11x05 - Storm Ravaged

[bunniefuu]

Narrator:
now on "bering sea gold"...

♪♪

Shawn:
halfway through the season,
every minute,

Every hour adds up.

You can't predict the weather.

You can't predict how much gold
you're going to get.

-Oh, yeah.
-It's a gamble.

Big rocks, big gold.

That's the sound of money
right there.

Shawn:
so far this season, mother
nature slapped me in the face

And told me to go screw myself,

But should it motivate you
to try to push back?

I don't mind fighting
for my money.

-Okay, stop right here.
-Stop! Drop it!

Oh, yeah, now we're racing.

This is a critical time.

It's time to put a lot of gold
in the box.

We're at the mercy
of mother nature.

Emily:
I think, if we had perfect
weather, every miner on the

Bering sea would
be a millionaire.

-What the hell?
-Nasty weather.

-Cut it loose!
-Cut it loose!

Emily:
that's what I love to hear.

-Looking like gold.
-Oh, yeah.

Shawn: mega! Mega!

--Captions by vitac--
www.vitac.com

Captions paid for by
discovery communications

Narrator:
it's halfway through the summer
mining season.

With just weeks left until
the winter freeze locks up

Nome, the entire fleet is
battling to meet their goals,

But storm clouds
on the horizon are a sure sign

That the job is only
getting harder from here on out.

As the whipping winds, crashing
waves, and ripping currents

Make their presence felt,

Every captain
must answer the question,

"How hard are you
willing to fight?"

Off the coast of nome...

Big rocks, big gold.

Narrator:
...captain shawn pomrenke

Has the christine rose
rocking and rolling.

Big rocks, big gold.

That's something my dad
taught me,

Something I'll get to teach
my kids one of these days.

♪♪

Narrator:
parked on a gold-rich
ancient beachline,

Bucket after bucket
of rocky material

Is just the kind of pay dirt
mr. Gold has been searching for

To hit his 1,000-ounce
season goal,

Stay ahead of rival ken kerr
and finish funding his 160-foot,



Shawn: look at the material.

It's just all a perfect
mixture -- gravel, clay, rock.

Rocks work like ripples
in your sluice box.

They catch the gold.

It looks amazing.

Now that we got
the longer arm on,

We reached
the next beach out here.

This was the bering land bridge
at one time.

You could walk
from here to russia.

Now it's water,
but at one time,

This was a beach
right through here.

Beachline is where the storms
concentrate the gold,

And the waves
pick up the gravels

And lay all the heavies
down in one line,

Paralleling the beach,
and we're going to follow it

Because it's loaded with gold,

And we need a lot of gold
to build the dredge.

Nice, big rocks.

It's looking like


Maybe more.

Maybe we'll hit a 1,000-ounce
hole here.

Narrator:
the packed sluice box and
the promise of more gold

Along the ancient beach

Has mega-dredge dreams
dancing in shawn's head.

Shawn: with the christine rose,
it'll take me 2, 3 years

To finish this beach line out.

Mega dredge, 3 weeks maybe.

We can hit 1,000, 2,000-ounce
hole, we'll build the dredge.

It'll be done.

That's what we need to do.

♪♪

Oh, no.

I think I just lost a belt.

Alternator belt on the excavator
just went.

Not good.

♪♪

Narrator:
the alternator belt spins
on a ball bearing

And powers
the hydraulic excavator arm.

Shawn: well, we're [bleep] now.

Look at the bearing.

Pisses me off.

Narrator:
with a bearing seized up,
the alternator belt snapped.

Shawn: now we're spending money
and not making money.

Every hour we're not digging,
now it's costing me money,

Costing me parts,
costing me labor.

Not [bleep] happy.

Narrator:
without a replacement on board,
shawn has got two choices --

Order a new one,
which could take days to arrive,

Or do it
the old-fashioned way --

Head to the workshop and see
what he can patch together.

This new beachline we're on
with the long arm is


There's no way

I'm going to let this bearing
cost me $20,000 to $30,000.

I have to hit the shop
and macgyver the hell out of it.

Let's get the hell out of here.

Narrator:
eighty miles east...

♪♪

Kris: camping sucks ba*ls.

No, I'm good.

We're just calming our nerves,
and then we're going.

