08x05 - Fickle Fortune

[bunniefuu]

We've done dives all
Around sledge island.

And I haven't seen anything.

There's no reason
To believe there's gold,

As far as I'm concerned.

This has been a expensive and
Time-consuming endeavor for me.

What if I don't
Find any more gold?

If we don't find any more,

Big changes are gonna happen.

Another beautiful day
On the bering sea!

Been a long summer!

The nozzle's gone.

Not good. George, are you there?

Argh!

Tell him to come up!

Come up!

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Captions paid for by
Discovery communications.

As the summer mining season
Reaches the halfway point...

The winds of change
Are sweeping through nome.

For newcomers, those gusts
Could be too strong to weather.

And, for the veterans,
They could be the difference.

Between persistence
Finally paying off.

And the end of
A prospecting dream.

At the nome small-boat harbor...

Come on, charlie.

Good dog.

Right on, dude.

Zeke tenhoff and emily riedel
Are going for another grab.

At the golden apple,

Despite failure with every
Attempt so far this summer.

At this point, I haven't
Gotten any gold all season.

I need to get some gold.
I need to make some money.

If I wanna keep doin'
This stuff.

And, with half the season
Already gone,

They're running out
Of time, and money,

To keep the operation afloat.

I started out the season
Really hopin' that

I'd found some great gold
Out at the sledge island.

And it didn't end up
Payin' out there.

So I wanna move on.

It's been a rough summer
For the business partners.

Whoa-oa.

As their high-stakes gamble
On sledge island...

Take my hand, Zeke.

Proved harrowing...

I'm lookin' for gold.

I'm not seein' Any gold here.

And ultimately fruitless.

Where's the gold?

Now, they've put
The big island behind them.

And zeke has a hail mary plan.

To hopefully get
Some gold, at last.

So what I wanna do is go.

To the mouth Of the sinuk river.

I wanna like go and
Investigate that channel.

That's what We're gonna do.

Yeah, I'm excited to see
What it's like out there.

Today, they'll
Travel father from nome.

Than they've
Ever ventured before.


Mouth of the sinuk river...

I mean, it's a last-ditch
Effort to find gold.

Right now, I still think there's
Treasure out there to be found.

And I wanna find it.

And the mouth of
The sinuk river,

I think,
Is our next best target.

The river was an old mining
Hot spot decades ago.

Now, zeke's banking that,
Over the years,

Gold made its way downstream
And deposited just offshore.

The sinuk river, I think
This is my last gasper.

I mean, today is today or never.

It's a long shot,

But, with bills stacking up,
It may the team's last option.

If I do the long dive,

I'll be able to cover
Enough ground to tell me.

Whether or not there's gonna be
A major discovery out here.

I'm horribly passionate
About gold mining.

And so being
A successful gold miner.

Is a huge part of who I am.

And if I'm not
A successful gold miner,

Then it is absolutely
Devastating.

Now, more than ever,

Each day that passes
Without gold in the box.

Puts increasing pressure
On the young partnership.

If I'm not bringin' up any gold,
There's not a whole lot.

Holding emily and I's
Business agreement together.

I mean, if you're not
Findin' any gold,

It's not gonna last very long.



It's another beautiful day
On the bering sea!

Now, let's get some gold!

George young is heading out on
His second dive of the season,

Ready to brave whatever
The mighty waters have in store.

Being my rookie year,
I'm learnin' a lot.

It's hard. It's hard on a guy.

But the only thing constant
In life is change.

I've had other chapters where
I've had to adapt and change.

And this is just another
Adapt and change.

Last week...

We're goin' minin'.

That's what's Happenin' today.

The fresh face embarked.

On his dream of becoming
A bering sea miner.

On his first effort,

Despite bad weather
Cutting the dive short...

There's one. Look at that.

He was able to scrape
Together a few flakes.

We got some gold In there.

But $70,000 in the hole to his
Brother dave for the operation,

He's got a long way to go
To get outta the red.

