Deadliest Catch

Here is a snippet from Discovery Channel’s live chat transcript with Capt. Phil Harris of the Cornelia Marie….

Discovery: Welcome to our weekly Deadliest Catch chat series. Tonight’s guest is Capt. Phil Harris of the Cornelia Marie. How’s he doing these days? Find out, and see what he thinks about life at sea with his sons, and being on the show.

Phil Harris: I would like to thank everybody that sent cards and presents, little gifts, get well cards, there was a pile of them. I’d like to thank each and every one of you for doing that, you didn’t need to do that. I looked at and read every one of them, and I appreciate it. I’d like to thank the individuals who did that.

eddie and diann: Hey Phil, my wife and I think you and the Cornelia Marie are the best part of the show, so are you getting better?
Phil Harris: It’s hard to say. I’m on a six month program as far as medicine, and I still have 2 months to go before they go back in and see if the blood clot dissolved or if we’re going to have problems. I look better than I did, I was pretty run down. I also have to go to the hospital every three or four days, even now.

Time Bandit fan: Phil what happened to you during the hurricane?
Phil Harris: Well, it was blowing easterly about 100 out, we were hit by a great big wave and it launched me from the bed into the wall.

paula2317: We love watching the show, but being a parent myself, how hard is it to be the dad with the boys on deck as part of the crew?
Phil Harris: Well, it’s kind of hard with those two because Ding and Dong know exactly how to push my buttons like nobody else can. It’s rewarding, being able to watch your kids, and hang out with them in a work environment. It’s sometimes nerve-wracking also because those guys can bring my blood to a boil.

Laura: Hello Captain Phil. How is it working with the film crew?
Phil Harris: The film crew’s great. You start out and you have a time where they’re getting to know you and you’re getting to know them. It’s about a two week thing where you get to know each other and come to some ground and start progressing to where they can get some work done and I respond more to their questions. It takes a little bit, though, a couple week deal before I get to know the guy. The two film crews I’ve had on the boat were great guys. The one was very instrumental in helping me when I was sick. He kind of took care of me, went way above and beyond being a cameraman.

Sarahlu03: Captain Phil, thank you for giving us your time tonight, I am happy to hear that everything is going to be ok with you! I was just wondering why doesn’t the Cornelia Marie have a sorting table like the other boats?
Phil Harris: Number one, I’m not okay yet. Like I said, I still have 2 months to go. We don’t know whether I’m going to be all right or not. I’m kind of in a zone where anything could happen, that blood clot could turn around and go to my heart again, I wouldn’t survive it a second time. I still have 2 months of medication and then we see what’s going.
As far as a sorting table, we have one that’s built into our launcher which we sort from, which is different than the rest of the guys. It works, it’s a lot faster. As time goes by, I might switch to a sorting table like the other guys have. For the time being, our sorting table works great and the guys don’t want to change it.

HeidiJJ: OK, the mullet thing. I’ve been watching since season one, and have never seen any of you guys with an “authentic” mullet. Tell your kids to go rent “Joe Dirt” - that’s a mullet! So is this an inside family joke that just hasn’t been explained well in editing, or are your kids really too young to know? BTW - Your hair? The longer the better!
Phil Harris: Well, thank you very, very much. And that’s exactly the way I feel. They get a kick out of claiming that I have a mullet. They think that’s funny, I try to remind them daily that they’re idiots. But, I just have a normal haircut, it’s the way I’ve worn my hair forever. So, thank you very much for saying something nice about the hairdo.

Lhiiiz: Phil, you credit the camera man with watching over you during your illness, so do you think without him there things would have been…more dire?
Phil Harris: Yeah, they could have. He was there, kept an eye on me. I couldn’t lay down because my lungs were filling up with blood. When I was lying down, Todd made sure if I was falling asleep, that I could clear my lungs, they were filling with blood and you can drown on your own blood. He made sure I was up and okay so that I didn’t drown.

hrussell: Phil, how is your health going? What is going to happen if you can not be on the boat anymore?
Phil Harris: I don’t have an answer to that question, I don’t know what’s going to happen. I’m not ready to retire. I still love what I do. It’s going to be a bad day if they tell me I can’t go back. I don’t know what’s going to happen, I’d probably freak out. I don’t want to think about that. Crabbing’s the only thing I’ve ever done that I enjoy. I hope and pray that’s not the case.

