We got two
or three inches of solid ice.
The weather dropped like
But we need this gold
no matter what.
Time has run out
for the miners.
We got one more day
left of the season.
It's like now or never.
With ice
forming in the harbor
and a winter storm
speeding toward Nome
that'll bring
the mining season to an end...
It's all about the gold!
Here we go.
...it's the fleet's
last push for gold.
Get mining!
Oh, yeah.
We're k*lling it right now.
This is the best gold
I've seen in Nome.
Woo-hoo,
we're making money at the end.
In the final showdown
between the miners
and the Bering Sea...
Looks like the storm is coming
in earlier than we thought.
We're gonna keep
pressing hard
before the ocean
makes us leave.
Who will fold first
and who will be
the last one standing?
Oh, .
You can't see anything.
It's just black.
We gotta get out of here.
Come up, come up.
Our last run
of the season.
It's time to get the hell out
of here and go make some gold.
On the final day
of summer mining,
the first one
out of the gate pre-dawn
is Mr. Gold, Shawn Pomrenke.
Security, security.
The Myrtle Irene
leaving the inner harbor,
heading for sea.
This is our lucky run.
We're gonna have
a smooth run.
Smooth.
I mean,
because we need the gold.
We've had a horrible season.
But right now, hopefully,
we've gotten everything fixed
to where we could just go out
and run and make some gold.
The last day of every mining
season, you get butterflies.
The pressure's on.
But this season,
more than ever,
I'm feeling it.
The Myrtle's given me
a lot of fits this summer.
It could be the end
of the Myrtle's season.
Shut everything off. Hey!
Damn it.
The bearings
went out on the plant.
bull .
I've been fighting
with my dad
over the deal
for the inland mine.
you.
I ain't gonna
stand down anymore!
And the storm of the century
threatened to shut us down
completely.
The water is rising
and rising.
I could lose
every boat I own.
All right, Myrtle.
Be nice to us.
No breakdowns.
You think you can
handle that?
In the end, I cut my goal
for the season in half.
That'll be enough to pay
the bills, pay out my dad
for the inland mine,
and to have just enough
to keep my investor Dave Young
willing to move forward.
But I need everything
to go right for me
to hit that number.
Today is gonna be
a good day.
Gonna get out there,
gonna pile a whole bunch
of gold into the box.
That's the plan.
Gold. Gold, gold, gold.
Here we are on the spot.
Let's get ready
to drop the spuds.
Copy that.
Go ahead
and fire up that water pump.
Plant is running.
Nice.
Cody was on a solid
pay streak last time out,
so the plan is to get
the Myrtle on it, too.
We got about 12 to 14 hours
before the weather kicks in
and the fat lady calls it.
Till then,
we need the Christine Rose
and the Myrtle
on the gold every second.
Plant's shaking.
Moving and grooving.
Cody found a little spot.
It's a little too deep
for him to dig on
but not too deep
for the Myrtle.
Here we go.
The Christine Rose
can dig 19 feet deep.
And the Myrtle,
it can dig 25, just past it.
So Cody's gonna hit
the shallow part
of the pay streak,
while I hit the deeper.
With both of us
tag teaming it,
we should be able
to hit our goal.
But time's almost up.
We're gonna have to thread
a needle to pull this one off.
Cody found it was sand
and then a nice good cobble,
so let's see.
What do we got?
We got our sand.
So then, there should be
nice some rock.
Come on,
you son of a b*tch.
Make some gold today.
Where's this cobble at?
Where's the gold at?
Can't make no money
with buckets like that.
See what the hell
we can find here.
Show me some gravel
underneath there.
Steady as she goes.
Oh, there it is.
Look at that.
Oh, yeah.
You got big rock, gravel,
sand, and everything you want.
This is some
of the best looking material
I've seen all year.
But with the clock
running down,
I'm not leaving
anything to chance.
We're gonna check
the box, see how we're doing.
I gotta see if this dirt
is really paying.
Beautiful.
Box is looking good.
Got a bunch
of gold in the box.
Oh, yeah.
This is what we wanna run.
Yeah, there's gold
in that stuff right there.
Boom.
Now I just have
to stay on the gold
long enough
to end the season strong.
Every hour that you're
feeding dirt in the plant,
every bucket that goes
into the wash plant
is gold in the box.
Right now we need it.
We need a really good cleanup.
We're gonna get as many hours
on the box as we can.
You gotta make hay
while the sun shines.
Back in Nome...
The final push.
No excuses right now.
We need this gold
no matter what.
I'm going out
on the Mistress.
It's gonna be bad weather
-at midnight.
-Okay.
So just push it
as long as you can.
Hopefully, we have visibility
and hopefully you guys
get some gold
-to save our season.
-Okay.
With just hours remaining,
Kris Kelly is intent
on unleashing
the full might
of Reaper Nation.
Okay.
I'll see you guys tonight.
-Okay.