You fill this up And we're even.

And we're 0.42 miles
From where we wanna be startin'.

And we'll start minin' right off
Of that corner first.

So, today, with calmer seas,

He's hoping to get in
A full shift.

And pack the box with riches.

So we'll see what's
On that claim,

See if it's a good claim.
Should be.

I'm gonna be divin'
As hard as I can.

I got a lot of debt ridin'
In this right now.

And I've gotta get
Outta that debt.

The only way to do it
Is get in the bottom.

Of that ocean And get that gold.

And I'm provin' to my brother
Dave that I can.

Be successful at it And not die.

That's always a plus.

- Are we here?
- I believe so.

Yeah.

You gotta keep your head outta
Your a*s when you dive, okay?

Yes, sir.

I will be.

I'll be down there
Just suckin' up gold.

He's still worryin'.
He's still worried about me.

But we'll get it. We'll get it.

I'm really worried
About him divin'.

A lot can happen.

And he's gonna get
Real comfortable.

And that's when
Something's gonna go wrong.

My brother dave,
He's worried every day.

That I'm up here divin'.

Here, put your arm In here.

You know, we've had
Tragedy in our life.

I got in my car Accident in 2001.

And, you know,
I've lost three brothers.

My brother scott,

He's the one that helped build
The dredgin' I'm workin' on.

And he died in the water,

In the colorado river,
In a paddleboarding accident.

And now I'm out in the water.

But I love divin'.
So I'm gonna dive.

Get the gold, george.
Get the gold.

Well, you better get
Some gold, or it'll be

a short-term job, buddy.

There we go. Now I got some
comin' through.

Come on, let me see
Some gold, damn it.

Just let's see what we got.

There's gold right there, dude.

Now I'm likin' what I'm seein'.

I think we got it.

I found it!

You just sucked up
A pretty big rock.

You got a jam!

George, I think You're clogged.

What?

You're clogged!

With the hose jammed, the
Operation is at a standstill.

So it'll be up to george
To find a solution.

From the bottom
Of the bering sea.

Nothin' comin'.

Can you hear me up there?

Hey, george, you got a jam.

George!

Can you hear me, george?

She's still jammed.

Well, I'm gonna find it.

Argh!

George, can you hear me?

George!

We lost him.

George! Are you there?

George!

Pull on his thing.

Are you there, george?

- We lost comms with the diver.
- He's gotta come up!

Tell him he's gotta come up!
Have george come up.

We lost comms. Can you read me?

- Nope.
- Tell him to come up!

- Damn it.
- Tell him to come up!

Come up!

On the bering sea...

George, can you hear me?

We lost him.

George! Are you there?

Topside has lost communication
With rookie diver george young.

Tell him he's Gotta come up.

Have george come up.
We lost comms.

Can you read me?

Tell him to come up!

- Damn it.
- Tell him to come up!

Come up!

We've got comm.

If you lose comm again,
You come up. You copy?

Copy.

Be careful, george.

I gotta try To find it, hey?

Communication is restored,

But george still has to clear
The rock jam in the line.

I found it.

I don't know what I'm
Gonna do with it, though.

Or they'll be forced
To shut down for the day.

Without a single taste of gold.

George, I don't know
What to tell you to do.

The wedged stone is not budging,
But george has a plan.

I got an idea.

- What's that?
- Put me down a rope.

And I'll wrap it around
Where the rock is.

And you guys can pull it up.

All right. We'll try that.

We'll send a rope down.

You got the rope?

Pull that up!
See if that'll work.

All right. We're pullin'.

Go ahead. Pull the rope.

Yeah! We got it, baby!

We got it!
That was pretty damn smart.

I've never seen a diver
Come up with a plan like that.

Good job, george.

With the line clear,
The newcomer?

Is back in business.

Well, cowboy it up, Then.

Just keep suckin'.

Yeah, baby.

Whoo-oo!



I think we found A big treasure.