Narrator:
...roughing it on the beach is
taking a toll on the kelly clan.

It's nasty when you come
out here,

And it rained,
and all your bedding is all wet.

Narrator: so far this season,
the bluff has provided

A lot more wet blankets
than full sluice boxes.

Well, you see how important
it is to get gold

So we can get a nice tent
and be happy?

Brad: yeah, okay.

We're getting tent money today,
tent money.

Tent money, tent money,
tent money!

Andy, sing it!
Tent money!

Narrator:
and with half the summer
already behind them,

The kellys' gold count

Is looking about
as ragged as they feel.

-Guess what, bud?
-Huh?

I'll be snuggling with you.

Kris: no, you won't be
snuggling with me.

Narrator:
so today their plan is to try to
recapture some of the old magic

By literally retracing
their steps.

So right now at the bluffs,
if you look at our gps,

It looks like a bunch of dots
all over the place,

And those were hot spots that
we got a lot gold last year.

Our plan right now is to
prospect in between those dots

And try to make sure
we didn't leave anything big.

-You ready, big guy?
-I'm ready.

Narrator:
first stop, the site of one
of last season's biggest scores.

Oh, yeah, baby!

I call it
the cash-register effect.

I can hear the cha-ching
of cash!

Eighteen and a half ounces!

If we got $15,000 there,
we might get another 10.

Today is our day to get
a lot of gold,

Pay for a new tent
and pay for our trip

Because we haven't
made really

[Bleep] yet.

Ready?
-Let's go.

Okay.

Kris: we need to get a kick
in the a*s,

And we need to turn
this season around.

If I'm going to live
on the beach,

Not take showers,
crap in a hole,

I want to get rich over it!

Kris: keep it together.

Narrator:
to change their luck...

Kris: go team kris!

Go team kris!

Narrator:
...the captain has an idea
so bold

It's unlike anything the kellys
have attempted before...

The power of positive thinking.

Kris: I love it when
it's nice and flat.

Do you know that?

Standby with engine.

Attitudes are on the high
at the moment.

We know we're going to get
a lot of gold today.

-[Bleep] you!
-That's what I'm talking about.

Kris:
as captain, I got to make sure
I'm always positive.

If I don't believe in myself,

Everything is going
to fall apart.

Negative attitudes.
Negative attitudes.

Do you know what?

Some gold in the box today
and maybe a wig for my brother,

And he'll be
in a really good mood.

That's our buoy!

Dad!

That's our buoy right there!

Anchors away.

There is where ounce an hour is.

Narrator:
but it'll take more than good
vibes to pack the sluice box.

Kris: please, lord,
help me make some cash.

Narrator:
kris will have to locate
the spots

Before he can reap
any karmic rewards.

Brad: we kind of know what kind
of gold is here,

But kris will take a look.

We'll see what happens.

You just got to find a hot spot,

Hope we'll get rich,
hope we'll find something big.

♪♪

Brad:
south. Go straight south if you
can find that way underwater.

Kris: okay.

I'm walking.

♪♪

♪♪

Brad: how's it going
down there, kris?

Are you seeing a bunch of holes
punched all around down there?

Way to go, kris.

Narrator: coming up...

Nasty weather.

We don't have as much time
on the box as we'd like,

But break her down
and see what we have.

♪♪

Narrator:
as dawn breaks...

I'm going
to shove off.

All right.

...captain emily riedel
is betting

The early bird
catches the gold.

Emily: if we're competing
for good ground,

I don't want even the chance
of somebody

Getting on the ground before us,

So one of the strategies is
to leave as early as possible.

Narrator:
last week...

- Ah!
-What's up?

Hey!
Oh, your first nuggets!

Narrator:
...chase taylor's first dive
at a tasty spot

Known as the chicken wing helped
put the eroica on the money.

And well behind her season goal,

Emily is not about
to risk another dredge

Plucking her spot.

There's a code in gold mining
that you don't jump

Other people's ground
that they've found.

You know, you keep
a respectful distance.

This is -- you know,
you find your own stuff.

Find your own gold.

It's unfortunate,
but there are people

That don't follow these rules,

And if you're dealing
with people

That are going to play
these kinds of games,

Then you have to
really work hard

To make sure you're
the first person out.