-Good luck.
-Any problems, call me...
- Don't call you.
But I won't be able
to do anything
-because I'm not--
-That's what I said.
-Don't call you.
-Okay.
What are you gonna do
for me?
You know what, we are broke.
Make that money.
Yeah, let's go get it.
Yeah.
Get on the boat, everybody.
-Let's go.
- Okay. Let's hit it.
So this is it,
last day to mine.
This season hasn't exactly
lived up to my expectations.
We had issues pretty much
all the way around.
Oh, good thing
I came down here
because we got
about six inches of water
going through
the whole boat.
That doesn't look right.
Wow. I can't believe
I got so hard.
The crawler was supposed
to be ready from day one,
but that didn't happen.
And when it was on the water,
it was far from flawless.
You lost the crawler?
I'm !
I just got it going.
Okay, let's rock and roll.
Now it's all come down
to the last few hours
to hit our goal.
If we could hit that mark,
it'll prove
that Reaper Nation
has a future.
And it will show Kevin
that it's all worth it.
But if not,
it might be all she wrote
and we'll have
to pack it in.
Now that makes me happy.
See my boats come out
in a line.
Everybody going out there
to make money.
Good luck, everybody!
I'll see you tonight!
Don't come back
without gold!
I came here living in a tent
with my boat on the river.
Now I own
my own excavation barge,
my own crawler.
I becoming a force
to be reckoned with
in this town.
Next year
will be ten times better.
Every year
will just keep getting better
and I'm building
on my empire.
This is just
the start.
So the plan is super simple.
We're gonna pull up to this
spot that says number eight.
We're gonna hit it.
And then,
if we can't get a lot of gold,
we'll just start going in
from there,
because from here
to the shore,
there's a bunch of gold
in here.
We have limited time,
so my strategy
is make these hours
count as much as we can.
We've been on okay gold,
but I'm moving off of it
and onto a spot where
we've scored big this season.
It's a risk
but if we don't get back
on that k*ller gold,
we could end up with nothing.
I'm confident
this is the right call.
Yeah, let's do it right there!
We're on the spot!
Dropping.
We're here,
we're gonna push hard.
We're gonna make it work.
We're gonna get a lot of gold.
Spuds are down.
We're ready to dig.
It's garbage.
We're making a move.
Okay. So maybe this isn't
exactly the right spot,
but I know I'm close.
We'll just move
a little bit
and I'm sure
we'll be on it.
Let's just, uh,
drop back.
Exactly where we are,
drop backwards.
You know, we don't have
a lot of time left.
It'd be nice to start
seeing 150, 200 colors,
but I'm not greedy,
but I need it.
Yeah, we're at the spot.
Another crappy pan.
I'm not gonna go out
like this. I can't settle.
Push back
like five feet.
Let's... Yeah, let's drop back
and stay on the...
Stay on the cut if we can.
It's gotta be great gold.
That's our only choice
right now.
And we just gotta move fast
and find it.
Okay!
Man.
I don't know
if that's gold or pyrite.
That's gold.
It's washing away,
it means it's pyrite.
God it makes me
even more grumpy.
That's some chunky gold
and it's looking better.
I'm always in a better mood
when I make money.
I don't know,
call me sick I guess.
Oh, hey!
Now we're talking.
This is the spot
I was hoping to find.
Now we just gotta dig
and dig and grind
until the last
possible second.
Our future's at stake here.
We're moving
so much material.
We're getting
over $1,000 an hour right now.
That's perfect.
We got one more day
left of the season.
This is our last push.
And we're, uh...
I'm pulling out.
Everything's cold.
We should just run...
We should run the compressor,
the generator,
we should just run everything
while we're motoring out.
-Let it warm up.
-Work the kinks out.
On Team Eroica's
last day of the season...
Yeah. All right.
We're rocking
and we're rolling.
The final dive
will rest entirely
on the shoulders
of Dan Rainwater.
All right.
This summer
has been total madness.
We finally built
a great team of divers,
which was the strategy
for the season,
but for this last part,
we just have Dan.
The other guys have gone home.
Alex is with the baby.
So it'll be on Dan and I
to meet our goals
for the season.
Basically, we need
I... I'd be disappointed
if we didn't get it.
It's like an investment
in the future of this boat
to have good divers
who can produce gold
and be more dependable.
We have a really good thing
going here.
The strategy
of the day is to go
back to the spot
that's producing
hot gold for us all summer.
I'm just gonna have Dan stay
down as long as possible
'cause we're really hoping
to hit that 200 ounce mark
and I know Dan's up for it.
He's got gold fever,
so he'll stay down
as long as he needs to.
A good long dive from Dan
is gonna be a way
to make up
the horrible ice mining season
we had last winter
and to get us set up
for the future.
Ounces in the box,
it's what's all about
now that we have
a family to support.
There's a lot at stake here
and I really want
this dive to go well.
So, it's re-it's really...