Shawn pomrenke is
Heading to the place.

Where he's pinned
All his hopes and dreams:

The bluff.

May be a once-in-
A-lifetime opportunity.

We got right In front of us.

And he could be on the brink.

Of game-changing,
Golden greatness.

I love gold minin'.
It's a great job.

I mean, how many other jobs
Can you make $35,000 in 5 hours.

Or a quarter million in 4 days?

$3,000 an hour Was the last run.

Let's see if we can
Make that a lot better.

To try and vault his empire
To the next level,

Shawn gambled
At the remote bluff.

And, despite a rough start...

h*-h*. Here we go, boys.

Right there.

Last trip, he tapped
Into a legendary pay streak...

Whoo!

That could set off
The next alaskan gold rush.

Over 3 ounces an hour.

I think I found it.

I think we're comin' in
To the corner of the claim.

Where's our buoy at?

Now, he's determined
To clean up as much.

As he can fit into the box...

Okay. Right there's
Where I wanna be.

So the pomrenkes
Can make a move...

Time to make some money.

To buy the biggest
Gold reserve in nome.

I'm gonna get suited up
And get in the water.

Mask. All right. You're set.

Ready for the big leagues.

God.

I got 2 feet of this.

I can't see the bottom.

Really murky.

Rough seas have turned
The waters into a cloudy mess.

Visibility's horrible,

But I can feel it goin' over
The rock with my feet.

I'm headin' on east.

There he goes.

I need to know.

North, south, east, or west,
And how many feet.

- Little bit west.
- West about 2 or 3 feet.

Should be lookin' for
The buoy line right now.

You're almost there.

I'm tryin' to figure out
Exactly where I'm at, but.

He's right in the middle
Of our cut,

Right in between
Both the buoys there.

All right. You're nearly there.

Well, I think I might've
Found my cut.

I'm... Not sure yet.

This is horrible.

He said he thinks
He just found it.



He walked past it.

It's a simple rule of mining.

I'm gonna come up.

If you can't get eyes
On the gold,

You can't get gold in the box.

What do you think, Shawn?

I think the visibility sucks
And I can't see

- I don't know.
- It's just not good.

Can only see like
This far in front of your face.

The bering sea giveth.

And the bering sea Taketh away.

Yeah, I can't even get
Over to the buoy.

And, suddenly, all that easy
Gold at shawn's fingertips.

Might not be so easy, After all.

To get the gold,
I need to hit the water.

I thought, by this time,

We'd already have a couple
Million dollars in the bank.

That's what we need right now.

We're startin'
To run outta time.



Mouth of the river's
Right over there.

I mean, We're closin' in.

Running low on funds,
Zeke tenhoff and emily riedel.

Are nearing what could be their
Last hope for gold this season.

At the mouth Of the sinuk river.

Well, we're here.

There's proven to be gold
In the tributaries.

That are feeding
The sinuk river.

Then, it stands to reason.

That some gold has made
Its way down the river.

And it's been spat out
From the river into the ocean.

Gotta peek in the water, dude.

The partners never dredged
This far from town.

But, if there's
Treasure down below,

The gamble will be worth it.

All right.

It looks like it's pretty much
Just like a sheet of bedrock.

Superhard.

There's a greasy Little crab.

Hey, you little crab.

So, yeah,
What I'm gonna be looking for.

Is some kinda feature
That might be.

An old river channel etched
Into this bedrock.

Real loose gravel On top of it.

You can almost
Just wipe it away.

Yeah, I'm not seeing any gold
On top of this bedrock.

I'd really like to see
A flake of gold.

I think I'd need to see a lot
More than a flake of gold.

To make it worthwhile,
Stayin' out there, though.

Nope. No gold here. Movin' on.

Dude, I really hope
You see some soon.

Otherwise, I just wasted
A lot of money and time.

Come on, bedrock cracks.

Give up the gold.

Give it up. Give it up.

You know, I just wanna see
One little speck!

