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NARRATOR: The vast Bering Sea. Over a million square miles of the world's most violent and unpredictable waters SIG: Heads up. Heads up. NARRATOR: And home of the deadliest catch Alaskan crab. [Cheering] Oh, yeah! Yeah, baby! Living the dream today, baby. NARRATOR: The crab fleet has been pummeled by weeks of brutal Arctic storms. Whoo! Definitely kicked up one more notch. NARRATOR: Seven brave souls have perished. KEITH: There's somebody every year that doesn't make it back, and that sucks. Seven people were lost out here. That's too many. NARRATOR: Now captains must put behind everything Mother Nature has thrown at them and square off against the oncoming hell - MAN: Whoo! - NARRATOR: And high water as the hunt continues for the deadliest catch. MAN: Yeah! [M id-tempo rock music plays] Whoo! Yeah! Aah! NARRATOR: 370 miles to the northeast of Dutch Harbor is the 113-foot Time Bandit. Come on, baby. NARRATOR: This season, the fishing gods have blessed Captain Johnathan Hillstrand with over 110, 000 pounds of crab. MAN: Whoo! MAN #2: Yeah! JOHNATHAN: Big boys. Big guys right there. MAN: Yeah! Yeahl We're in the spot same spot as last year! MAN #2: Oh, my goodness! I'm happy. MAN: Put it up! Yeah, baby. [Cheering] MAN #2: Yeah! Oh, yeah! JOHNATHAN: We're 21/2 miles from our hot spot at the end of the rainbow. [Laughs] The end of the [bleep] rainbow. Yeah! [Laughs] That's about half full. [Scottish accent] " If ye was a superstitious man" NARRATOR: Each pot clearing the rail has $2, 200 worth of keepers. Not bad for the superstitious skipper. [Laughs] That's [bleep] awesome. $50. Oh, baby. We're making money now. Red gold. We found a vein of crab. We got a 45-minute run, guys. Come on in for breakfast. Getting close, guys. The guys will get a nice 40-minute break. - Then we'll pull 15. - [Telephone rings] NARRATOR: While steaming to the next string, Johnathan gets a call from the cannery. Okay, man, I'll get back to you. - Thanks. - [Telephone beeps] [Bleep] NARRATOR: The Time Bandit's delivery schedule has been cut short by three days. It's about 36 hours to load this boat. What are we gonna do with the extra six hours? [Laughs] Well, this boat ain't stopping. That's all I can tell you. We come in under, we don't get paid for that crab. If we're 10, 000, we lose 30 grand, so be ready. - Let's do it. - Yeah, bro! MAN: I like it! I like it! NARRATOR: 110 miles to the north is the 155-foot Wizard. We need to catch some crab. NARRATOR: Captain Keith Colburn is splashing pots, prospecting for better numbers. I mean, we can scrape our way through this season, but I would prefer to see my guys smiling instead of all grumpy all day long like they have been. NARRATOR: Bad crabbing isn't the only reason Monte is grumpy. It's a photo of the greenhorn's girlfriend. If she was topless, she'd be more than welcome to stay. Kid just got on the boat. His picture of his girlfriend doesn't belong in the bait station. Put her in your stateroom, where she should be. It's nice and safe in there. Doesn't bother me at all. WARNER: I do nothing but eat their [bleep] all day. All [bleep] day. And then he pulls that [bleep] On me. Whatever. I could understand why he had it up there. It's where he spends most of his time. He's chopping bait. That's kind of his zone. He's the bait boy. About 30 seconds away from losing my [bleep] job. NARRATOR: The greenhorn takes a walk to clear his head. But in the middle of the Bering Sea, there's only so far you can go. MONTE: [Bleep] him. [Bleep] man. Every [bleep] day, you know? Like, I run around like a [bleep] monkey, and I try as hard as I can for these guys. I just want to get this [bleep] off because I'm about to [bleep] explode. We're setting gear here. Yeah, dude. Look, I can't [bleep] work with you right now. I'm about to blow up. Hey, that's fine. I'll tell you right now. This is where we're at. Your girlfriend's photo doesn't belong on the deck of a crab boat in the workstation with everybody else. So my only question is, I hope she knows how to swim. Because if she's still on wall here real soon, it's gonna end up over the side. Pull your head out of your ***. It's no big deal. Let's go to work. Put your gear on. We're working. I just asked for an apology, and he's like [Bleep] I hope she knows how to swim because I'm about