Vickie: I read somewhere that you make bird feeders in your spare time. I was wondering if you sell them online? If so where can I buy one?
Phil Harris: Well, I don’t sell them online. I build them, custom build them. I built one for the president of Boeing. One for a memorial for a kid killed in Iraq. They’re a lot of money, like $1,000 apiece. They’re custom built and I make them especially for that person. I find out what that person likes, what his hobbies are - if he plays golf or whatever - and I build the birdfeeder to match what he does.

slushie000: What’s the rest of your family like?
Phil Harris: Well, there’s only my two boys, my dad and myself. I think everybody knows what my kids are like. And then my dad, He’s kind of the rock of all of us.

As the season comes to an end the crew of the Cornelia Marie is scrambling to fish the last of their quota and get back to port to offload.  Continuing to battle the freezing spray and personal injuries such as a sprained back, frostbite, and even complications from a surgically repaired pelvis the weary crew continues the gut wrenching work, while at the same time having the health of their Captain weighing heavy on their minds.  Despite it all they are able to get the remainder of their quota on board in time to meet their deadline and return home where the Harris brothers learn the truth about their father.  Not wanting them to loose their concentration on the job at hand, Captain Phil Harris has never told his sons of just how serious his medical problems are.  Having had a blood clot pass directly through his heart and end up in his lung, he is lucky to even be alive.  However, there is little chance he would have the same fate if another clot appeared, and is forced to give himself injection as well as make daily trips to the local hospital.  With his health in such jeopardy, there is much doubt as to whether he will ever return to the Bering Sea.  But he is at peace in knowing his boys have a strong foundation to carry on even without their lifelong mentor and father on board.

For the Northwestern the mood is much more upbeat as a record season has Sig and crew smiling from ear to ear.  Edgar even gives up the opportunity for some long overdue rest to work on a practical joke to play on his elder brother.  Creating a “dummy” of a deckhand he climbs on top of the wheelhouse with it, and mischievously throws the dummy downwards as if a deckhand had fallen.  But the Captain, knowing his brother all too well, doesn’t even flinch realizing it was a prank all alone.  With the throwing of the flaming torch, meant to bring good luck the following season, the last pot is hauled the the crew and boat head to port to offload from another successful season.

On board the Wizard the mystery of the bottomless holding tank is finally revealed during the offload when a hole the size of a watermelon is discovered in the wall of the tank.  The hole had allowed the crab at that level to be dumped back into the open sea without the knowledge of the Captain and crew.  Each time the tank appeared close to full, the crab at that level would be released back into the Bering Sea causing the crew to wonder if their trip would ever be completed.  All in all with a catch of 2.5 million dollars and a payout of 68 thousand dollars per deckhand no one can really complain.

Sadly we learn about the fate of another fishing boat, the Alaska Ranger that sank just two weeks after the end of the crabbing season sending all 47 crewmen on board into the freezing sea where only 42 would be able to be rescued in time.

The Northwestern arrives at St. Paul harbor to offload only to find the freezing temperatures have quickly begun to turn the port in to a field of ice. Unwilling to risk becoming stuck in the ever thickening ice, Captain Sig attempts to leave as quickly as possible. With the ice surrounding the boat, even at full throttle the boat barely moves. Sig continues to alternate between forward and reverse trying to free up enough space to work the boat around towards the open ocean when a combination of strong winds pushing onto the ice pack towards the aft section of the boat begins to slowly spin the bow out to sea. Although the going is tough through the first thousand feet, once they clear the ice then can begin to attempt to rescue their gear from the rest of the ice pack which is drifting slowly southward and soon will be on top of the pots. Not willing to risk losing the gear which is worth aroung one hundred thousand dollars, Captain Sig manages to race back and the crew takes turns clearing ice and then hauling pots. To further frustrate the Norwegian captain the pots are full of crab, a good sign nonetheless, but with the ice pack descending on their location they will all have to be hauled and stacked to be moves to another area.