'Cause if I see one little
Speck, then I'll be like.

I wish rock was valuable.
There's a ton of it.

Unlimited amounts.

Where the Is all the gold?

Whoa, what's that?

Yeah!

What? What?

I just saw
A little piece of gold.

- Whoa! Where?
- There. Right there.

My god. Whoa-oa.

Whoo! Thank god!

I've never been so happy.

About a single piece
Of gold in my life.

Been a long summer.
We're rich, boys.

The golden discovery
Might be just a speck,

But it could lead
To a river of fortune.

I'd pretty much given up.

Seein' any bits of gold out here
In this bedrock field,

But now I'm like "Hey",

I'm gonna search around here
A little bit more."

Yeah, look for his
Little buddies,

Little gold buddies.

Well, I'm gonna send him
Up into the sluice.

Whoo-hoo.



At the bluff...

I think it's time
To get out here.

And make some money.

Like the rough seas
That surround him,

Shawn pomrenke is refusing
To go quietly.

In his quest for a jackpot.

We gotta go back down.

Keep pushing forward
And keep workin' hard.

And don't give up.

And that's what I'm gonna do.

Despite murky waters,
Mr. Gold is intent.

On finding the pay streak
He spotted on his last dive.

All right.

Which way do I need
To go to my marker?

Relying on his nose for gold,
Rather than his eyes.

Due west. Straight west.

You just went past
The buoy a little bit.

I'm right here, then.

I'm like caught.

I'm just gonna go for it.

See if it can find
Some color here.

I got some big rocks.

That's a nice one!
That's a nice one.

Somebody's been chunkin'
Gold down here.

Aw, yeah.

It's nice to hear
He's gettin' gold.

This is gonna be A good day.

Look at all these
Other big pieces there.

Big chunky goin'
With the bedrock crack.

Really nice gold all
over the place here.

There's cheese Everywhere.

The gold is finally flowing.

Big ol' piece.

But up top,

The bluff has another
Surprise in store.

Man, this wind's Startin' to.

Pull a little more
From the east,

Which makes waves.

It's already startin' to.

Kick our little dredge
Around a little bit.

Rising waves could sink
The small dredge,

Taking the gold
And the sluice box with it.

Here I go.

So shawn will have to pull in
As much as he can.

Before they're forced
To shut down.

We're gettin'... Unh!

Hold on. Hold on.

Hold on. She's bouncin'.

But things quickly go...

From difficult...

The nozzle's Gone, guys.

To doomed.

What do you got Goin' on?

Lost the nozzle.

This sucks.

And, suddenly, shawn may not
Be able to mine at all.



At the bluff...

The nozzle's Gone, guys.

Shawn pomrenke Hit a pay streak.

But, unruly seas
And lost equipment.

May force him to leave gold
On the ocean floor.

What do you got Goin' on?

Lost the nozzle.

This sucks.

Without a nozzle,

Shawn's ability to accurately
Focus suction is limited.

That makes it a much tougher
Job, with no nozzle,

Nothin' to hold on to
Down there.

Damn. Look at that.

Cheesy cheese all over.

There's all over!

This really sucks.

Nozzle? Gone.

Day? Over.

Guys.

I'm still dredgin'.

Dude, dude.

We're still makin' money.

But mr. Gold is not about
To let anything stop him.

From grabbing a potential
Score this big.

I'm in the cheese, boys.

Chunky. Chunky, chunky gold.

How's the weather
Holdin' up there?

Waves are about


This is just gonna blow up
And more and more.

Yeah, it's hittin'
The motor now.

Water's comin' Over the...

Over the dredge and
Wetting the compressor.

We've gotta Pull plug and run.

What do you think We should do?

Loaded in that crack
Right there.

All over it.

All over it!

"I'm all over it,
Scott!" he says.

"I'm all over it!"

I'm in the cheese, boys.

I'm in the cheese right here.

Dredging no land any man
Has dredged before.