Emily:
I would say that we've marked
ourself

As a boat that knows
how to find and follow gold,

And so people are going
to follow us around,

Knowing that
we're probably on it.

Oh, yeah.
Now we're racing.

I don't like racing
with this boat.

It's very slow.

Tortoise and the hare,
bobs, tortoise and the hare.

Emily:
we've found some great ground,

And you want to keep
that momentum going.

It's competitive,
and you just kind of

Have to be assertive
through that.

Whoo!

Good job.

Hey, hell yeah.

Team effort, man.

Narrator:
but stiff competition isn't
the only threats

On the bering sea
this morning.

Look at that horizon, emily.
Look at how jagged she is.

When you have waves
like that on the horizon,

It usually means we're
getting a cycle coming in.

♪♪

Bob: we're at the mercy
of mother nature

A little bit to just kind
of see what we can do.

Okay.
Roger that.

♪♪

Oh, I feel that current ripping
down here a little bit, em.

Emily: hey, bobs.

That north wind
is pushing us south here.

Bob: yeah.
Yeah, I can feel that.

Whoa, this is nasty.

Emily: I don't like these kinds
of conditions, you know.

This definitely makes this a lot
more dangerous

When you can't see.

Bob: every time you move,
you stir up some silt,

And it makes it hard
to see the distance around you.

When the visibility is this bad,

There's really not
much you can do

Unless you drop right down
on your spot.

Okay.
How we doing?

Emily: that's what I love to
hear, bobs.

He found a seam, and it
seems to be containing gold.

His viz is low.

His vision is not great, but
he's on some gold down there.

There's some weather
literally on the horizon.

Things are going to get
kind of frisky,

So we're just going
to make money while we can

And then take off
when we have to.

♪♪

Narrator:


It's gray and windy
and cold and wet.

We're about 10 miles
out of holy cross,

Another village
on the yukon here.

You can't tell much by
looking at this damn chart.

You couldn't even call it
a chart.

It looks more like a cat
pooped on the kitchen floor,

And somebody smeared it around.

Narrator:
captain vernon adkison,
his daughters,

Yvonne and elaine,
and crew members gary,

Amanda, and jonathan have made
it over 500 miles downriver.

Now vernon has got his sights

Set on the village
of holy cross,

Looking for one more chance
to prospect along the riverbanks

And make his 1,000-mile journey
worth its weight in gold.

Vernon: we're going to do
a little prospecting,

A little more prospecting.

I got some hot spots picked out
on the way to holy cross

Based on gold strikes from
some of them,

As far back as 100 years ago.

If we get lucky,
we can get enough gold

To pay for this trip.

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator:
with just 10 miles
between the captain

And his holy cross payday...

...dark clouds
and shallow waters loom ahead.

The winds on this river
can pick up

Just in the space
of a few minutes.

It can go from flat calm

To blowing
like a blue ball banshee.

This storm caught me
by surprise.

It just blew up
out of nowhere.

Well, we just got caught
in a storm.

We got nasty weather.

How's it looking, gary?

Narrator:
are wreaking havoc

On the 2 1/2-ton jet boat
tethered to the gold ship.

♪♪

Vernon: don't panic.
Just keep your head.

♪♪

The jet boat is starting
to do some damage.

It's pounding.

Something is going
to break loose.

It's going to break a hole
in the side of the boat.

It's going to fill with water
and then pull us down with it.

Hang on!

I probably rolled

About 250,000, maybe 300,000
into the gold ship.

I've pretty much rolled
everything

I've got
into this operation.

When it comes down to saving
the gold ship

Or losing the jet boat,
I got to save the gold ship.

-Water in the boat.
-Water in the boat.

Cut it loose!

There's ropes
in the water now.

Don't get them
in your outboard.

Watch the prop.

It's gone.

Amanda:
there's nothing?

Vernon: that jet boat
is very important to us.

I know jonathan and amanda
are upset.

All their gear
is aboard that boat.

-Maybe.
-Maybe?

Yeah, maybe.

That has everything of ours
on it that matters, vernon.

That has everything.

Well, right now, I'm mainly
concerned with our lives.

The boat
was shipping water.

I didn't need that damn boat
sinking alongside us

And pulling us
down with it.

