5 Times The Deadliest Catch Crew Nearly Died On Camera
Since its debut in 2005, Discovery Channel’s “Deadliest Catch” has been one of the most watchable shows on TV. Dropping viewers into the shoes of crab fishermen in the Bering Sea as they navigate the fraught, near-impossible job of delivering thousands of pounds of seafood for restaurants and supermarkets all across the world, “Deadliest Catch” has racked up more than a dozen Primetime Emmys during its two decade run. It has also turned the most unlikeliest of ordinary fishermen into some of reality TV’s biggest stars.
But there’s a reason they call the show “Deadliest Catch,” and that’s because the lives of these people are constantly being threatened. Though safety improvements have cut down on injuries and fatalities, commercial fishing remains anything but safe. According to the CDC, the fatality rate for a commercial fisherman is 32 times greater than the average U.S. worker; the majority of these fatalities occur in the Alaska region — where “Deadliest Catch” is set.
Although no one has ever actually died on the show, there have been countless close calls onboard nearly all of the ships. From massive waves to rogue pots and wires, even doing simple maintenance, it seems like everything is trying to kill you onboard a crab fishing boat. Here are some of the most memorable times the “Deadliest Catch” crew nearly died on camera.
A deckhand almost gets cut in half
There is no shortage of heavy equipment onboard the ships of “Deadliest Catch,” and as Greenhorn Shea Long almost finds out, a lot of it can be incredibly hazardous. During Season 4, Long is working as a deckhand on board the F/V Time Bandit, when he is nearly split in half after an equipment malfunction with the picking hook.
The picking hook is one of the most important parts of a crabbing vessel, as it raises and lowers the nearly 1,000-pound crab pots in and out of the water through a heavy-gauge steel wire. While dealing with heavy westerly winds one night, the 4-inch steel-pin that supports the picking hook snaps, causing the heavy-gauge steel wire to come careening towards the deck. Long is barely 3-feet away from the cable when it slams onto the deck, just missing its trajectory.
Luckily for Long, the picking hook was not attached to a crab pot at the time, because if it had been it likely could have proved fatal. Due to Long’s position, he would have been crushed under the weight of the wire and 800 pounds of crab pots. With how fast the cable came flying down, there was zero chance for Long to react, and it was pure luck he wasn’t hit at all. Long emerged from the ordeal unscathed, but things could have gone downhill quickly.
Sig Hansen’s heart attack
As one of the few skippers to have remained a part of “Deadliest Catch” since it debuted in 2005, Capt. Sig Hansen of the F/V Northwestern has become one of the most beloved members of the cast. That’s why his near-fatal heart attack during Season 12 was one of the most frightening moments of the entire show. The scene starts off pretty normal, with Hansen giving an interview about the end of the crabbing season, but things take a turn when he suddenly becomes short of breath.
Thinking it’s simply minor chest pains, Hansen is rushed to the hospital but he is immediately treated for a major heart attack. Luckily, Hansen is able to pull through, but it’s shocking to know just how close he was to dying. Hansen suffers a widowmaker heart attack, and his doctor notes stunning levels of troponin in his system — the telltale sign of a serious heart attack. You can tell how worried his entire family is just by their body language and concerned looks, and even Hansen looks incredibly beat down.
Hansen’s heart attack is one of the closest times anyone has actually come to dying on “Deadliest Catch,” and his interview almost turns from a celebration of the end of the season into a deadly disaster. But nothing was gonna keep Hansen down for too long; he returned for Season 13.
The Summer Bay almost loses a man
If there is one thing you never want to hear when crab fishing at night in the Bering Sea, it’s “Man overboard!” The poor visibility of the darkness, combined with the frigid temperatures and roaring waves of the sea are a recipe for disaster, and one night it almost proves deadly for the men aboard the F/V Summer Bay.
During Season 14’s episode “Greenhorn Overboard,” the Summer Bay is battling some serious currents during a torrential downpour. The waves are so big that even Capt. “Wild” Bill Wichrowski is having trouble maneuvering the ship, as the waves keep crashing into the side and onto the deck of the vessel. One of the deckhands, Spencer Moore, is attempting to bull in a buoy, when he gets ripped into the sea by an extremely fast current. Unable to let go of the rope in time, his entire body is sucked overboard and into the freezing Bering Sea. Knowing they have mere seconds before Moore is either lost at sea or succumbs to hypothermia, the crew rescues and pulls him back aboard, much to everyone’s relief.
Still, the battle isn’t over; they have to get the man out of his wet clothes and reverse his dropping body temperature. Moore is able to survive the ordeal without more than a scratch and some bruises; he was even able to finish out the rest of the season.
Massive waves almost overtake the Saga
One of the biggest safety hazards for the crews on “Deadliest Catch” is the weather, also one of the few things over which they have absolutely no control. The Bering Sea produces all sorts of unpredictable storms and weather, including torrential rain, gale force winds, and of course, absolutely monstrous waves.
During Season 9, the crew of the F/V Saga are battling through a particularly bad storm when a massive 55-foot wave crashes onto the deck. The entire deck is briefly submerged in water, then the boat starts rocking and rolling. Multiple crew members are nearly washed to sea, and heavy equipment and crab buckets are floating around as potential hazards. The crew has no warning, as the wave blindsides the ship, requiring them to hold for dear life as Capt. Elliot Neese struggles to keep the Saga upright and afloat.
Yet, what makes everything even more unsettling is that Neese never checks in with the crew afterwards to make sure they are okay, which clearly miffs them. It also comes to light that the crew doesn’t know where important safety equipment is located, which could have made things even worse. This incident almost turned into one of the worst disasters in “Deadliest Catch” history, but thankfully everyone walks away with only some minor bruising.
Freddie almost gets crushed
Being out in the middle of the Bering Sea means the crews on “Deadliest Catch” have to be self-sufficient, often making quick repairs on-the-fly while at sea. Sometimes these repairs can be every bit as dangerous as the fishing, and one fix almost proves too much for beloved deckhand Freddy Maugatai.
While hauling crab one afternoon on the F/V Time Bandit, the vessel blows a leak in the hydraulic line that operates their crab pot launcher. Without the launcher, the crew can’t haul crab pots in and out of the sea, meaning they have to get it immediately repaired. Maugatai steps in to help out, but just as he begins he nearly makes a fatal mistake. Maugatai accidentally disconnects the entire hydraulic line, which causes the launcher to lose pressure, sending a 2,500 pound steel platform down on top of him. Reacting quickly, Maugatai is able to roll out from under the launcher and to safety, just seconds before it snaps shut.
Had Maugatai not been able to get out in time, his entire body could have been squished under the platform — perhaps even worse, his skull could have been trapped and crushed. You can tell how serious the incident is by the way Maugatai and the entire crew react; in 100 episodes and plenty of close calls, it’s probably the closest Freddie has come to dying.