Over on the Wizard, tensions boil over between Captain Keith and brother Monty. Keith goes so far as to get in the face of an unsuspecting cameraman who attempts to continue recording long after the Captain orders the equipment off. This is far from the first time tempers have ignited in the Wizard’s wheelhouse. A while later and they call a truce putting family in front of fishing and begin turning their attentions to the hope that their new greenhorn is much more successful then the last. However their mood soon turns sour when the first seven crab pots come up with barely a crab.

Life on board the Time Bandit also shows tension between members of the same family. With Neil now retired from his duties on the deck, the brothers turn to Jonathan’s son to run the hydraulic crane. Fatigue and inexperience take it’s toll on the 25 year old Scotty Hillstrand and soon his sloppiness causes a 1000 pound pot to come off the launcher and almost injure one of the other deckhands. Luck also turns around the wrong way for the fishing as well as full pots are coming up loaded with only females and juveniles and have to be dumped at the rail. No sense wasting time sorting crabs that cannot be kept. AT the same time a wave sends the boat on a roll and the youngest Hillstrand loses control of the pot with the crane and it almost takes off the head of the boats greenhorn.

Lastly on the Cornelia Marie, Captain Phil checks in with his son Josh and lets him know he won’t be returning to the boat this season and more dramatically may not even be able to fish again. For a proud son who thought his father was invincible and would continue to fish into his seventies the news is heart wrenching. The blood thinners he is currently on to protect him from a life threatening complication also would make it unsafe to fish as even the slightest injury or wound would be too risky.

With Cornelia Marie Captain Phil Harris staying on land for the first time in seventeen years, he turns his boat and the entire million dollar operation over to the boats engineer and longtime friend, Murray. The entire crew is drained both physically as well as mentally by the time the offloading of their catch is complete and the boat returns to the fishing grounds. As for Phil he discovered that he is lucky to still be alive as a blood clot which formed in his leg traveled through his body and ended up in his lung. While his health is still in jeopardy, had the clot ended up blocking an artery while at sea it would have meant almost certain death. He is able to speak with both his boys as well which certainly provides a boost of everyones spirits.

Over on the Northwestern a lost anchor becomes an anything but routine chore out on the open waters. The anchor broke off during the last storm and along with it’s chain rests on the ocean floor and needs to be retrieved if they are to continue fishing. Edgar is able to put together a homemade grappling hook from some spare metal found on the boat. They then drag the hook over the ocean floor and with amazing luck manage to hook on the anchor chain right away. As they are bringing it up, Edgar attaches a line from the crane to help support the weight, however the boat starts drifting and the extra tension caused by the weight of the boat causes the line to snap. As they race t maneuver the boat and attach other lines to the five thousand dollar anchor the perilous ordeal turns into a four hour marathon. Eventually the anchor is rescued without injury to any of the crew.

On board the Wizard the crew is just starting to get some rest after 3 days of nonstop fishing, when they are awakened by an alarm. A quick inspection reveals a water piper has begun leaking spraying sea water used to in the holding tanks into the engine room bilges. If the leak cannot be repaired, the holding tanks will empty meaning a loss of all of the crab in the aft tanks and a loss of many of thousands of dollars. Reacting quickly Captain Keith is able to patch the leaking using some sheets of rubber and two large hose clamps. Afterwards it’s back to port to offload the crab as well as troublesome greenhorn Moi, whose replacement is already on his way to meet the boat.