It's really important.
All right. Suit up.
Let's go.
Okay.
The visibility is good
and the current
is not too strong.
Idling up.
Are you seeing
any gold down there?
Uh, no.
Don't see any gold yet.
Where are you?
Where are you?
Okay, roger.
Just keep working.
Roger.
All right.
Gobble 'em up.
Oh, yeah. There's even more
further I get into this.
Look at that.
All right.
Dude, that's amazing.
Oh, yeah,
they're all up in here.
One, two,
three, four, five, six.
Look at that one.
Seven right there,
just more and more gold.
That's really good news.
Gold,
gold, gold, gold, gold.
Hell, yeah!
That's what
I'm talking about!
Great. Dan's doing it.
He's diving,
he's on some good gold.
Ye-haw.
Woo-hoo!
We're making money at the end.
Oh, boy is it nice.
Back
in the harbor...
Going gold mining
and we're just about ready
to blast off.
Now we get
some gold in that box.
Vernon Adkison gears up
for his last push
of the season.
Let's see
if we can't get out here.
How's my stern?
You're okay.
There's snow
in the harbor.
Ice is starting to form.
This is truly
the end of the line
for a very rough season.
Hand over fist,
hemorrhaging money.
The boat's ready to go.
I got gold on my claim,
but I've got no divers.
It's been a struggle.
I reduced my season goal
from a pie in the sky number
to a more practical one.
I've been bleeding money
all season long.
The smaller number
is what it'll take
to keep me in business.
If I don't reach it,
I may not be able to afford
to keep going any longer.
Okay. Here it goes.
Let's get her fired up.
Get the gear in the water.
The plan for today
is straightforward.
We're gonna keep
with our deep mining strategy.
Going 40 plus feet
is much more
dangerous for divers,
much easier
to get the bends,
or to get caught in the long
lines going down there.
But the ground
is untouched
so the rewards
have been worth the risk.
Going for maximum gold.
There we go. Okay.
All right.
Gary's my gold gorilla.
He's going down first.
I need him to get
on the gold ASAP.
Then we'll throw
as many more divers
as we can on it
for the rest of the day.
So, Gary,
what do you think?
You got just straight sand?
How much overboard
before you get down
to the hard pan?
A few inches of sand
to the hard pan?
It's got gold in the sand?
All right,
that's what we wanna hear.
Hey, uh, Kevin?
Let's pull that test mat.
Gary is seeing gold,
but the only way
to really know
if it's worth sticking around
for is to do a test pan.
I don't even wanna
waste a second today,
so let's make sure
we got something good here.
All right.
Let's see what we got here.
Oh, yeah, that's perfect.
Nice chunky stuff.
We're on it, Vern, finally.
That's good gold.
That's a good test mat.
Really good.
I'm very pleased with that.
The test mat
is looking good.
Beautiful gold
and it couldn't come
at a better time.
This spot's the b*mb.
Now we just need to squeeze
out every last ounce.
Mop it up.
Mop it up.
With a winter storm
set to hit Nome overnight,
the fleet faces their
final day of summer mining.
And in the harbor...
All right. Good morning.
...Chris McCully's hoping
to get one last bite
at the golden apple.
We're here out again
on the Bering Sea
in the hopes
for a good visibility today.
Every day, every time
we wake up, we're trying.
This summer is like the tale
of two seasons for me.
Definitely is
gonna pay out.
Whoo!
Things started out hot
and the first
half of the summer,
we were on fire.
But since that storm hit,
I haven't been able to mine.
How's that vis?
Copy that.
Everyone's situation
is different
and every claim
is different as well,
but there's literally
zero visibility on my claim.
I really wanted to smash
following what I have
done this winter
to prove that I'm one of
the biggest players up here.
Not sure
if I'm gonna pull it off.
And today's
my last shot to do it.
Look at that, there's snow
on the mountains already,
so I feel like
the end is coming
quicker than I thought.
It's brutal, man.
Cam is gonna go in the water
to check the visibility,
and if there's visibility
then that's great
because we can put
more gold in the box.
So cross my fingers,
hopefully we got good vis.
There's no way
to sugarcoat this.
It all comes down
to this dive.
We still have some gold
left in the box,
but there's no way
we can hit our goal
if we can't mine today,
and that sucks.
All right, buddy,
to gettin' money!
Oh, yeah, seeing
Cam is in the water,
so let's roll the dice.
Mic check. Mic check.
All right.
Loud and clear.
Yeah.
You wanna try
to run a little bit,
see if it clears up?
Let me know
when you're ready.
Trying to figure it out
if it's workable or not.
He said so far
it's pretty murky.
He's punching hole right now,
but it's still
not clear enough to see.
But as soon
as you throttle up,
I'm hoping
that all that suction
would suck up that bad vis,
we'll see.
Cross the fingers, man.
So what's
your visibility like?
Do you think
it's workable enough or no?
