Deadliest Catch.

[nastygunz]

I went n visited my Pops today with 2 of my brothers, hes 82 and in rough shape, but still tougher then rawhide, and we were talking about back in the day when we were all commercial fishermen and he loves that show Deadliest Catch ..Love that show. ..and I have some empathy for them while I watch it coming from a family of commercial fishermen..brutal...hard,hard job and dangerous...we used to work 6 hours on 6 hours off around the clock for 15-20 days at a time but the wild sea faring life makes you free even when your on a boat all crammed together!...Im the one with dark glasses lol:

(Me on watch in the wheelhouse on the F/V Sea Star)



(Me on deck with a huge monkfish)



(left to right, Me, Ziggy the Polack, and Matty)

[nastygunz]

I was remembering some of the superstitions on the boats were women on a boat were bad luck, NEVER whistle on a boat cuz youll whistle up a storm, never say "pig", we use to say,for pork, "hey pass the queer fella"..not sure where that one came from lmao...Norwegians like Sig Hanson were called "squareheads"...never set sail on a Friday...and never board the boat with your left foot first...sounds dumb but the old timers would get all wound up if that stuff happened

[FinsnFur]

Interesting. You still got the boat?
Them are some old pics They're all scratchy and antique looking.

[KySongDog]

That's a great story!   I've watched a few of the Deadliest Catch episodes and that sure looks like something I do not want to do.   

I'm sure those old pics bring back the memories for you. 

[nastygunz]

Interesting. You still got the boat?
Them are some old pics They're all scratchy and antique looking.

They aint that damn old !... ...yeah I got those from the folks, all from the old polaroid cameras..then took my digital camera and took pics of them in macro mode

[FinsnFur]

Who's the dude wearing the dress shirt, and who does he think he is?  With his hands on his hip all like that.
He's looks out of place

[nastygunz]

Thats ziggy the polack...there were a bunch of polish immigrants coming in so the boats hired a few for half share...basically paid them half or less what everyone else got...they would work their arses off too..barely spoke english......all worked hard ill give them that...not like a lot of people who come over n live off the handouts...he did a good job on there...even learned a few polack jokes... ...the other guy was a hot sheet...hardcore biker...used to bring abut a pound of weed out on every trip hahaha..always smiling 

[FinsnFur]

  Interesting

[Okanagan]

Interesting

Yes, very  interesting.  Great pics and stories.  Thanks.

My two sons worked on draggers up against the polar ice for a few seasons.  Made good money on most trips, but went in the hole and owed the boat money on one.

My older son took his bride of a year along for two seasons.  She was purser, with an office next to the bridge and a safe with what was to me an astounding amount of cash.  She was a ship’s officer and my son was a deck hand/crane operator, so when they put into port once for a short stop and didn’t want to lose any crew, the skipper wouldn’t let any of the hands off the ship.  But as a ship’s officer my daughter-in-law could leave, so she signed out her husband into her care and we took them to a midnight café near the docks in Seattle for a couple of hours.  Fun to razz our son about that.

Those boats would start the season from Seattle with considerably more crew than they needed.  Once in awhile the Coast Guard would stop them, look over the crew’s papers and haul off any who had outstanding warrants, which was usually several.  That plus a few who jumped ship after their first long run on rough sea whittled the crew down to size.  Meanwhile, all bunks were taken and my son and his wife had no cabin to sleep in.  As purser she kept the keys to the infirmary and all the drugs in there, and wouldn’t trust anybody else with them.  So she and my son bunked in the infirmary, sleeping on the operating table, etc.

We were kind of astounded at both of them, and decided for sure that she is a keeper.

[nastygunz]

I can relate to the warrants and such...them was some rough boys out n the boats..lotta drugs...alcohol..lot of smuggling of everything from guns to drugs and cigarettes...if you had a beef with someone...no fighting on the boats was tolerated...instantly fired for that...but when you hit the dock, game on  ...times sure change...now where I work we have HR...annually I have to go to mandatory sexual harassment class.....also diversity class...... ...like I said...lot of freedom out on the sea ...I can tell them ole boys on the tv show aint no saints they look like some hard living fishermen!....Okanagan, thats mostly what we were on was draggers for scallops, hard fishing cuz you gotta cut everyone of them lil sumbitches out of the shell...then pack em in cotton bags...then down in the hold...layer of ice..layer of bags,etc..etc...then crabbers got it easy shovin down a hole into a wet well !....Pops went out for a few years long lining for swordfish...gone a long time but used to make some massive paychecks....1 trick of the trade was when the scallops were bagged then youd let em soak in barrels of fresh water cuz the scallops soak up freshwater like a sponge...therebye increasing your poundage 

[FinsnFur]

We were kind of astounded at both of them, and decided for sure that she is a keeper.

Wow, that is what I call a screening process. 

[Okanagan]

...now where I work we have HR...annually I have to go to mandatory sexual harassment class.....also diversity class......

Somehow I have a hard time imagining the man in sunglasses in the pics above attending sexual harassment and diversity classes!!!   That's the best humor posted in a long time!

My boys did some crabbing and dragger work in coastal waters also, plus a bit of commercial jigging for cod.  I went out on a set line halibut trip with a skipper friend and got into a phenomenal catch, kind of drafted from a ride-along tourist into the hardest 20 hours of work I've ever done.  My friend insisted on paying me a deck hand share:  about 6 or 7 times a top day's hourly wage at the time.

Hey, Jim, that screening process worked!  Not many pass, however.  She's an attractive blond, cooks and decorates to put Martha Stewart to shame, makes me fabulous lattes, is raising six kids, one adopted, is nice as can be yet has an unflappable toughness.  She handled crew and green water over the bridge, and the skipper offered pay incentives to try to get her and my son to keep working for him.  Anyone who gives her guff has no idea what kind of woman he's run into, plus she carries and is scary accurate. 

[FinsnFur]

I want to hear both you and nasty's definitions of "Green water".

They used that term last night on Deadliest catch, now you used it, I looked it up and I didnt quite grasp what they were using to describe it, not to mention they said it wasnt the true definition.
Harbor or coastal waters? 

[slagmaker]

When the wave has enough water to it so that it appears green like sea water and not white as a white cap would be. White caps are a lot of foam. still dangerous but not like solid water.

[George Ackley]

used to bring abut a pound of weed out on every trip hahaha

You know if he is looking for work

[Ol joe]

nice pics! memories are forever

[Okanagan]

When the wave has enough water to it so that it appears green like sea water and not white as a white cap would be. White caps are a lot of foam. still dangerous but not like solid water.

+1  nastygunz can chime in as the pro.  I'm just a tourist once in awhile on commercial boats.

Sea water usually looks green during storm conditions, and as said, the white parts are full of air bubbles, light weight foam.  But a tall green wave is a slamming hammer wall of solid water.  There are tons of mass and energy in a wall of water and a boat jolts and shudders like it has rammed into a solid wall.  Green water over the bow means a solid wave tall enough that it is still green above the bow, with foam above that probably.   That is very rough.  Higher than that gets dangerous for men working on the deck as massive force rolls over and past.  That gets dangerous for the boat to survive, especially one loaded with tons of fish.

On an outbound run from Seattle to Dutch Harbor, my son's boat took green water up to the bridge, on a 300 foot boot.  The 55 year old skipper said that it was the worst storm he'd ever been in.  When they got to Dutch Harbor my son told his wife that if she wanted, they would quit and fly home from the airport there.  She felt that they should stick to their contract and tough it out.    They bought a new car on their return with part of their pay.