Who Is ‘Deadliest Catch’ F/V Aleutian Lady Captain Rick Shelford?
Deadliest Catch Season 19 has had a few new faces. This has been an unusual year with several boats missing from the Discovery series. Yes, Captain Sig is back, as are the Hillstrand brothers, but there have been some new faces. Although boats have come and gone, this season, new captains in the series have caught fan’s eyes. One of those is Captain Rick Shelford from the F/V Aleutian Lady.
What should fans know about this new fan-favorite fisherman?
One of the new captains in Deadliest Catch Season 19 is Captain Rick Shelford Jr. of the F/V Aleutian Lady. But, he is not the first Rick Shelford to commandeer this fishing vessel.
According to the Shelford Fisheries website, his dad, Rick Shelford Sr. is the President and owner of the company. He started it back in 1995. But the Homer, Alaska native, was quite young when he started to go into business.
Rick Sr. owned his first boat when he was only 20. Along with a business partner, they purchased the F/V Polar Lady. Eventually, they moved on to the F/V Aleutian Lady. Later, in 1995, Senior purchased the boat outright and started the company.
That was nearly 30 years ago! Purchasing this storied vessel changed his life, as well as his family’s.
More About The F/V Aleutian Lady
The F/V Aleutian Lady is a new boat on the Deadliest Catch Season 19. It is a blue beauty, built in 1980. The vessel can carry between five and eight crew members. The boat is 125 feet long. It can carry a cargo of 189 tonnage.
The products that they fish include Cod, King Crab, Opilio, and Bairdi, as well as salmon tendering. Right now, it should be out for Cod, and by October 15, fishing for King Crab.
Often a big misconception about the children of boat owners and captains is that their children are automatically going to take over the boat. That is not the case with Deadliest Catch Captain Rick Shelford Jr. and the F/V Aleutian Lady.
Two years after his father, Rick Shelford Sr., bought the vessel outright from his business partner, Rick Jr. became a greenhorn. As many fans of the Discovery series know, this is the job that will make or break your fishing career. Junior passed the test.
He went on to become a deckhand, then the engineer of the fishing boat. The new captain is “well versed in refrigeration, hydraulics and propulsion systems.” Those are necessary skills for a captain to possess when commandeering a ship on the Bering Sea.
Now, he is on the Discovery Channel showing fans his family’s legacy boat.