Damn it.
nasty situation, dude.
Let me go check it
real quick.
Yeah, it's still running.
I think it's plugged up again
with that gunk .
We need to clean up
the carburetor.
Yeah, the
thing would stop...
-Huh?
-It doesn't wanna work.
It's not workable
anyway right now, so...
Not good enough.
Well, at least we tried,
you know?
Yeah.
We're trying to make money,
but can't really.
With the vis
it's not workable today,
so we're just gonna
pack up and head home.
It's really devastating.
The first half of the season
couldn't have been
any better,
and then the storm kicks in
so we can't mine anymore
and basically,
I'm forced to pack it in.
It's a rollercoaster ride
and it's not a good one.
It's frustrating.
Yeah, it's sad.
How it is right now,
it's like...
it's hopeless,
you know what I mean?
Heartbreaking.
As Chris
and the Tahta
pack it in for the season...
across the water...
We're k*lling it
right now.
Lots of gold.
She's been
mining pretty steady.
We haven't had
any problems
with the 58 mining so far.
Kris Kelly
has the Mistress
raking in the gold.
The buckets
look so good.
It may have taken
to the end of the season,
but The Mistress
is finally operating
like I always
thought it would.
Bam, I like it.
We're gonna stay
on this pay streak
as long as I possibly can
and finish with a bang.
I just hope Andy is doing
as good on the crawler.
Yeah!
Whoo!
It's all about the gold!
And on the other side
of the claim...
Our anchors are set.
We're exactly at 30 feet
where I wanna start out.
Now, we're gonna start to get
all my equipment together
to drop it
in the water and get going.
This is what
I needed to start this day.
No nonsense, no drama
and ground at 30 feet.
That's the sweet spot
for the crawler.
It's deep enough
that the ground is untouched,
but it's not so deep
that there's no light.
We're gonna get the crawler
down there on the gold
'cause I need this half
for Reaper Nation
to make it work.
How's my line?
Okay.
The water is actually
not looking that bad.
I got a clear view
of my nozzle.
I'm on the bottom.
I got visibility to work,
so I'm good to go.
We had no issues
getting the crawler down,
no issues getting
to the right depth.
And for the first time
since the storm,
the visibility's been good.
Everything's coming
together on the last day.
We just gotta fire up
the sluice
and start making money.
Start everything up.
What's the matter?
Is this frozen?
Oh, what the .
Get everything all set.
I have visibility
and then bam.
Our waterline
to our sluice box is frozen.
So he's gonna heat it
up real fast,
get the ice broken out
so we can get going.
It happens
this time of the year.
It's the time of the year
where you gotta start
thawing your sluice box,
all your waterlines.
If I was a diver right now,
I'd be blowing out
my umbilical, my waterline.
Just that time of the year.
So, we're just thawing it
right now
and we'll get this b*tch up
running here shortly.
We're good to go.
We're gonna start it
back up and go to work.
- You're ready to go?
- Yeah, go do it for me.
Uh, what's the problem?
Whoa.
What the .
We had a freeze up
in our pipeline.
We go to start back up again.
My fuel pump took a .
Like, what the , man?
I mean,
everything's running great.
My equipment is all down.
I'm ready to go and now a fuel
pump is gonna stop my day.
I can't catch a
break on this boat.
This sucks. There's been
something wrong every time.
Finally, everything
was going great,
then the pump engine
went out
and we can't mine
without it.
I'm bringing
my crawler up right now.
The crawler has promise.
It works great,
but this whole operation
was frustrating.
We're gonna
iron out everything.
And when we do,
it's gonna be great.
But for this summer,
that's it.
I don't have
an extra fuel pump on me.
I mean, there's just
always something
that's just
kicking me back down
every time
I'm just about to do it...
and...
I don't know.
Now, I'm out of service.
I can't call my brother and...
me, man.
This boat's done
for the season.
I don't know
what else to say.
That was a big waste
of time.
All right.
So, Gary,
what are you seeing?
Vernon Adkison's
final deep water push,
good results in deep pockets.
You gotta make your
decompression stop, right?
Okay.
We'll handle
your umbilical.
Gary's got
his two hours in.
He's coming up.
I got a feeling he had
a really productive two hours.
At these depths,
the divers
can only go for two hours
before their nitrogen
builds up
and it gets too risky.
So, we'll have Gary come up.
It's not bad.
The next one will be
a lot better than this one.
I mean, I'm on it
down there.
I mean, I can see
the little gold everywhere.
Really? Nice.
Now we'll get
Brad down there.
If we can get a full dive in
with him too,
I'll consider this a win.
After a rotten summer
for the gold chip,
we may be on the verge of our
best day for the season.
All right.
There he goes.
Okay.
We got another diver down.
Yeah. Brad,
do you hear me?
Okay. Real good.
Real good.
So far, I'm liking
this spot just fine.
We gotta finish
this season with a bang.
Back in Nome...
What up?