to throw it over." I thought it was okay to have that. I'll tell you what. Periodically, as a greenhorn on a boat, guys are gonna jump down your throat, okay? That's just the way it is. I just wanted, like, an apology. I'll tell you this right now. You're not gonna get a [bleep] apology out of a guy on this boat, period, okay? If he's throwing a little bit of bait at a [bleep] picture, hey, get over it, all right? Go back to work, say, "Yes, sir," and [bleep] get through it, all right? And to be honest with you, I need to finish setting this string, all right? The only woman on a boat is supposed to be naked on the bow. - That's a fact. - Exactly. I'd probably be pissed, too, but I'm not sure I'd subject my girlfriend to a bunch of guys like us. If his weakness is his love for his girl and if anybody touches it, or whatever happened I don't know what happened, but the bottom line is, I don't need to be playing Sigmund Freud right now. I need to be getting my [bleep] gear off the boat and setting here and getting my *** down the road and hauling some crab pots. But we're not gonna catch crab if I'm doing babysit work in the meantime. NARRATOR: After a tongue-lashing from Monte and a lecture from the skipper, Josh returns to the deck. Don't sweat the small [bleep] kid. It's part of working on a [bleep] boat. Got to take some of it with a grain of salt. You know what I mean? This is nothing, man. I think we're turning it around. KEITH: The guys are getting edgy, getting a little bit grumpy with each other. When they starting getting edgy down there, it's almost palpable. That vibe just emitting towards the wheelhouse. It's pretty gnarly. NARRATOR: 300 miles northeast of Dutch Harbor, the 78-foot Lisa Marie arrives on the southern edge of the red king crab grounds. Okay. You guys about ready? First string of the year. NARRATOR: After cod fishing for a month in the western Aleutians, is two weeks late to the hunt for king crab. We're just kicking these off and start fishing through it. CR ICHTON: Well, we're scrambling. A lot of guys They have a head start on us. Quite a bit of a head start. We're down to the wire here. ROBERT: After this string we set, we're heading back to Dutch to pick up one more string. We have to come back out with another load and probably start hauling gear, get some crab on the boat. We got seven days. I'm hoping. Couple days' soak, you get 50, 60 crabs. That's a good haul. But we might have a couple of weather days here, so we'll see. NARRATOR: The 78-foot Lisa Marie is the smallest boat in the crab fleet. The deck is 42 feet long by 26 feet wide barely enough space for the five-man crew to maneuver around the pots. CR ICHTON: Yeah, we've got to just make a little bit of room so it's not so tight quarters down there. It's tight enough. NARRATOR: But the cramped quarters on the deck are slowing progress, and Captain Wade has no time to waste. Let's get some bait in that [bleep] pot. Hey, Robert. How come we're not ready? What the [bleep] ROBERT: I was just cooking something. Let's go [bleep] NARRATOR: Captain Wade has hired to run the deck. His 21-year-old younger brother David I'm glad I'm not baiting right now. NARRATOR: And best friend are the two greenhorns. HENLEY: Robert's got a good thing going. He's a young guy. He's got a little different kind of motivation. He just is self-motivated. And then Robert's brother I don't know the kid. I just met him. Time will tell. NARRATOR: The most experienced deckhand is Charlie Gaspar, a 52-year-old first-generation Hungarian fisherman. He's old, but he's fast. NARRATOR: Finally, the fifth deckhand is James Crichton a seasoned vet from the lower 48. With a storm front forecast to hit the grounds in 12 hours, Captain Wade will have to race back to Dutch Harbor and secure the last load of gear. Pretty good feeling about this season. I think we're gonna do pretty good. I'm sure we'll find out. We'll find out in a couple days, right, if we're right or wrong. NARRATOR: 190 miles to the northeast is the Northwestern. A few days of steady numbers have put Captain Sig Hansen in a rare mood. You know what? This morning started off great. NARRATOR: He's happy. SIG: I mean, the weather's nice. We could move gear around and get situated before this 40- to 50-knot blow comes through. MAN: Yeah! Whoo-hoo! We should fish for three to four more