I'm hoping the current
will sweep the jet boat

Over to the bank,
and we'll be able to find it

And recover it
when the storm passes.

But when it comes to safety,

I can't allow anybody to put
their lives in danger

To save their stuff.

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator:


Pull the anchor. I'm gonna
start the motor.

We're going to move up


...the strategy to revisit
the site of last year's



...is coming up aces
for the irish.

Yeah, way to go, kris.

Yeah, thank you.
Thank you very much.

I hope to be here all week
doing the same thing.

This area has been
real good to us.

Last year,
it was really good to us.

So what we're doing is we're
getting on our old spots

And working, like, spots

Between the spots
that we didn't work.

We're trying to fill
in the blanks.

I'm going to start to move now,
okay?

So just hang on.
Holler if something goes wrong.

Okay.
No problem.

We got to make
every second count today.

Hey, we're at least moving
in the right direction.

- Okay, stop right here.
-Stop! Drop it!

♪♪

Well, that's all right.

Fine gold, chunky gold,
an ounce an hour.

Ounce an hour.

Ounce an hour, hey?

Go, kris, go.

Remember, it's always go,
kris, go.

♪♪

Now, keep me informed on the
weather because we're at like

One-footers, foot and a half
coming up right now.

Narrator:
but now the squall that's been
haunting the horizon

Is landing
in the reaper'sbackyard.

Well, just keep on.

We don't have a lot of time
out here,

Maybe another hour left.

That's it.
-Why not?

Because it's starting
to blow up.

The reaperdoesn't handle
any weather at all.

It's made for kind of
a little bit of a chop

Or nice, sunny days.

When the waves are rolling,
anything rocks around and dips

Under the water,
it's a nightmare.

I'm not going to tell you
it isn't because it's terrible.

What the hell?

It's getting worse.

I don't even know where
this came from, man.

The wind is supposed
to blow north,

But it's blowing southeast,
which is not good for us here.

♪♪

♪♪

It's done.
He's coming up.

Narrator:
the southern squall has
cut short their hot streak.

Kris: looks pretty good.

Narrator:
but even these storm clouds
aren't enough

To keep captain kris
from finding his silver lining.

Kris: as long as I'm confident
and believe in myself,

I can do anything.

Well, at least we've got
enough gold

To easily cover the cost
of the tent that we need.

We get another couple
more good-weather days...

Hopefully, tomorrow will be
a lot better, a lot better.

♪♪

Narrator:


-Hey, bobs?
-Yeah.

How's it going down below?

Narrator:
...the howling southern winds

That battered the kellys
into submission...

...now have captain emily
and the eroicaon the ropes.

Bob: every time I try to move
to the left, I get pulled back.

Emily: we have some south storms
coming in

And these crazy strong currents,
and it's starting to get rough.

We just had a wind change
after you went down.

Yeah, we're dragging like crazy.

We're dragging like crazy
right now.

Emily: the goal is to get
as much gold as possible.

We're going to keep pushing
through

Even though the odds are kind
of stacking against us here.

Yeah, I don't know
what's going on, honestly, bob.

We've moved back
to where we started at.

So the wind has been
pushing us this way.

We kind of anchored accordingly.

Now it's dying, and so we're
going to get pushed this way.

Damn it. I can tell something
is going on

Because every time I set my
hose one direction,

It goes another.
My air line is pulling on me.

I don't even...
I can't really see.

Emily:
we've got three anchors out
in the same direction right now,

But it's just not holding us.

The anchors aren't doing
[bleep] right now.

Emily: you are on the bottom
of the bering sea,

And there's a current of water
pushing you

In one direction or another,
and it's throwing you around.

You're trying to wrestle
a 10-inch hose

With a tremendous amount
of suction,

With 100 horses
of suction behind it.

It just makes it more dangerous.

I don't even know where
to go right now.

Emily:
yeah, bobs, I was going to say,

Unless you're on
some gold down there,

We should probably
just bail.

Yeah.
I'm coming up.

Emily: okay.

You know, we're just not
getting enough bottom time in,

And as a business owner,
I'm concerned.

It's obviously a huge loss
for the boat,

But I really don't want
to put my crew down

When the currents
are ripping this hard.

