An Epic Journey Begins

March 04, 2008

The first season of Deadliest Catch premiered April 12, 2005, but the story of how Deadliest Catch began starts in 1998, when Thom Beers, creator and executive producer of the series, stepped aboard the F/V Fierce Allegiance. It was an adventure he wouldn’t soon forget and inspiration for the Emmy-nominated show. His experience and the series have also inspired a new book — Deadliest Catch: Desperate Hours— to be released on discoverystore.com April 8. The following is an excerpt from Thom Beers’ forward to the book.
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In 1998, I was asked by the Discovery Channel to produce a TV special called Extreme Alaska. It would be an anthology of all things dangerous in our 49th state. I spent the next six months filming winter rescue teams, the brutal head-banging battles of mating musk ox, volcano chasers, shipwrecks and salvage companies, bush pilots, and the mystery of a body found after five years in a glacier. I filmed it all and thought I had seen it all until I went to shoot the final segment: crab fishing. I had read the great Spike Walker book, Working on the Edge, about surviving in the Alaskan crab fishing industry on the frigid black waters of the Bering Sea. I thought I was well prepared for my journey. Unbeknownst to my wife, who knew nothing of my plans, I doubled my life insurance policy and quietly slipped out the door for the adventure of a lifetime.

I had secured three spots on the Fierce Allegiance from Capt. Rick Mezich. Two cameramen and I jumped aboard the 183-foot vessel, a refitted Mississippi mud boat built to ferry drilling mud and pipe to the offshore oil fields south of the New Orleans Delta. It was a great choice of boat. It was big and it had a couple of extra berths and a great crew.

Heading out to sea made me think of Gilligan’s expectations for his life-changing three-hour cruise. I suspected that it was going to be a hard slog for a three- or four-day adventure filled with unique visuals and great characters working in a dangerous environment. What I didn’t expect was the storm that moved in quickly when we were 200 miles at sea. Within 48 hours of my departure, the Fierce Allegiance was facing 70-knot winds and 40-foot seas. My short adventure turned into eight long hellish days of massive weather, huge waves and bone-chilling gusts of frigid cold. Through it all, Rick and his crew refused to stand down and worked the heavy chop. The weather doubled the days of fishing, and my crew and I continued to videotape it all. Massive waves crashing over the deck knocked the crew around like bags of potatoes in a wash cycle.

The boat went up mountainous seas and crashed down five-story slides. Full waves called “green water” rolled over the wheelhouse on several occasions, threatening to blow the windows out and send us all to the bottom. But the crew kept fishing over those long January nights, the cameras catching every move. The heavy yellow from the sodium lights bouncing off the crews’ orange Grundens created a near-surreal image.

The Bering Sea was relentless, pounding the boat and the crew, but the powerful deck lights couldn’t cut into the water. The sea was liquid ice, 32 degrees, as cold, black and heartless as a shark’s stare. If you went overboard, your life expectancy would be only four minutes. But the brave crew ignored it all. Pot after pot, the crab kept coming. Fishing was good and the holds filled with a bounty of “bugs.” There was a lot of money to be made and I witnessed men — some barely out of high school, some seldom out of trouble and a few mostly out of luck — earn a good chunk of cash in that week.

It wasn’t all hard work. There was time for fun. I spent several days working on the deck sorting crabs between camera reloads. Pushing the “keepers” into the holding tanks and the undersized to the “shit chute.” I was getting pretty good at it, but the fatigue of 20-hour workdays, little appetite and a constant dose of Asian flu slowed me down just enough for a crab to get his crusher claw around my thumb. Seventy pounds of pressure doesn’t sound like much till it’s clamped onto your appendage. It was like a 70-pound steel crowbar dropped on your thumb. It hurt like hell and after a single yelp I spun the crab in a circle, which made his claw leg come loose from both his body and my thumb.

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We’ll continue with another excerpt from the book in our next post. While you await the arrival of our Deadliest Catch book, you should also anticipate your own Deadliest Catch adventure with the new game inspired by Sig Hansen — Deadliest Catch: Alaskan Storm. In this 3-D extravaganza, you’ll be able to captain the Northwestern and the Cornelia Marie with their actual crews and simulate barreling through realistic-looking Bering Sea waves. The game for Xbox 360 and PC will be available in stores April 8th, and you’ll be able to preview the game on our site, too.

See what Sig had to say about the game. Watch now.

Comments

[woasisss]

Sounds like an exciting book.....will love to read how his first experience with the sea has brought all of us together to experience the awsome crews and the Bering Sea! Thanks for bringing the Alaska Adventure into our homes!

[webdoc]

Wow, sounds like a great book, I love to read, and I can't wait to add this to my library.

[Brenda Shiflet]

I sure have a far greater appreciation for crab after watching the shows. You guys are just great. I know your families worry about all of you. You have to have a real sense of adventure to risk your lives and tax your bodies the way you do. Best of luck to all of you!

[Jody]

I just wish you'd release After The Catch series on DVD also. This would top off everything. We really enjoy watching it and would love to add it to our collection! Please consider putting this on DVD as well and SOON! Thanks.

[Annie]

Is Sig Hansen's grandfather Lt. Commander Sig Hansen of the Destroyer Escort Dennis in WW11? Thanx.

[pullo center]

The Crew is Coming to York, Pa and performing at the Penn State Pullo Center this Friday Oct, 2nd..get tickets at www.pullocenter.psu.edu or call 717-505-8900! It's gonna be a great show!