold out there,
that's all I'm gonna say.
After a really weak summer, last summer,
and a really, only, just slightly better winter,
it feels really good to get back into the gold
and to get back into the groove.
I really like the deal that we made with Shawn, and it's working out great.
The gold at Tomcod is almost limitless,
and think it's gonna be even better going forward.
I knew it was good, but, like, I'm really impressed by that.
[narrator] On the other side of town...
Feel like this is lot of, like the, grit work,
not the rewarding part.
- It's the work part. - [Emily] Oh, it's right there. Sorry.
We're cleaning... dirt.
What are these things called again?
- [Jeff] They're riffles. - [Jane] Ripples?
- [Jeff] Riffles. - [Jane] Riffles.
Oh, yeah.
So exciting, I'm having a beer.
[Emily] Yeah, I love having Jeff back.
He's a total rockstar, awesome diver,
and along with Jane, I think we have an awesome team going on here,
uh, for the summer and maybe beyond.
Now, I'm just crossing my fingers for a big number.
[clicks tongue] It's really good.
Um, four, five, six,
seven, eight, nine, ten,
eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen,
fifteen, sixteen, seventeen.
All right, nineteen.
- [Jane laughs] - [Jeff] There we go.
Now we're in awesome shape.
[narrator] 19 ounces is worth over 34,000 dollars,
and the mom-to-be's future looks bright.
[Emily] That's good. It's really producing for us.
Just got to, uh, get back out there.
You see why people get gold fever.
[chuckles]
I never thought I would say this about gold mining,
but this season's nearly flawless.
Like everything has been going right.
We got, uh, Jane, we got awesome gold, we have a baby on the way.
I mean, life's great.
- [Jane] Wow, that's so cool to see. - [man] That's awesome.
It's all shaping up to be everything I hoped for.
We just have to keep it going.
- [Jane] This is super exciting. - [Emily] Yeah.
It's mesmerizing.
Oh yeah, we need to get back out.
- [Emily] Yeah. Nice having you around, Jane. - [Jane] Wow.
[Emily] You're bringing us gold. Gold luck.
[Jane] Who's to say I won't ditch my family, and live in a shack up here.
[chuckles]
[narrator] Back on the water...
I'm out of here, till next time.
[Shawn] All right, Dave. Thanks.
He was here and gone quick.
[Dave grunts]
Ow!
He's got other businesses, and other ventures he's got work to do on.
[narrator] After witnessing the Myrtle working at peak performance...
[Dave] See you next time.
[narrator] ...the boss has gone away,
leaving Mr. Gold to play.
- [excavator whirring] - [Shawn] Dave seemed happy.
Wish I had a big pile of gold to give him,
but that'll be the next time he comes in.
I feel you down there.
Here we go.
Ooh, baby. There's some boulders.
Really looking good.
Been a tough year, we've been struggling
with little gremlin that've been costing us a bunch of time and money,
but... then we have 'em all worked out now.
Rock 'em, sock 'em.
Bam!
[thudding]
[Shawn] Yeah.
Excavator's running good, wash plant's running good,
boxes look like they're doing what they're supposed to be doing.
I mean, she's running like a champ right now.
- [knocks] - Knock on wood.
This girl's back to life in a big way.
It's devouring the ground in front of her,
and it's doing it while the boss is here.
We're gonna keep her going around the clock.
Gonna get the night crew out here.
There's no rest for the wicked when the end of the season's near.
The night crew is here right now.
Yeah, hopefully the night shift goes as smooth as day shift,
and we can, uh, be happy, and pay all the bills,
and maybe get some of my money back.
Steady as she goes.
Well, you can see it in there.
Yup, we just might put some gold in the box.
Night sift here, getting everything greased.
Checking oil. Box looks good.
All right, let's get out of here.
Brr!
Successful trip. Feels good to put some gold in the box.
[narrator] 12 miles east...
[Thomas] All right, Bryan. You've been down there four hours.