days. NARRATOR: Although the crew has been grinding for two weeks on mediocre pots, Sig's persistence is paying off. Two of the three tanks were topped off with 115, 000 pounds of crab. [Telephone rings] RAY: You out there, Sig? SIG: Yeah, Ray. Sig, looks like we might get to you Thursday night. Something like that. No. That's gonna be too soon, Ray. You know, yesterday I was thinking Friday. Yeah, I got Friday already taken there, so it'll be Thursday night at 1800. SIG: Now I've got a delivery date. They want us in Thursday. I was trying to come in on a Friday. He's pushing it up. So I've got to get the crab in the boat and get going here. NARRATOR: Sig will have to catch in less than 72 hours. SIG: Fishing just dropped off, man. We're in single digits here. Everything always happens at once, and it just doesn't make it easier. I got [bleep] on my mind. That's the problem. NARRATOR: While the pressure builds in the wheelhouse, on deck, fatigue is getting the upper hand. The crew has been working nonstop for 17 hours. And Matt has missed the last two buoy bags. [Bleep] I guess if Matt's gonna set the pace, I'll just crawl up to the pot. He's not even in the game. He's not even [bleep] here right now. He doesn't care. And he's walking. He's not running. He's not even walking. He's [bleep] crawling! NARRATOR: Once again, Matt is late to the hook [Bleep] NARRATOR: And misses the third pot in a row. It takes nothing to get your butt over to the rail and throw the hook. That's what you're supposed to do be ready. Not just wait for the boat to back up and go into reverse. That's not how it works. If he does that one more time, I'm gonna [bleep] lose my mind. Guys [bleep] Roger. I think we're on the verge of having a [bleep] morning. NARRATOR: Driving between strings, of the Dutch Harbor is the 155-foot Wizard. After pulling the last pots of the day, greenhorn Josh still has something on his mind. MONTE: What's up, kid? I wasn't real excited about that photo. - I took it down. - Thank you. The thing is, is this You just got here, right? So putting something up like I've got stuff up is kind of laying claim to something. Bust ***, then put it up. I thought it was kind of cool that you put it up there. Obviously, some people took offense to it. But, you know, it's I didn't think it was appropriate. Just got on the boat. Well, either way, all right? Let's just get back to work and catch some crab. Don't walk off deck. Bad, bad thing, all right? You know, the job sucks. MONTE: Put her in your room. That's where she belongs, bud. Don't ever take anything too terribly seriously when we're kind of screwing with you. Are you officially done tormenting our greenhorn? For now. [Laughs] Okay. Right on. NARRATOR: Time Bandit captain Johnathan Hillstrand races to his next string. JOHNATHAN: Last night, we bombed out. About 10 pots on the end of a string were blanks. So we have about 75 we can pull right away. So we're not gonna stop till we get all them pulled, and then we'll crunch the numbers again. We're getting closer and closer. We need 3, 100 crab. NARRATOR: The haggard crew has already worked All the gear you put on feels like you're getting dressed up for prom or something. - Putting gear on. - Yeah, baby. NARRATOR: With the new deadline just 48 hours away, the men will have to suck it up until the tanks are plugged. We have to make sure we're over our quota because we don't want to go back to the perims. It's a five-day round trip. It's about $ 15, 000 just to have this boat go to the perims and back. So If I come in under, I'm a loser. But we'll find out. [Laughs] MAN: We'll take it. We'll take it. MAN #2: Whoa, look at that. Whoo! Yeah! There's 11 pots here. We just had 30 in that one. NARRATOR: But for Johnathan, a 30 average is not going to cut it. He'll need 50. It could be close. Be careful with that big catch. [Grunts] - 13. - 17. This is the largest king crab I have ever seen in my life. MAN: Work with me. Work with me. Give me something. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah! MAN #2: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. MAN #3: $3. $ 103. We need 400. We need 206 crab. MAN: Ooh! MAN #2: Ow! MAN #3: Oh. MAN: No. NARRATOR: For all the small pots, two heavy hitters clear the rail with over 150 keepers each. Come on, baby. NARRATOR: On the Bering Sea, if you're not lucky Johnathan: Yeah, man. Whoo-hool NARRATOR: you're just plain good. - We're going to town. - AND Y: D-O-N-E. Done. That's a wrap. This boat heading for St. Paul. It's so nice, you just don't want to leave. Yeah. Yeah. Go to your home. NARRATOR: The tanks are plugged with 117, 000 pounds of king crab. NEWBERRY: We have a half a million dollars worth of product on our boat right now. Street value is $2.5 million on the Time Bandit right now. Right there, baby. NARRATOR: With the last pot aboard, the Time Bandit boys secure their quota. Steaming towards a string of cod pots northeast of Dutch Harbor is the 125-foot Northwestern. - Oh, for the cod pots? - Yeah. Just think before you pull something. Yeah. I just wanted to ask you. Yeah. Yeah. SIG: Well, Jakey came up and asked to run the hydros, and I don't have a problem with it. I love his enthusiasm. That's the main thing. But, at the same time, man, he does not have that experience to really control the block, especially if the boat is surging like that. You really got to have the feel for that handle and the power behind it, but you got to start somewhere. We just don't want to tear any fingers off in the process. NARRATOR: At Jake's fingertips are the controls to the most dangerous and powerful mechanical components on deck. This includes the crane, the launcher, and the speed of the block. Manning the hydraulics takes the highest level of concentration, not to mention responsibility. One mistake at the controls, and an 800-pound pot could swing out of control and kill a man. It's Jake's first time on hydros. NARRATOR: Hydraulics is the last job Jake must master before calling himself a full-share deckhand. SIG: Edgar's going fast, so he'll set the tempo, and he's on it to get the bags going through there real fast, but I think those guys need to slow it down just a bit. Nothing can bring this crew down. [Laughs] Okay. Except maybe Jake. You get in a hurry, or you just hit the wrong handle. He doesn't know his limitations. 'Cause you know when you screwed up and you lifted it up too fast or too slow. Up! Up! Go ahead. SIG: Easy. JAKE: I'm just trying to pay close attention, 'cause if I do something stupid now, there's gonna be no chance of me learning anything later. SIG: It's like watching a slow, painful death sometimes. MAN: Huh? Oh. All right! Stop right now! Hey! I know what you're trying to do. You're not ready for that. Go slow every time until you get the feel. Boat starts rolling around, you pull that [bleep] you're gonna [bleep] somebody up. Okay? Lt'll come, man. Don't force it. [Laughs] NARRATOR: Close call or not Whew, I was scared. Looked like he was about ready to cry. NARRATOR: When it comes down to discipline, Edgar prefers the reins. Sig's micromanaging my area. He needs to stay out of it. A pot's a pot, a pot's a pot. M y deck. M y pot. His wheelhouse. His job's there. His numbers. M y steel. That's the separation zone. He just crossed the line. It's not worth it, man. It just takes one wrong pull of a handle, and you can hurt somebody. [Knocking] You know, I don't want to see it. NARRATOR: is the tiny, 78-foot Lisa Marie. Captain Wade has run into the southern edge of the squall. HENLEY: Right now, we're getting our *** kicked. We're still gonna catch our crab we got coming, so It's gonna be a wet day today. I can see that already. Charlie came here 20 years ago from Hungary. He can't speak English worth a [bleep] Well, he speaks English. You just can't understand him. NARRATOR: The skipper returns to his first prospect string he set out to soak 17 hours ago, and the weather isn't making things any easier. Now, see, that [bleep] wind is gonna blow these [bleep] buoys around. This is the perfect weather to haul gear. I'm ready to haul this next string. Hopefully it's [bleep] Full of keepers. Ain't no crab coming up in these pots. This ain't no good. It's too sporadic. I'd rather have it more consistent. Still ain't no good. Yeah, I put 10 down. I think there's one more in there, but ROBERT: 12. Yeah, ain't much crab in this string. NARRATOR: 40 pots, 50 keepers, and a little extra bait. Captain Wade has set on a barren wasteland. ROBERT: All right The less crab we catch, the longer it's gonna take us to catch what we need, and it's gonna take longer to be able to go home and see my family. NARRATOR: Now with the weather