As the powerful hurricane and the strong winds and heavy seas that it brought along with it finally subside, the entire fleet struggles to repair the damaged done by Mother Nature. Over on the North American, the deck boards have been broken up, steel plates cracked on deck and bait and gear scattered. The storm and it’s fury have caused around $5,000 in damage to the boat but most importantly the captain and crew have escaped harm. Over on the Early Dawn, the crew also has plenty of damage to repair, however time in of the essence as their current position puts them in the path of another storm including possible seas of around 40 feet. In less than an hour the crew is able to scramble and patch up the deck as well as tie down any loose pieces of equipment.

Damage done to the boats is easy to fix, however on the Cornelia Marie it is Captain Phil Harris who was beat up the most. While laying in his bunk he was jarred loose by a heavy wave rolling the boat, throwing him into the corner of some furniture and possibly breaking several ribs. The resulting injury has made breathing a painfully enduring process. Captain Phil, however, has no time to worry about his own health and returns to his wheelhouse a few hours later to return to work. His condition worsens and soon along with the pain comes the sign of something much more seriously wrong when he begins coughing up blood. At first he tells the Discovery Channel’s producer, not to say anything as he knows it would weigh heavy on the minds of his two boys on board and needs them to stay focused on the job at hand.

Captain Phil’s condition slowly worsens and he decides to confide in his long time friend Murray about his symptoms. Murray figures that there is a good chance when he broke his ribs he also punctured a lung resulting in the difficult breathing and apparent internal bleeding. Again Capt. Phil asks Murray not to tell either of the captain’s boys. It isn’t long however, that Murray decides that Phil’s life is too important to risk and shares the information with his sons, Jake and Josh. Josh quickly confronts his father in the wheelhouse and tells him he needs to start thinking about his health as the money just isn’t important enough to risk his life. Before he leaves Captain Keith on board the Wizard calls over to the Cornelia Maria on the radio and Phil describes his situation. Captain Keith tells him to take care of himself and not to be afraid of calling the Coast Guard if he needed to. Taking all of this advice, Captain Phil decides to set the gear one last time and head to the nearest hospital at St. Paul. With the approaching storm, the Cornelia Marie is forced to circle the island until the seas subside. Captain Phil then makes his way to the hospital, and they immediately find that there is no puncture or broken ribs as suspected. However he needs to be seen by a specialist as the test reveals there is definitely something serious going on causing his symptoms.

With the Cornelia Marie still on Dutch Harbor, trying to at least make a quick fix on one of her engines, time becomes of the essence. When the repairs are made, and the boat begins to steam back towards the fishing grounds, it’s all hands on deck to get the gear prepared and baited. However, it doesn’t take long for Capt. Phil to notice his son Jake has taken one to many breaks and questions his work ethic as well as threatening to cut some of his pay. At 22, Jake still lacks a bit of the majority of most seasoned deck hands, and regardless off being the Captain’s son or not, needs to keep up with his share of the work, especially while cashing in on around $100,000 annually.

Nobody’s getting a break over on the Northwestern however, as a call from the processor increases their quota and at the same time they have asked for the catch two days earlier. The already fatigued crew will need to work all through the night again, after already working 24 hours straight. But a tired crew on the Bearing Sea can be a recipe for disaster and it isn’t long before a pot is left unsecured on the launcher. Coming off the roll of a wave the put is knocked loose and slides towards the sorting table, catching deck hand Jake in between. The rest of the crew immediately frees him, pulling him from harm. But it’s another reminder that no one can afford to overlook safety no matter how much the Captain has pushed them. After a few more grueling hours all of the tanks are full and Captain Sig turns the boat towards port to make the journey back to offload.