Gonna keep dredgin'
Without this nozzle.

We're gettin' pulled
Back here now.

I don't know.
Is the anchor draggin'

Or somethin'?

It's pullin' us side-
To-side, jerkin' us.

Waves are about a foot
And a half to 2 foot,

Comin' right across
The starboard bow.

Anchor's slippin'!

- What?
- Anchor's slippin'.

Yeah, we got The front anchors.

Pullin' Towards the beach.

Damn. I was just gettin'
In it good again.

I'm gonna come up.

This is not good.

By bouncin' On that chain,

It could just break And snap.

And crush somebody
Under the weight of it.

The waves have reached
A fever pitch.

And shawn's finally
Forced to return topside.

Yeah, we're done.

Despite the obstacles,

Mr. Gold was able to get in
Some serious dredge work.

Definitely In the right area.

Yeah, that's a beauty.

Now, all that remains
Is a cleanup.

To determine if the pomrenkes'
Fortunes are on the rise.

There's Gold here, buddy.

There's a lot of gold at bluff.

Hopefully we'll start gettin'
Some big cleanouts.

And that's what
We need right now.

We need a bunch of capital.

And we need a bunch
Of capital quick.

Our mining future Depends on it.



At the mouth
Of the sinuk river...

We just need to find about


And then we're in it.

Trying to improve
On a microscopic hint of gold,

Zeke and emily are 6 hours
Into their dive.

I don't know
Where his friends are.

It's just The weirdest thing.

I don't understand it.
I don't know.

He looks like he's a loner.

But, just like every trail.

For the business partners
This season...

I think I'm just
Gonna keep movin'.

It's gone cold.

What the is up
With the gold here?

Where is it?

We're only like 13 miles away.

From where people have found
Thousands of ounces of gold.

Looks like there should
Be gold in this stuff.

Like that! Like right there.

That looks like A pay layer.

I see fine gold in this
Stuff when I'm over by nome.

I don't know what it is.
I don't know why.

We're not seeing it.

I don't know Why it's not here.

It makes... it makes sense
That it would be.

Everything that we know
About gold mining.

Says that it should be
Here and it's not.

That a little speck
Of gold right there?

No, I don't think so.

Let me dig one more hole.

Looks like all summer,
I've seen one speck of gold.

I'm about to lose My mind.

We should be making
Amazing money right now.

This is how it goes.

You rarely get good weather
And so, right now,

We should be making great money.

This where we need to be
Making our season's money.

Yeah. Damn it. I'm just not
Seein' gold in this stuff.

Like out here,

Like a dense pocket
Of gold appears to be.

Like one speck,
Or maybe two specks.

There's just barely
any gold here.

Once again, the partners
Are coming up empty.

You know, we just have this
Really like naive fantasy.

Of there'd just be copious
Quantities of gold.

By the sinuk
Or by sledge island,

And it's just not the case,
Apparently.

I'm gonna get outta here.
There's not enough gold.

As yet more time and money
Goes down the bering sea drain,

Patience is quickly
Wearing thin.

One speck at a time
Isn't gonna justify.

Coming 28 miles
Down to the sinuk river.

And it just Ain't gonna work.

I'm done With this place.

All right. Copy that, dude.

Yeah, I think it's
Time to call it.

Halfway into the summer,

Zeke and emily have yet
To earn a single penny,

And drastic change may be.

On the alaskan horizon.

If we're not seeing anything.

You know,
If we're not accomplishing.

What we set out to do
And finding gold,

Then there's no point for us
To even be working together.

The lifestyle
Of a miner in nome,

It's pretty much
You're watchin' the weather,

You're sleepin',
Or you're on your boat.

And that's it.

If the weather's good,
You're on your boat.

You're spendin' money.

You're at the gas station
All the time, ha!

That's the life of a miner.

You hit the gas station,
Then you hit the boat,

Then you hit the grocery store,
And then you hit bed.

That's the life of a miner.