We're gonna
go for a boat ride.
With the highest gold total
of his career
already in the books,
Zeke Tenhoff's
looking to squeeze out
one last run
before calling it a season.
We're gonna give her a run.
Good to go?
Beautiful day on the water.
I've heard mixed reports
about there
being any visibility.
If there's no vis today,
I'm thinking
that like that's gonna...
That's just gonna be
a season-ender.
This season's been rough
for the fleet and for Nome.
But for me, it's been amazing.
I set a goal of 55 ounces,
but I'm already past that.
So, I had to set a new goal.
I made enough to make
the first $100,000 payment
on the Synergy,
but that's just
what was due
at the end
of the summer.
I still have
to pay another $300,000
for this boat over time.
So, we really can't
take our foot off the gas.
Go ahead and throw the anchor
down right about here.
But today, the question
is visibility on Tomcod.
Am I even gonna get
a chance at the plate
or are we done
for the season?
Let's, uh,
pop that camera down.
Yeah. Let's definitely
drop the camera.
See if it inspires us.
If it doesn't inspire us,
then I'm totally down
to turn this boat around
and head right back
to the harbor.
Word.
One of the keys to mining
on the Bering Sea
is ingenuity.
We have to figure out ways
to get whatever it is
that needs to get done
in the moment.
What we have to figure out
today is visibility.
So, I'm gonna strap
a GoPro camera
to a three-foot pipe
and send it down.
I'm gonna try
to get a sense
of how much murk
is down there.
I have to have at least
three feet of visibility
in front of my face
to make it work.
So, this is one foot,
two foot,
and then we'll guesstimate
that this is
gonna be three foot.
And then we're gonna attach
the GoPro back here.
We should be able to, uh,
get a really good reading.
So if we could see there,
then we'll be able to see.
But that'll
basically just drop
in the water like that.
Okay. That's on the bottom.
All right. Here we go.
Oh, yeah.
That's black.
Yeah. that.
That's grim.
That's grim, dude.
-It's pitch-dark down there.
-Yeah.
You can't see anything.
I hate to say it,
but I guess it's time
-to get into the boat.
-Time to get the boat
out of the water.
Get the boat
out of the water and--
-Boat's coming out.
- Boat's coming out.
- Boat's coming out.
- Yeah. Boat's
coming out now. Sure.
So, that big typhoon
that we had,
it stirred up
the murk so badly
that, uh...
the murk just never
cleared out.
The storm really
screwed up everything
for this last stretch.
There've been little pockets
where it's been mineable.
But overall,
it really k*lled our ability
to be able to do our job.
Even now, the impact
of the storm is ongoing
and it really sucks for us.
You gotta be able to see
down there. You can't see.
It doesn't even look like
we had an entire foot of vis.
There's like a layer
of just black stuff
on the bottom that looks
like it's a couple feet deep.
Just murk,
just black,
impenetrable gloom.
It's time to wrap it up
for the season.
We did all we could.
Hey, how is it
going down there?
It's going great.
Awesome.
Thanks, Emily.
Three hours
into the final dive
of the season...
...Eroica diver,
Dan Rainwater,
is making the most
of his time on the sea floor
and 200 ounces may be
within reach.
Let her eat.
Oh, yeah.
There we go.
Oh...
Are you kidding me?
Yeah. I think you've
got a rock jam.
All right.
Just when you thought
you were k*lling it
and Dan's on good gold,
we got this nasty rock jam.
And that could really make
all the difference right now.
I mean,
this is our last chance.
There's not gonna be
another day to mine.
We do not have the time
to spend on this rock jam.
We have to do whatever
it takes to fix it
as fast as possible
to get back on the gold.
We hit the hose and it did
nothing to move the rock.
Let's go ahead
and float the hose
and see if we can find it
that way.
Yeah, dude.
I'm so sorry.
That's such a bummer.
Hopefully, it's just a jam
and we can get
right back to it.
All right.
We really can't diagnose
the problem right now
and I'm worried that
it might be an equipment issue
and not a rock jam.
And if that's the case,
I mean, we're done
and there's no chance
we hit 200.
Anyway, we're gonna pull
the hose up...
At this point,
whatever the problem is,
whether it's equipment
or a rock jam,
it's taking up too much time
and I cannot afford that.
I think if there's a jam
in the hose,
it's probably there. It's low.
I gotta hook it up,
gotta get the hose to me
and just hit it with a hammer
until it frickin' gives in.
Okay.
-Whoo! Booya.
-Okay.
All right.
Situations like this,
you gotta
roll up your sleeves
and fix the problem,
especially if you know
you have no time left,
just like today.
-I'm going for it.
-All right.
So, we found the rock,
we got the hose cleared,
and we got
full suction again.
And it's time for Dan
to get back down there
and go to work.
Awesome.
It's a bummer.
We lost some time
for the rock jam.
- Nice.