forecast to blow 60, Captain Wade must dump back his gear to stabilize the boat. The first string sucked. These other boats got an advantage there. They can get a lot more pots out there a lot faster than us. But everybody wants to be in the game. NARRATOR: 364 miles to the northeast of Dutch Harbor, dawn breaks on the Cornelia Marie, bringing with it the tail end of the squall. GAM RATH: The tides are screaming. And when they say it's gonna blow 50, and we're gonna see a 16-foot sea, well, we'll see at 60 knots plus. NARRATOR: Relief skipper M urray Gamrath has been in the chair for 39 hours straight and has decided to let his gear soak and retreat from the storm. We're gonna have easterly so I want to be right, basically, here. NARRATOR: M urray plans to drop anchor and take shelter behind Amak Island. This is gonna feel so good to get on anchor, shut this thing down, and NARRATOR: On deck, the crew prepares to drop anchor. No easy task in 60-mile-an-hour winds and a churning sea. We're just getting the surge buoys ready for the anchor. What's the point of the buoy on the anchor, Corey? Well, the point of the buoy Let's say the cable breaks, and we lose the anchor at the bottom of the ocean. It's not hooked to the boat no more. We still have this buoy. We can go get a hold of it and pull the anchor back on the boat. We won't lose it. MARK: Dropping the anchor doesn't seem important. But if you lose it, we're screwed for the rest of the year. Okay, guys. We'll dump her here in about 12, 13 fathoms here. [I ndistinct conversations] Nice and protected. Get out in the lee of the wind. That's what we're going for, anyway. Here it goes. NARRATOR: Dropping the 1, 500-pound anchor is made more dangerous by the unraveling of the 2, 000-pound, Dropping the hook at Amak. Taking shelter from the weather. - Okay. - Ready? Yeah. Okay. There's a lot of pressure. The whole weight of the boat is against the anchor winch, you know? I'm sure it's fine. We're home. This is our new home till tomorrow. I got to say, M urray, we all love you here, but it's time to kick your *** out of the seat. Time to go to bed, dude. It's time to get that thing called sleep. - No cleaning. - No cleaning the mid-level. No doing paperwork. No cleaning the bathroom. No paperwork. Maybe take a shower and maybe shave a little. JOSH: Yeah, close the eyelids and just relax. We got to get you to do that thing they call sleep. Up here, they try to get at least two to three hours a day. [Chuckles] The day consists of a 24-hour period. for us up here. [Laughs] These guys got it under control, so I'm out of here. JOSH: [Laughs] So I will see you later. MAN: Good night, M urray. NARRATOR: Around the fleet, boats are scrambling for shelter wherever they can find it. The Cornelia Marie isn't the only vessel hiding behind Amak. JOSH: It's getting a little poopy outside right now. Some boats are starting to come in and anchor up near us. At least we're in. We're the boats on the show, but they're a lot smaller than us, so they're probably getting pounded pretty tough out there. They're like half the size of us. Maybe. They definitely were feeling the wrath of this storm. NARRATOR: At just 78 feet, the Lisa Marie is the smallest boat in the fleet, and no match for the oncoming storm. Captain Wade quickly dumped all 40 of his pots to stabilize the boat. Now, there's nothing to do but ride out the storm. Well, we're just about to Amak Island here, where we're just jogging, letting the gear soak. Weather's blowing 50, 55. And we're gonna go in here for five, six hours, let this thing blow through. NARRATOR: With the anchor prepped, Robert Christensen has some extra time on his hands. They're anchored up. NARRATOR: Time to talk smack. I'd have had that boat crab fishing still. [Laughs] If we had a bigger boat, we'd definitely be out crab fishing. I don't know. I think there are some whiny people on that boat, whining about the weather or something. NARRATOR: But for the veteran sailors, knowing that the giant Cornelia Marie is anchored up, means they are wise to wait out the storm. So what we can say? No reason to be tough. I'm glad Wade made the decision to come in here and just wait out the storm. Safety comes first, and, yes, I always want to make it back to my family. It's a lot nicer sitting here on anchor than being out there jogging in that nasty