Bob: yeah, I'm walking all over
the place

And struggling to find
any ground

You'd work for more
than 5 minutes,

And we'd be walking around
too much looking for [bleep].

Yeah.
No worries, man.

Emily:
I'm glad that we got out.

I'm glad that we beat
the other boat out

Because those guys suck,

But "satisfied" is really the
wrong word for this job, man.

It's get what you can
and try to make it work.

♪♪

Narrator: coming up...

Shawn: you have to be quite
the macgyver on the ocean.

I have my reputation
on the line.

I am not giving up.

Narrator:
on the outskirts of nome...

Shawn:
well, we have to find a bearing.

What can we steal
something off of?

Narrator:
...shawn is facing the same
problem miners

Have wrestled with
for generations.

How do you fix
a busted component...

No, I don't think
they're the same bearing.

The bearing
is way bigger.

...when the nearest replacement
is 100 miles away?

Shawn: trying to find something
with the same bearing,

But that's going to be [bleep]

A miracle if a guy
ever finds anything like that.

You never know where
you can find one though.

Narrator:
but you don't earn the title
of mr. Gold

By letting a ball bearing
keep you off a hot streak.

You have to be quite the
macgyver on the ocean

Because, you know,
if you got to wait

For a mechanic to come out
to fix your motor,

Well, crap,
you could be down for days.

Maybe.
Will the guy get lucky?

A lot of people say, "you guys
got a lot of junk

In your yard out there."

Well, junk to one man
is another man's treasure

Or means to get a treasure.

Perfect spacing.

That was a good find.

Narrator:
back on the christine rose,

It's a race to install
the replacement bearing...

Shawn:
every day, everything looks
like it's good.

Narrator:
...and keep this day
from going to the dogs.

Now it's time to get back
on the beachline

And pile some gold in the box.

If we have many more days
like that,

We ain't ever going to
hit 1,000 ounces.

♪♪

Oh, yeah.
We're good.

We're going to go over here
and see

If we can get back
on top of this.

Oh.

I got to get some dirt
in the bucket.

Narrator:
lucky for shawn, the winter
winds that blew

Emily and kris off the water
aren't powerful enough

To slow down the 80-ton
christine roseyet.

Shawn: just getting warmed up.

That's what we're looking for,
big rocks.

Yum, yum.

That's it, right there.

Ooh.

Oh, yeah.

That's the sound of money,
folks.

That's the sound of money.

Back up and running,
kind of a rough run.

We lost a whole half a shift,

But we're back
making gold again.

♪♪

Narrator:


Vernon: okay, let me know
when you're ready.

Narrator:
...captain vernon adkison
is launching a recovery mission,

Hoping to retrieve the jet boat
he was forced to cut loose

During last night's
sudden storm.

Doesn't even look like it
took in water.

It probably had a better night
of it than we did.

If it had sunk to the bottom
of the yukon river,

It would still be much better
than somebody getting hurt

Or possibly k*lled.

Ultimately, as the captain,
it's all my responsibility,

And I've felt the weight
of that responsibility

Lots of times
in my career.

This is the first time
I've been in this situation

With more or less civilians
and my family on top of that.

So I think, if we deploy
the dingy off the stern,

I can move the boat back
and forth to the point

Where it just angles right
over there to the boat.

Okay, guys.
You can put it in the water.

Narrator:
amanda and jonathan
aren't about

To let all of their possessions
float away a second time.

Vernon: put them on back there
and see what the wind does.

Narrator:
so they volunteer to man
the 6-foot rubber dingy

And try to lasso
the wayward vessel.

-It's looking a little rough.
-All right.

We're good.
-You watch that.

I'll watch up here.
-Yeah, I got it.

Vernon:
you let me know if it looks like
they're getting in trouble.

Gary, let go of the line!

♪♪

It's good to have that jet
boat back.

We depend on it.

Team performed flawlessly

Except for amanda,
and she mutineed.

Jonathan:
I got my home back.

But I think I'll let her
get away with it.

Narrator:
a successful rescue means vernon
can get back to prospecting.

We dodged a b*llet,
and we'll go ahead

And proceed to the mouth of the
river, ultimately to the sea.

We're going to do a little
more prospecting

On our trip down the river.

Once we get to nome,

That's when we're going to
really pack the sluice box.