We lost like an hour
and a half
with that horrible rock jam
and it's our
very last night
of gold dredging
for the season,
but we're making it happen.
That's great, dude.
Keep it up.
Yeah.
Across the water...
Look at that.
We're piling up the gold.
We've been here
about four hours
and it's been paying
and paying, and paying.
On his last run
of the season,
Shawn Pomrenke
could be headed
to a golden finish.
Oh, yeah.
We're digging down
into the pay layer
about six feet below
the top of the surface.
And it seems like good pay
all the way down
to the bottom.
It's really easy digging,
production stays up
because you're not
spending your time moving.
And the box looked really good
the last time we checked it.
Making some damn money.
Yeah.
We needed everything to fire
on all cylinders today,
both the CR and the Myrtle
had to be cranking.
And so far, it looks like
that's what's happening.
What's up, dude?
How's it going over there?
This ground is pretty rich.
You know, we're catching
a lot of gold here.
How's it going with you?
Yeah, I don't know.
I got into this hole
over here and it's good.
There's a big pay streak
right here.
Yup. 10-4.
Oh, yeah.
Real good.
He's brought in
some good pay over there,
we're over here
about a mile away
and we're in
the good pay.
When you hear that rock
running down the screen deck
like it is right now...
It's money.
There's the clay.
Oh, yeah.
Gold here is amazing.
But I gotta get back
to the harbor
and prep for the arrival
of the Myrtle.
I'm gonna have the night crew
come in a little early
and push it alongside Cody
for the last couple hours.
The fun stuff is digging.
And digging up gold
and following the pay.
I have to trust my guys
to do it while I'm not here.
It makes everybody
feel better.
This makes the bank account
feel good, too.
Yeah.
All right, Chuck.
Pile the gold up, buddy.
I'm gonna go get ready.
It all comes down
to that final clean out.
Hopefully, the haul
from the CR
and the Myrtle will get us
to where we need to be.
Oh, yeah. There you go.
-All right, buddy. Good luck.
- Yup.
Call me if you guys
need anything.
I wish I could stay out
there digging,
but somebody's gotta keep
this business running.
End-of-season cleanup.
This is the last of it.
I'm surprised
that it's this much.
Zeke Tenhoff
wasn't able to get
a last day of mining in,
but it's possible
that a few ounces
from the buckets
could propel him
to 150 ounces.
Sweet.
We weren't able
to mine today,
but we did pretty well
in the past few days
we were able to,
and we still have some gold
to scrape out
of the bottom of the box.
If this weigh out
is anywhere near as good
as the ones
we've been having,
we're gonna end the season
with a bang.
I hope so. Let's hit
the trail loaded down.
Let's see
how it weighs up.
Oh, almost 15.
rings in at over $26,000,
bringing Zeke's final tally
to 152 ounces,
worth over $270,000.
- Not bad for a scraping
the bottom of the boat.
-Okay. Scraping.
-I'll take it all day.
-Yup, yup, yup.
What a season. First,
meeting our initial goal
and then breaking through
the revised one?
We really crushed it.
This is really gonna help
with the remaining payments
that I have on the Synergy.
And I have a lot of confidence
now moving forward.
I feel like
we're really leveling up.
-k*ller season.
-Yeah.
We roll into it next year,
um, that with the same stride,
we'll be able to get
double that easily.
Sure. We know what the boat
is gonna produce
every hour it goes out.
Everything was working
exactly how it needs to work.
Eventually, you have
to just, like, realize
that you have a good idea
of what you're better at
than other things.
You should probably
just stick with the things
that you notice you're better
at than the other things.
Back
on the water...
- Hey, Brad.
- Yeah?
The visibility
is deteriorating?
All right.
The door is closing
on the last dive
of the season
for Team Adkison.
He's seeing zero visibility
down there.
So, I think I'm gonna go ahead
and pull him out
and get our gear up.
Yeah.
Hey, Brad.
Yeah?
Right now,
you've been under
one hour and 50 minutes.
Let's go ahead and pull you.
The visibility is starting
to get too cloudy
down there to mine,
and Brad got almost
to the two-hour mark,
so I'm considering the day
a big success with two hot
dives on good gold.
We're finishing
on a good note, for sure.
Now hopefully, that skill
shows us a winner.
This some of the best gold
I've seen since
I've been in Nome.
We got a good lick.
All right.
Let's see what kind of Twitter
bombs there are out there.
And now,
buckle for another
"Social Hour with Vernon."
At NuggetsMeLotz,
"What was the biggest waste
of money
when it comes to mining?"
Well, the year
I had six dredges
in the water,
that was a big waste.
Got six boats in the water.
And boats are expensive.
I've cashed in all my chips
and put everything
on the line here.
My retirement,
my savings,
I'm all in.
So I had six rigs
in the water,
I only ever had six running
at the same time for one day
for about three hours.
Fact is...
I probably got a half
a million wrapped up
in this operation.