You ready to come up?
[Bryan speaking on radio]
[Thomas] Copy.
All right, I'm gonna start pulling your umbilical up.
[narrator] With two dive shifts, and eight hours banked on the box...
[Bryan speaking]
[narrator] ...the Wild Ranger crew's flourished
despite the absence of their cantankerous leader.
- You ready? - [Bryan] Wait. Go.
[Thomas] Do you want me to start pulling the rear?
All right, all buoys are up.
Yeah, uh, we put some gold in the box, we got some time on.
I'm working the systems like I would with Vernon here,
but he's not here, so...
It's running smooth.
Our divers got in, our divers got out.
We got off the claim, we're heading back to shore, so...
Today was a successful day in my book.
[Cary speaking]
[Thomas] Let's go home, get some sleep.
Hey, today was a good day, guys. Good job!
I think the idea of using divining rods is really interesting.
It's an ancient method to find gold.
Anything that science can't explain
we've really just called magic,
but there's a lot of things in the world that we consider magic
that really are just things we haven't been able to explain.
Magic is... it's something that's operating regardless of one's belief.
So, in some, maybe, quantum idea,
uh, it's very possible that there's some kind of
intrinsic connection between us and, uh, the surrounding natural world.
It's kind of like the placebo effect, you know, uh.
Does the placebo effect... how exactly does it work?
In some kind of way, there's the law of attraction.
So, I think that, uh, a big principle
in the idea of, uh, you know, dousing for gold,
is, uh, this idea that the law of attraction
is this, sort of, quantum field
that we don't fully understand.
Even the top quantum physicists still don't fully understand
some of the nuances of how the universe works.
So, it's cool to think about the possibilities
and the law of attraction with gold is strong as it ever was, you know.
[Bryan] All right, all right.
That's what I'm talking about.
There, there, there it is.
Oh, there's lots of gold there already.
I'm glad Bryan likes to clean gold.
[chuckles] Because it's not my favorite thing to do.
Stayed bent over for that long, I can't get unbent.
[narrator] The skipper's back in town...
[Bryan] That sight never gets old.
- You done? - All right, let's see what we got.
[narrator] ...and it's time for the crew
to show the boss what they're made of.
I'm, uh... I'm, uh, somewhat impressed.
- [Bryan] Not bad, huh? - I mean, you guys weren't pulling your pud
- for all that time. - [chuckles] No, we actually--
I mean, there's really... I don't even wanna hear
- about what happened while I was gone.
- You don't wanna know. - Okay?
- We made a pact not to say anything. - The boat is still afloat.
All right, some things I'd just rather not know about.
- Close the door and we'll talk about it later. - [all chuckling]
[Vernon] When the cat's away the mice will play.
And it's possible that what went on on my absence,
could make me hit the roof.
But as long as there's gold in the box,
and the equipment is still afloat,
it's all good, baby.
- [Bryan] Ready? - [Vernon] Yeah.
[Bryan] Here we go.
One, two, three, four, oh we hit five.
- 5.3. - [Cary] 5.3.
- [Bryan] Nice. - [Cary] Yeah, not too bad, huh?
- [Bryan] Geez, you come home to five ounces. - [Cary] Yeah, there you go.
[narrator] 5.3 ounces is worth over nine grand.
And while it's not exactly breaking the bank,
it was a profitable day for the leaderless gold ship.
Well, I mean, it keeps us in the game, that's all I gotta say.
I mean, you made something while I was gone.
Believe me, that's... that is a load off my shoulders.
I mean, I gotta be able to trust somebody
with the boat when I'm not here,
'cause I'm not gonna be here all the time.
I gotta give it to the guys.
They kept us in the game,
and it looks like they might have landed us
on a decent pay streak too.
Maybe this is just the spark we're looking for
to ride the rest of the season,
and who knows there may still be sandy beaches,
and hula dancers in my future.
