One thing is for certain, you cannot be careless or rush your work on a crab boat without incurring some life-threatening or maiming accidents.
On tonight’s Deadliest Catch, Captain Jake Anderson watches helplessly from his cabin above the decks of the Saga, and witnesses a near miss that nearly cost lives.
He fumes a bit and explains what is at stake, and what pressures they are facing in the race for King crab in the Bering Sea.
In our preview clip, you will see someone left the “dogs” unattended, causing the mayhem.
What are “dogs” on a crab boat?
Dogs are the nickname given to a vice-like looking locking mechanism that grabs onto and secures the edge of a metal cage or pot to the frame during the unloading of the crab.
As narrator Mike Rowe explains, dogs are small metal hooks that lock the pot onto the launcher. When these “dogs” are left unlocked, the heavy pots that can weigh over 800 pounds fall crushing everything below.
Jake Anderson watches as disaster strikes
As the crab pots are being pulled up, Anderson watches helplessly from his perch in the captain’s cabin.
Witnessing the near disaster that unfolds when the dogs are not secured to the pot on the deck, he says: “It’s not a subtle accident where nothing happens, it is an accident that happens and someone loses their freaking arm, or may lose their life … real quick.”
Jake explains how he is under the gun and out of time: “I’ve got an offload coming up real fast.”
Jake is focused and serious about his business, with two sons now. He has a boat he has shares in for-profit and possesses a completely sober outlook on what is at hand.
He means to grab as much of the billion dollar King crab haul as any other captain.
He says: “I am running out of time quickly.”
In voice-over, Mike Rowe explains further. He says: “With 40,000 pounds to catch before a scheduled offload, Jake is also up against
the clock.”
Noting their efforts may all be for naught, Anderson adds: “[Brenna A Captain] Sean [Dwyer] and I sat down [with] [Northwestern captain] Sig [Hansen], [Wizard captain] Keith [Colburn] only to find out there’s no crab in the area and it hurts.”
In our recent exclusive interview with Anderson, he spoke highly of Dwyer, who he speaks with nearly every day:
M&C: Excluding Sig, the other captains in the cast, who are you closest to?
Jake Anderson: Sean Dwyer. There’s only two…I talk to him pretty much every day. On and off the crab grounds.
M&C: You said in a past interview a really interesting statement…’anyone on a crab boat wants off, and anyone off a crab boat wants on.’ You still feel that way?
Jake Anderson: Yes, I’ve always felt that way. Whenever I go fishing, I want to go home, and as soon as I go home, I don’t know what to do with myself, and I want to go fishing.
And I think it’s just something that’s in your blood. You just can’t stop doing it. I know you asked Sig that question, when he’s going to retire, and everybody asks him that question, but, you kinda always want to go home, but when you go home, it’s almost like you’re compelled to be at sea. You have no choice. Yeah, I feel that way strongly.
Tune in tonight to see how Anderson fares and who was to blame for the deck-side mishap and who let the dogs out…
Deadliest Catch airs Tuesdays at 9 pm on Discovery.