And the other thing
is that bottom crawler.
We ready? Okay.
Here we go.
I'm thinking
we got a winner.
- Whoa !
No!
Well, we just broke
the damn line
and the bot dropped.
It's only quarter
of a million dollar robot.
I could've just quit
and said that,
I lost a lot of money.
Woe is me.
I'm done with this ,
but I didn't.
I took what I learned
from that
and I built a bigger,
better rig.
It's taken me a few years,
actually several years.
- But that's okay.
I'm not gonna give up,
I'll keep after it
until I get it figured out.
This has been another
"Social Hour with Vernon."
I mean,
I got full confidence
that I can figure
this out.
So, you know, you live
and you learn.
But I burned up
a lot of money.
All right. Let's see what
we got to deal with here.
Despite
being shut down
on the water yet again,
Chris McCully's hoping
that the final scrape
of the box
yields a few final ounces
on the scale.
Okay.
We'll classify the dirt.
I know we won't be able
to hit the 300 ounce season.
But I have a few buckets
that we haven't cleaned yet.
So I'm hoping for a little
surprise on the scale.
All right.
Let's see how she goes.
Oh, yeah.
You see that?
Starting to pile up
right there.
So far,
it's looking good.
See how that looks.
Oh, okay. All right.
There it is. Yup.
Let's weigh this out.
So, here we go.
there's 200 grams.
There's 300 grams.
Come on, 380, 390.
Come on 400, 400.
Nice. Oh, there's more.
We forgot
the coarse pieces, man.
There's more.
We got 410 grams,
so that's...
Yeah, wow.
We got 13.1.
Dude, did it.
over 23 grand,
bringing Chris' season total
to 233 ounces
worth over $420,000.
That's really good,
that's really,
really great,
you know, that's,
that's just the result
I wanna come up with.
Did I hit my 300-ounce goal
this summer? No.
But did I get
a ton of gold?
Absolutely.
I think I proved to everyone
that I'm one of
the heavy-hitters out here.
Two seasons in a row now
we delivered big.
If we can get a summer
without a storm
of the century,
I think we'd
be unstoppable.
My plan from there
is to continue on
where I've been mining
this whole summer.
And it's just a matter of when
can I get back down there.
I'm gonna keep
getting that gold.
Let's get paid, eh?
Back out on the water...
All right, Dan.
You've been down
about six hours.
You ready to call it?
Yeah, I think
it's for the best.
All right. Roger that.
I'm going to
turn the light on
and drop the hook.
With a six-hour
dive on the books,
Emily calls it a day
before nighttime blankets
the Bering Sea.
Dan's been down for six hours
and that's a long dive,
and I don't really feel
like pushing it.
I think it's healthy
to call it at six.
We got some good time
in today.
Six hours is the absolute
maximum time
you should be down there,
and that's how long
Dan dove tonight.
And I'm super glad he stuck it
out the whole way.
But at this point,
it's nighttime.
Temperature's dropping
and the reduced visibility
because of the darkness
adds a whole new element
of danger for the diver.
And we got a storm coming in,
it's definitely time
to call it.
Good job. You k*lled it
today, though.
Oh.
Wow. Until a second ago,
that was just lost on
the floor of the Bering Sea.
- Oh, it's now ours.
-And now it's ours forever.
Wow, that's awesome, Dan.
-All right.
-Okay.
-All we need is--
Yeah, actually,
yeah, it was...
-Oh, .
-Holy...
-Holy .
Oh, my gosh.
There's so much gold
in there.
Are you kidding me?
Holy ,
there's so much gold in there.
-What?
Holy sh*t!
Oh, my gosh.
Oh, .
Dan, you were in it.
Oh, my gosh. Yay!
Dan absolutely k*lled
it down there
and the box
definitely shows it.
So it's a great way
to end our final dive.
Ooh.
Ah.
So much gold.
You always hope
the box is lit up,
but this is even better than
Dan and I thought it would be.
It's a grand slam, probably
the best day of the season.
And I can't wait to see
what's on the scale.
-Look how nice that is.
Oh, I...
No doubt these--
That is the best
six hours I've ever seen.
I think that's
the best six hours I've ever
had on the Bering Sea.
Oh, my gosh.
It's so good.
Whoo!
Dan got us some freaking
awesome-looking gold,
which is amazing.
So... Best gold ever.
For our last day,
sail away into the sunset
with some beautiful gold.
Nicely done, sir.
Oh, that was worth
that terrible rock jam.
How's it going?
All signs point to good.
That's awesome.
That's just from six hours?
Quartz vein, six hours.
- Whoa.
- Yeah.
Nice.
It's the end of the road
for Emily's summer campaign.
Well also,
we had that huge rock jam
in the middle
of your dive.
Mama's looking
to end on a high note.
- That's amazing.
- Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, we're looking
really good here.
We need 22 ounces
to get to 200.
I don't think there's any way
we're not gonna make it.
