Deadliest Catch Cast: What Happened To Casey McManus & The F/V Cornelia Marie?
The F/V Cornelia Marie might be one of the most well-known vessels on Discovery’s “Deadliest Catch,” but its history has been almost as rocky as the Bering Sea. In 2010, Captain Phil Harris passed away unexpectedly at the age of 53 following a stroke. Four years later, his son Josh Harris and Casey McManus took over as the F/V Cornelia Marie’s co-captains.
McManus, Harris and the Cornelia Marie remained part of “Deadliest Catch” through Season 18, which aired in 2022. However, all three are noticeably absent from Season 19. A tweet from McManus in December 2022 revealed that this decision was not theirs: “Discovery did not renew contracts with the boat, nor Josh, nor I. It was a bummer deal, but there’s no crab to catch anyways. All the seasons are shut down. Smoke and mirrors.”
On Instagram, McManus revealed that once he was out of his reality TV job, he landed a new gig pulling tugboats. He said, “The new job is bigger than just running a boat … Some of the boats are small assist tugs and others are huge ice class tow vessels, and everything in between, including barges. It’s a new world, but a boat is a boat, and I know boats.”
Discovery cut ties with the entire boat after Josh Harris’ past was revealed
If there are no crabs to catch, why are the F/V Northwestern and numerous other boats part of “Deadliest Catch” Season 19 and not the F/V Cornelia Marie? In September 2022, it was brought to light that, at the age of 16, Josh Harris pleaded guilty to the sexual assault of a four-year-old girl in the late 1990s. Once his past came to the surface, Discovery was quick to cut ties with him, and, it seems, everyone and everything connected to him. Even the spinoff series “Deadliest Catch: Bloodline,” which follows Harris as he utilizes his late father’s fishing charts to explore the waters of Hawaii, has been scrubbed from all streaming platforms.
This leaves one question … has the Cornelia Marie been retired for good? According to Reddit’s eagle-eyed u/avidindoorswoman21, the boat is still out there. “I saw the Cornelia Marie in the background again … when the Saga was leaving the docks. The bottom front part’s blurred (name and logo/emblem), but longtime DC fans will know the CM when they see her, blurred or not. I hate that everyone on that boat got dragged out by that convicted child rapist.” If the Cornelia Marie is truly still on the Bering Sea, it’s unclear who is running her, especially since McManus’ Instagram bio reads “Ret. Captain/Former Partner F/V Cornelia Marie.”