It's no longer going to be
holy cross.

It's going to be holy [bleep].
-Another day on the yukon.

Narrator: coming up...

For this cleanup, we didn't
really get the kind of hours

On the kind of ground
that we wanted,

So I'm not sure
what to expect out of this.

Looking like gold.
Ought to look.

♪ By the sea ♪
♪ by the sea ♪

♪ By the beautiful sea ♪

Vernon: just between you and me,
most of the problems

I've had in life
have been from short guys.

I mean, I don't give a [bleep]
if you're short or tall.

It does not make me
one bit of difference,

But short guys
seem to hate me for some reason.

They hate me for every inch
I got on them.

Small guys, they can
get into tighter spaces.

Sometimes
it's handy being small.

I mean, I'm not saying
I'd rather be short,

But I am saying

That I don't have
anything against short people

Except that they generally
tend to be a pain in the a*s.

Narrator:
on the outskirts of nome...

I'm not sure what to expect
out of this, gold-wise.

Strong current,
terrible viz, bad weather.

Narrator:
...emily was blown off course
by the nasty southern squall

That rocked the fleet.

Ooh, man.
You know what?

Gold just never stops
being hypnotizing, does it?

It's just so...
-I didn't hear

What you said there.
I was hypnotized.

[ Laughs ]

Oh, it's looking good.
Looking like gold ought to look.

Narrator:
halfway through the season
and far short of her goal,

It's safe to say emily is not
quite on pace to hit the mark.

We're not getting hours
that we need to be successful.

I don't have a second
regular diver.

Jeff is gone.

Chase is just new,
and I'm worried about it.

I'm worried that we're not
getting enough time

On the bottom.

We have 1 ounce...







Narrator:
over $10,000.



Well, not bad,
you know?

It's not bad gold
for that area.

Narrator:
it's not the number
she was hoping for,

But emily's strategy
of starting the day at dawn

Provided a few critical ounces.

It's not bad considering
how much we were getting dragged

Around and
on worked ground and...

Yeah, we always hope for
the best and plan for the worst.

Emily: we have a long way to go,
but we'll get there.

Narrator: across town...

♪♪

Shawn: break her down
and see what we have.

Narrator:
...shawn cooks down the gold
from a breakdown-shortened run.

Shawn: kind of sucked.

We got out,
got on the old beachline.

Then the bearing went out,
cost us a day and a half.

So we don't have as much time
on the box as we'd like,

But we're going to go ahead
and run it and see what we got.

Narrator: the 100-ounce bet
with rival ken kerr

Has been neck
and neck all season.

It'll take more than a broken
engine to bring down mr. Gold.

I have my reputation
on the line.

I am not giving up my title.

You can try, ken, but you're
just not going to get it.

This cleanup could've been
way better.

Another day and a half,
half a day out in the box

Would've made a lot more gold,

But you deal with the cards
you're dealt,

And alls you can try to do
is prevent it the next time.

Should be a lot more gold
going up this wheel.

♪♪

Should be about another 10,


Maybe even more,
but that's the way it goes.

♪♪

There we go.

Let's see what we got.

There's 10.

There's 20.

Got about 40 hours on the box.

There's an ounce an hour.

Ooh, there we go, 56 ounces.

That's not too shabby.

Narrator:


It's a respectable total
for just 40 hours on the box.

Shawn: mistakes like that,
we can't have any more,

But we're going to get it
done one way or another.

If I have to sell my house,
I'll sell my house

Because I'll be able to buy


♪♪

Narrator:
as the summer mining season
hits the halfway mark,

Shawn is back on top
with ken kerr close behind.

♪♪

♪♪

My gut tells me
it's coming this way.

I definitely think this is
the kind of stuff

That we're looking for.

All right.
Sweet.

Trying to create a dredge,
very small, very fast.

-Hold on.
-All right. Fire up the pump!

-Dig, baby, dig!
-Let's go.

This right now is the furthest
we've been, ever.

It's all new.
From right now, it's all new.

I think I've found
an old river channel.

Emily:
that could be really good, dude.

Loaded with pickers, man.
Look at this.

The best $1,000 investment
we've made yet!

-30, 40, 50.
-Hey.

-Hey!
-Good day to find some gold.

Yeah!

♪♪