Bottom line is, she's still afloat, nobody got hurt,
- we got gold in the box. - That's all that counts.
- Great job. - All right.
Boom 'em, Danno.
Bag it and tag it.
[narrator] On the other side of town...
Please let there be a lot of gold.
[narrator] After a day of highs and lows
the Kellys are hoping for a little Irish luck.
That's not looking that promising.
I hope it's not the worst cleanup
that I've had in a really long time,
'cause, literally, I know I saw more gold than that.
There should be, like, wow gold.
There's definitely not wow gold.
It's like, "Wow. Where is the gold?"
At this point in the season, I'm looking for a miracle.
A miracle that the Mistress returns,
a miracle that the dive team's clicking,
and a miracle that we get enough gold to keep Reaper Nation alive.
The truth is that's a lot of miracles,
and there's not enough time left,
but it's all I've got to keep me going right now.
Hey, you know what? It's our first clean up.
We've had a lot of problems getting this gold,
you know, so, at least this right here,
will give everyone a little money in their pocket.
Okay, here we go.
We are definitely not millionaires.
We're not even thousandaires.
- [Anthony] Almost two ounces. - 1.86.
[narrator] 1.86 ounces is worth 3,300 bucks.
Nowhere near what they need to make their $125,000 payment.
[Kris] Worst gold cleanup we've had in so long,
but everything's working at least.
Okay, let's call it a day.
Get ready out there, and get ready for the next nice day of mining.
Well, so much for miracles.
So I'm trying to keep a positive attitude
to the team, but basically I'm lying to myself.
It's a [bleep] joke.
I was on amazing gold.
I don't wanna give up on Reaper Nation,
but it's not looking good right now.
I'm just hoping right now, in these final days,
we can turn everything right around.
By, hopefully next week, we'll be running the Mistress again.
But hopefully, we start getting some real time in.
Hopefully, start killing it 24 hours a day.
I know that's a lot of hopefully.
[narrator] Across town...
[Shawn] Had a good day of mining.
Everything was working.
Dave was in town, we had some good weather,
got out there and mined.
Let's see if we made it count.
[narrator] After a round in the ring with the newly repaired Myrtle,
Shawn's ready to reap the rewards.
[Shawn] We were on the good stuff.
We kept her going through the night
I'm expecting to see triple digits.
I need 3,000 ounces this summer.
So, I'm hoping to go big the rest of the season.
Let's see what we got.
Here we go.
Bam!
There's 20, 30, 40...
50, 90, 100.
18, 120.
We have a pile of gold.
[narrator] 120 ounces is worth over $215,000,
and the Myrtle and her captain are primed for a big finish this summer.
[Shawn] Really good Myrtle cleanup.
Put this away, get it in the jar.
Best sound ever is gold piling up.
When the Myrtle's firing on all cylinders
there's nothing like her on the Bering Sea.
If she doesn't give me any more fits
the sky is the limit, and 3,000 ounces is within reach.
All the operations are hitting on all the cylinders.
Here we go.
[narrator] The pendulum swings in Shawn's direction
while Emily and Zeke hold strong,
and Kris, well, he's going to need those miracles.
Next time, on Bering Sea Gold.
This is gonna be a good one.
[laughs] Oh, yeah.
Man, I love it when a plan comes together.
Dig until the weather turns.
[man on radio] Don't know what the weather's doing, just keep an eye on it.
[Nate speaking on radio]
[Zeke] I want you to hook the nozzle up and come up.
[Nate grunts]
They're dead in the water,
a coast guard is nowhere around.[bleep]
[Shawn] We're gonna go find him, get him home safe.
- [thuds] - [bleep]
It is rough.
Hey, you guys. He's right there. I got him.
[shouts] Abandon ship, my engines are swamping.
- We got some damage to the boat. - [producer] Guys! Hey.
[Thomas] Let's go [bleep].
There's a hole right here going through the boat.
I gotta get out of here. Watch out, guys, this is a big one.
Hang on!