A Sobering 'Catch' Reminder

By LillyKat
PTR Senior Staff Writer

I interrupt this blog entry to say I'm so far behind on LAST week's episodes of Harper's Island (and then there were 20 - Abbey is still good, though!) and Tracey Ullman's State of the Union (cult compound much?) that all I seem to be able to manage to do this week is get some homage going with my Deadliest Catch gang. And I'm glad I am - even if this post might seem a bit ... well, morbid. Apologies.

The final 15 minutes of last night's Deadliest Catch left me a bit speechless.

Why?

It's only the second episode of the season, and we already have our first ship sent to Davy Jones' Locker: the Katmai.

Worse, the Katmai crew is nowhere to be found given they were a) 900 frakin' miles out to sea when their distress signal was picked up - like, the outskirts of the fishing grounds where no OTHER crab boats are available to aid in a rescue; and, b) it took the US Coast Guard (USCG) 9+ hours to reach the scene - sailing/flying full speed ahead through a Typhoon in the dead of night.

This does not look good.

And I have to say (correct me if I'm wrong, Discovery Channel), I think last night's ep was actually the first one in which we got to see a deceased crewmen floating in the water AND the USCG retrieve the body into the rescue helicopter.

Can I just say ... goosebumps? speechless? creepy? scary? humbling?

I don't think I blinked.

Something about watching the Katmai crew member floating lifeless in the water whilst listening to the USCG crew guys go back/forth trying to determine if there even WAS a body IN the suit was just eerie. Then, seeing the USCG crew pull him into the helicopter whilst they go back/forth again trying to figure out where they OTHERS are given there is no sign of ship and only a empty life raft ... wow.

Perhaps it was Captain Keith who said it best: "There's somebody every year who doesn't make it back."

We were humbly reminded of that last night - this really IS one of the deadliest jobs on earth.

And the Bering Sea takes no mercy.

We'll have to wait until NEXT week to see if ANY of the Katmai crew manages to survive. I think not, but I will hold out hope.

New episodes of Deadliest Catch air Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on Discovery Channel. Visit the official Deadliest Catch Web site for the latest on the captains and crews of the Northwestern, Cornelia Marie, Time Bandit, Wizard, Early Dawn and North American and the new boat, Lisa Marie.