What draws people is the gold.

I mean, if you're not here
For gold...

I don't know what the hell
You're doin' here.

On the outskirts of nome,

At the pomrenke compound...

Those are the pickers
From two dives, big ones.

Nice, big, coarse,
Beautiful gold.

Beautiful.

Shawn's readying for the first
Cleanup from the bluff.

And the pomrenkes could be
Ready to turn a corner.

First cleanup off the bluff.

This is the fine
Gold outta the cleanup.

And it's still just chunky,
Heavy, amazing.

I've never seen gold
This chunky before.

Went lookin' for it
All these years.

And finally found it At bluff.

We'll just get it on the scale,
See what we got.

That's 10 already?











Holy.

Agh!

Whoo!

You gave me goosebumps.

That's better than what we've
Ever done on the christine rose.



Nearly $60,000.

A huge haul for such
A short time on the box.

We're doin' $100 A minute.

And the bluff may, Indeed, be.

The jackpot shawn
Has always hoped for.

This could be a game-changer.

You start pilin' up gold,

Your adrenaline gets pumpin'
And gold fever kicks in.

I think we might've
Found the mother lode.

You're on top of the world.

The future of the family
Business is lookin' good,

As long as we can
Keep pilin' up piles of gold.

Boom.

Across town...

We're doin' our first
Cleanout today.

I'm really excited
To see what we got.

A bering sea rookie is also
Undertaking his first cleanup.

I got that guy
Standin' behind me.

I owe him a lot of Money, so,

I wanna see 5 ounces of
Gold outta this cleanout.

George young is hoping
To land enough gold.

To keep his mining dream alive.

What I have at stake
Is just to show dave.

That I can come out here
And I can succeed as a miner.

We'll find it.

Need to make this
Business succeed.

Buck and a half.

Right on the money.



Like I wanna cry a little bit.

The market value of 1.5 ounces?

Just over $1,500.

Already $70,000 in debt,

If george doesn't turn
His fortunes around, quick,

His first season in nome
Will also be his last.

I'm not happy with what I got,
But this is not the end of it.

I'm gonna go do better.



Not finding anything
At sledge island was a bummer.

And the sinuk river,
I mean, if it's...

You're gonna have to go 28 miles
To go dredging,

It'd better be really good,
And it's not really that great.

No. No.

After yet another
Failed expedition,

Zeke tenhoff and
Emily riedel's partnership.

Has reached yet
Another crossroads.

We spent a lot of time and money.

Tryin' to make this
Prospecting mission happen.

And, not only is there no gold,

But there aren't
Any signs of gold.

My attitude towards it
At the moment.

Is kind of a little dismal.

Th buck stops here.
Seriously, I'm broke.

I've been chasin' after
These real high-concept ideas,

But I haven't found anything.

And, if I'm not
Bringin' up any gold,

There's no gold for emily
And there's no gold for me.

And there's no gold
To keep this operation going.

We really should consider
Different options.

Dude, we gotta take a break
Or, at least, you know,

Maybe go separate ways
Completely.

For the rest Of the season.

I'm terrified of failure,

But we can't afford to keep
This mission going, you know.

We can't afford
To keep buyin' the gas.

Zeke doesn't have any money
Left to buy gas.

We have to bail
Out of this partnership.

I went all-in
In going treasure hunting.

And I don't find any treasure.

Ideally, Our mining partnership.

Would have blossomed
Into something greater, but,

I gotta go back
To the drawing board.

I gotta call it quits with this.

I gotta go and find some gold.

Thanks to an impressive
Jackpot at the bluff,

The pomrenkes continue
Their reign in the gold count.

Ready to roll.

I don't wanna end up On the side.

Of the road here,
Three crosses sittin' here.

This is where
the reaper went down.

I'm gonna plow
Right through here, bam!

Are you kiddin' me?

There it goes.

My brother's captaincy,

That's on a shady road
Right now.

What in the.

Aah-aah!