We open with Josh dealing with thousands of questions echoing in the background as he tries to process his father, Phil Harris’ death.
Click HERE to read last week’s recap of Deadliest Catch *The episode recorded its biggest audience ever last Tuesday with an episode dealing with the death of Capt. Phil Harris after a stroke. Nearly 8.5 million viewers tuned in to watch his final moments.
The fleet is still fishing despite an arctic storm hammering the boats with 30 foot seas. The Northwestern is blissfully unaware of Phil’s death and focused on stuffing the tanks with crab. Meager numbers keep the resentment flowing for Edgar and dishearten the rest of the crew. As 60 mile per hour winds tear at the crew, Sig finally calls the crew off the deck and throws in the towel. They leave behind a possible few thousand pounds.
Back in St. Paul Harbor, the Cornelia Marie sits with Freddie holding down the fort. Josh calls to let him know that Phil has died. He breaks down and silently cries before sharing the devastating news. Another crewman is working on the boat and Freddie waits, harboring the pain as Steve finishes making a cut to something on the boat. Finally, he takes a break to see what Freddie is after. The news hits him the hardest as he walks away to shed tears in private.
On the Time Bandit, Andy clocks the wind at nearly 60 mph. He too shuts work on the deck down. Safety is a concern and with these men, you know it is rough working conditions to shut them down. Other boats also pull crew inside.
Eerily the weather calms beyond comprehension a few hours later. Fog fills the air and ice builds on deck. It looks like something from a movie. I half expect pirates to come sneaking up. The Kodiak takes a few hits as visibility is around 15 feet. A problem with the hydros sends a pot flying around the deck, nearly taking out two crewmen. Luckily, they get it under control.
The Time Bandit is back to fishing and pull packed pots, much to the crew’s delight, but not so much to the bait boy. Andy decides to do a set back as they need to stuff two more tanks. Sore, the bait boy gets another job. He is given the task of tossing buoys. One gets snagged and we see the greenhorn starting to complain about homesickness. (Uh-oh. It was great knowing you.)
As Sig and the Northwestern pulls into town, they indulge in a little bit of fun and Jake gets owned in a game of arm wrestling. They are all still unaware of Phil’s passing. Sig goes to meet the temporary captain, Derek Ray. The temp captain quickly becomes aware that Sig doesn’t know of Phil’s death after Sig makes a joke of Phil laughing about the new non-smoking wheelhouse when he returns.
Derek instantly becomes distraught as he is now burdened with rehashing the news. As he tries to get the words out, he begins to cry. Sig is confused and antsy with waiting to hear what he has to say. He finally mutters the words “I found out that Phil passed away.” Clearly, Sig did not expect that to be the news. He takes a few minutes to process and feels cheated. “We just talked ot those kids yesterday!”
You can see the emotions spinning through Sig. Derek states that he wants to keep the boat going. Sig excuses himself and returns to his wheelhouse. Lighting a cigarette, he is furious. “Phil was giving me a pep talk!” We cut to the crew sitting around the table crying. Edgar shakes his head in disbelief as he wipes a flood of tears away with the sleeve of his shirt. Jake Anderson’s eyes are watery and the size of dinner plates. Disbelief and shock hang in the air much like the icy fog that plagued the boats earlier.
The Time Bandit gets the phone call. Andy takes the news with the same disbelief and lets his camera shy brother know that “Phil ain’t here no more. Phil Harris died. Phil’s gone, man.” It’s as almost as he is trying to convince himself the news is true.
Sig and the crew return to work as he debates, “We still have to do our thing, but there’s time for grieving too.” It’s more of hypothetical to himself on how to handle it all. As he passes the Cornelia Marie on the way back out to sea, the crew stand on deck to salute the boat. Jake begins break and tries to control his battered and beaten emotions.
Andy talks about his American flag which is literally hanging on by threads. We turn to shots from Phil’s funeral. A Harley gas tank sits on a table in the center of his gathered friends, family and fellow fisherman. Josh spoke about their plans to spread Phil’s ashes at sea during the next king crab season. They place the gas tank that bears a painted image of Jake, Josh and Phil into the ground.
Seagulls sit on Northwestern’s bow as the go to sea. Sig shares the fact that seamen said that seagulls were the spirits of fallen fisherman. He theorizes that Phil could be one of those birds sitting on his bow.