Over on the Time Bandit, the crew continues pulling up strong numbers of crabs per pot, in a race to beat the approaching weather. The help out as an extra man on deck, Captain Jonathan Hillstrand head down on deck to lend a helping hand. Trying to add more flair to the task at hand, his attempt at an underhand throw of the grappling hook comes back to smack him right on the nose. With a bloodied face he returns back to the wheelhouse to consult with brother Andy and clean up his wounds before returning for the final pot. Now with all of their holds filled with opilio crab it’s time to head back to offload. However it won’t be an easy time for any of the boats as a hurricane is pounding the entire fleet with 40 foot seas and 100 knot winds. The Bearing Sea has begun to unleash it’s fury in pure Opilio season tradition.

The crew aboard the North American continues to struggle as obsolete or missing equipment provides setbacks.  The buoys are hard to find as the boat travels at night without being properly outfitted with high powered sodium lights.  After three of years leasing their quota, rather than fishing, they have no sorting table.  This leaves the hard working crew to have to be constantly bending over and sorting the crabs in the totes.  Another dangerous issue is the fact that in heavy seas the filled totes are constantly sliding all over the deck and could easily take out an unsuspecting crew member as they weight several hundred pounds each.  The lack of proper provisioning isn’t the only obstacle facing the North American as the deck boss is already butting heads with this more experienced crew.  Of course hauling good numbers of crab can easily solve all but the most complicated personality problems.

Meanwhile, aboard the Wizard, Captain Keith goes out on a gamble and attempts to fish an area known as the “Slime Bank”.  This area held record numbers of crab back in the eighties but since has seen little fishing as the crabs seemed to all but disappear.  The aptly named area yields slightly more than large jellyfish as the crew pulls up 19 empty pots.  The hard work of pulling the pots comes without the reward of earnings and before long the Wizard is off to another area to drop it’s pots and try for some late season magic.  After a short soak the numbers look good in an single test pot which came over the rail with around 50 keepers.  However, their new found luck is short lived when a weld on their coiler breaks off, meaning the line on the rest of the pots will need to be hand coiled.  This extra work can be very tedious as well as time consuming but there is no possibility to make the repair while at sea.

Over on the Time Bandit we find Capt Jonathan taking care of an injured bird that found it’s way on the boat while out at sea.  “Squawky” as the bird is named, is treated to a short rest in the captains quarters before being returned to the deck where he disappears a few hours later.  Aside from that, it’s all business pulling pots as an approaching storm front starts to bear down on boat and crew.  Not fairing much better that the bird, we find Capt. Phil aboard the Cornelia Marie continuing his ritual of coffee, Red Bulls, and cigarettes.  To help keep his strength up, his son delivers him a sandwich stuffed with egg and sausage.  How’s that for a healthy diet?  To make matters worse he seems to be coming down with a cold and after 26 hours straight at the wheel decides to take a bit of well earned rest.  Good news is he has finally found the crab.  After a mediocre start his crew has been pulling up large numbers, and even while under pressure from his processor to get back in a few short days to offload, it looks like another very successful season for the Cornelia Marie and her crew.

The last episode of Deadliest Catch showed Capt. Phil fall asleep in the wheelhouse of the Cornelia Marie. It also showed him ingesting a steady diet of Red Bulls and cigarettes, which added to the stress already involved in the job can’t be good for the human body. His problems have recently been made public being published on the Cornelia Marie’s website.

As the video below will shed some light into upcoming episodes of the show, I won’t go into detail, but will leave it up to you whether or not to watch the interview below. Here’s the excerpt that was posted regarding Capt. Phil….

It appears the word is out… Captain Phil faced a fatal situation this season, but we don’t know when or what episode it will show up on. In fact, he’s still not fully recovered as of today. But, let Captain Phil tell you in his own words what really happened… after the jump is a video from a WGN TV9 interview he did in Chicago with Keith Colburn.

Discovery Channel’s Emmy-nominated series Deadliest Catch takes voyage on to the Bering Sea and follows the brave captains Phil Harris of the Cornelia Marie, and Johnathan Hillstrand of the Time Bandit seeking Alaskan and King crab. Phil and Johnathon join Jack Harris, Sharon Taylor and Tedd Webb on NewsRadio 970 WFLA / AM Tampa Bay.