stuff, so it doesn't bother me one bit. ROBERT: I don't know. Sometimes I just want to be out fishing. WI LLIAMS: When this kind of weather comes up, you know something's gonna happen. It's the way the Bering Sea works. This is what it is out here. It's a fishery, you know? It's for real. Just got to be smart at what boats you get on. We're just gonna let things soak and sort of ride it out here for a few hours and wait for the weather to come down a little bit. NARRATOR: Hiding out may be the safe play. But it will cost Captain Wade valuable time he doesn't have to waste. HENLEY: Three trips of 80 will give us our quota. So, we got about 15, 000 on the boat, so we need another 65, 000. Everything's baited up now, so we'll take that as a positive. If this [bleep] storm would get the hell out of here, then we can get something done. NARRATOR: 370 miles to the northeast of Dutch Harbor, the Cornelia Marie is anchored off the lee side of Amak Island. And although the island acts as a shield, the boat is still being buffeted by 8-foot swells and 60-mile-an-hour winds. EISENBARTH: You can see right there, 'cause we're moving. We are dragging the anchor a little bit. NARRATOR: Deckhand Corey Eisenbarth is on wheel watch. EISENBARTH: We're going 1.3 knots. We're actually dragging a little bit. Let us drag for as long as we can. NARRATOR: But the force of the swell on the boat is pushing the Cornelia Marie deeper into the rising swell. Yeah, I see it drug just a little bit each time, and now we're starting to move a little more. It won't be long before we're gonna have an issue. NARRATOR: Corey heads downstairs to wake M urray. MARK: That's exactly where we've swung and have been since we've dropped the hook. Even though it's a slow drag, you know, it'll drag a little bit and catch again, but that could break free, and we could just be, you know drag that [bleep] all the way out in the deep water where the anchor wouldn't be on the bottom. I mean, it's a serious thing out here. EISENBARTH: Hey, how you doing? So NARRATOR: If the Cornelia Marie continues to drift into deeper waters, the rising tension on the anchor chain could be enough to break it off from the boat, leaving them no alternative but to jog through the storm. No, I take Mother Nature very seriously. That's why I'm still around. Soon as these guys are ready, I'm gonna haul the anchor. NARRATOR: If the 2.5-inch-thick steel cable snaps, it could easily kill any man standing at the bow. MAUGHTAI: Wide open, baby! Whoo-hoo! Just enough to keep the bugs away, though. NARRATOR: While hauling in the anchor, the line jams. [Crash] And to make matters worse, the Cornelia Marie has only 10 feet of slack left in the chain. Gosh darn it! It's [bleep] windy out here! The cable's caught in between the horns 'cause we were, like, jerking around. There's a big swell coming in here. When the cable gets a lot of pressure, it actually gets smaller in diameter. And it stretches like a rubber band, so it gets skinnier around, too. Maybe that's what allowed it to get down in there, you know? NARRATOR: Massive force from dragging the anchor has thinned out the anchor cable enough for it to get pinched on the outside of the pulley. If the cable is not dislodged, the weight of the drag could break the anchor off. Corey will attempt to free the cable by hand, while M urray engages the 198-ton boat in gear to try and relieve the tension on the line. GAM RATH: We're gonna try to get the cable out of the side of the roller right now, and I'm trying to get this thing straightened around so that it will go to the other side. I can hear you fine, Corey, if you want to talk to me now. Okay. NARRATOR: After 40 minutes of struggling with the line, the Cornelia Marie's anchor is successfully hauled in. You 1, 500-ton pain in the ***. And, man, you know what? I think we're doing good. MARK: Nicely done, Corey! We used "Fred and Barney" engineering to get it out of there. We beat on it until it started working. [Laughter] NARRATOR: On the next "Deadliest Catch." Mother[bleep] NARRATOR: Weeks of relentless work push crews over the edge. That pisses me off! NARRATOR: Fishing takes a turn for the worse. This is depressing as hell. Do your own job. NARRATOR: And the men turn on each other. M y whole [bleep] life is on the line! NARRATOR: As the hunt continues for the deadliest catch.