AFTER THE CATCH CAPTAIN PHIL REMEMBERED SPECIAL: THE PHIL HARRIS STORY
Johnathan Hillstrand opens the special to honor Phil with the best quote to sum it up: “I was blessed to walk this planet with Phil Harris. That’s an honest, noble, straight-talkin, hard working guy. How could you not love somebody like that? That’s a damn fact.”
Clips of Phil at his finest and not so finest run as fellow captains and his sons. They mention some of Phil’s one liners and faces. He was full of personality. Sig mentions he will miss his laugh.
Phil Harris was born in Bothell, Washington. His dad was a salmon fisherman. Baby pictures of Phil scroll across the screen as he explains that his mother died when he was 8 of skin cancer that spread to her brain. Grant Harris, Phil’s father, talks about trying to raise his son on a boat. He mentioned his natural knack for finding the fish.
More photos of Phil as a teen behind drums and wearing a glorious 70’s top with huge red polka dots. He and several friends rented a house together. Imagine the debauchery that took place there. This was the time he fell in love with all things on wheels. To fund his expensive taste in toys, he offers to work for an entire year for free on a crab boat to nab a share on boat.
After 3 months of being ill and barely making it, the captain came down and guaffed: “I knew you wouldn’t make it!” This fueled his fire and he kept at it. A clip of Phil walking through a yard stacked with pots and narrating the story of his rise to full share deckhand.
After he nabbed a full share, he went to an old teacher’s house with a big bag of cash and asked to buy her house. Simply to spite her. That was Phil.
Finally we see the barely mentioned Mrs. Phil Harris, Mary. She speaks of how he wooed her with his non-stop personality.
In 1978 Phil cut his finger off! He was forced to take a leave of the boat Golden Viking. A typhoon hit the boat and tore it apart. The engine room flooded and distress call went out. This was before the technology that saves lives today. Phil’s father was captain of the boat. It didn’t sink, but Grant managed to bring the boat home after 8 days of fruitless searching.
When Phil turned 21, his father handed him the keys to a boat. He was a captain. His knack for finding the crab proved successful. In 1982 Phil and Mary married. 11 months later, Josh was born followed by Jake 2 years later.
After making money and buying into the Cornelia Marie as a partner, his marriage fell apart in 1991. The stress of constantly being at seas took its toll. Despite the broken family, he kept in touch with Mary and brought his sons on board to solidify a family bond.
In 2005 Jake boarded the Cornelia Marie as a greenhorn. Clips from past seasons run with Phil going on a rant about earning his way. Josh follows a year later and joins the Harris team.
Phil’s quirky habits are examined. His crab fart theory makes for wonderful conversation at parties. He sells the story that crabs fart and little bubbles begin to pop on the surface of the water means good fishing. Jake and Josh buy it and get excited as the smell the crab farts fills the air.
Things turn back to a note of grim reality. Sig and the fellow captains discuss how proud he would be of his two boys. Clips of the Harris boys smiling and laughing with their father run in slow motion. The stress factor slides in uninvited.
Storms and uncontrollable conditions and factors worried Phil. His nervous ticks of a thumping foot and thumb rubbing are highlighted. Andy from the Time Bandit admits he never knew how stressed Phil became over at every turn.
Flashbacks to a clot that nearly claimed his life in 2008 play. Sig explains that Phil’s process of dealing with his ailing health. He was trying to take care of the boat first. Clips of Phil smoking during his hospital gown roll as we are reminded just how much the sea called to him.
Despite sitting out the next crabbing season and focusing on bird house building with a little Yorkie at his side, we all know how his story plays out. Josh shares a story about getting a few phone calls at 3 in the morning from his father wanting to go out for a ride. Josh would patronize him and agree to go, only to find out Phil was already sitting in his driveway.
He returned to the boat after being unable to resist his true passion. Phil spent one last time fishing The Rock. It was his personal honey-hole and one of the most difficult areas to fish. Red bulls, cigarettes and horrible diets returned. A price tag would come at the end of the season. As he made his delivery, Phil suffered the stroke that would eventually take his life.
Johnathan shares the fact that when Phil was in the hospital the seas raged with the storm that forced Captains to pull their crews in. The day he died was the same day the eerie quiet seas rolled in.
We will miss you Phil.