It's very dangerous for me to
make that kind of prediction
but I don't think I'm wrong.
I just think we, like,
hit some incredible pay.
So here we go.
This is my first full season
back in a while
and it's crucial
we finish strong.
The bank account
was pretty depleted
after a disastrous winter
and we're just hoping
to fill that account
back up.
My family's
depending on it.
-Here we go.
- Yeah.
-There it is, the omelet.
- Beautiful.
This is it.
This is it for our season.
Right.
All right.
Let's pour this thing.
Oh, gosh, 11, 12,
Come on, come on,
come on, come on.
is worth over $40,000,
bringing Team Eroica's season
haul to 202 ounces,
banking Emily
a mammoth $363,000.
Dude, this feels
really good.
This was a tough season
and there were a lot of times
I didn't think we'd come
even close
to meeting this goal.
But we pulled through
and to build a great dive
team to weather the storm,
it just proves
that we belong here
and that we're
gonna move forward
and continue to grow wealth
for our family
and I'm really excited
for the future.
Baby Bear heard
the gold was, uh...
-Hi, cutie.
-...getting weighed
-and she woke up.
-Hi.
-She got excited.
-Hi, cutie.
What's that?
Ooh, is that college tuition?
We did it.
We're north of 200.
- She heard it--
- Yes!
I don't think
I've ever been this proud,
-honestly. Like--
- Aw.
Really.
We made a good team.
-That's really awesome.
- Yeah.
-No, it was a great team.
- Yeah.
- Uh... Mmm-hmm.
-No?
By the skin of our teeth.
Good job, everybody.
Back out on the water...
As night falls,
not every captain
has called it quits.
Kris Kelly
is pushing Reaper Nation
as long as he can,
and he may be on the verge
of the most profitable day
in the history
of the Mistress.
Good gold all day.
Everything's going great.
We're k*lling it right now.
Like, the gold we see
in the pan
is a fraction
of what we're getting.
We're gonna keep
pressing hard
until the ocean
makes us leave.
Which the weather's coming up,
so it's gonna happen soon.
It's been a long,
hard season,
but I'm determined
to get every ounce we can
and stay out
as long as I possibly can.
That's what this summer's
been all about.
Just pushing harder
than anyone else this season
and challenging ourselves.
And that's how
we're gonna finish.
We're on good gold.
And we're on a really
good spot.
We're gonna get as much gold
as can before we take off.
Looks like the storm
is coming in
earlier than we thought.
It starting to get pretty
rough and violent out here.
On a personal note, I
just want to stay out
longer than
the Christine Rose
and the Myrtle.
Shawn has his night crew
out there working.
If they pull up
their anchors before us,
then we're literally the last
boat out here.
That would be a huge
personal victory
and that would say
a lot about this team.
It's looking pretty rough
out there, huh?
Yeah, let's get out
of here, dawg.
Man, we're getting
a lot of gold right now.
Let me check my weather.
You're right,
it's picking up fast.
Yeah, let's get
the out of here.
Weather is picked up quick.
We just got
an updated report.
We're getting south wind
with a south swell.
Where it's just...
it's gonna go
to really fast.
The current's ripping.
Let's just go home.
We're on good gold,
though.
Okay. Let's do it.
Let's pass these now.
Oh, I'm gonna pass 'em
up like they're standing
still dawg, watch.
There you go, baby.
We did it.
The Christine Rose
and the Myrtle
called it a season
before we did.
We're officially
the last one
mining on the Bering Sea.
But because the Mistress
is a fast boat,
we're gonna beat 'em
into harbor.
That's another win.
We're ending on a good note.
It's a race to get home.
Right now, we're gonna pass
the Christine Rose
and the Myrtle like
they're doing nothing.
That thing's a turtle.
They could change the name
from the Myrtle to the Turtle.
Overnight,
snow and ice blanket Nome
bringing the official
end to summer mining.
And in the harbor...
Finally nice to see
everything coming together.
In the snowy Nome morning...
I'm thinking
we're looking damn good.
Woo-hoo!
Vernon Adkison has high hopes
for his last clean out
of the summer.
There. You guys ready?
Let's take a look.
I don't know.
Oh.
Hey, that looks better
than the last one.
-You know?
-Yeah.
Glad we went that deep.
Well, I'm surprised.
There's some gold in there.
The gold is good.
Our backs were up
against the wall
after the first half
of this season,
so we've been rolling
the dice,
pushing those divers
to go deeper
than almost anyone ever goes.
And that's been paying off.
On this final effort,
it looks like
it might pay off big.
Getting there.
Hopefully, we get enough
to hit our goal
and we can keep
the lights on.
Okay, guys,
here we go.
Come on, baby.
is worth over $26,000,
the skipper's best clean
out of the summer.
That's a good little lick.
And it brings
Vernon's season haul
to 52.26 ounces
worth over $94,000.
Good clean out.
I'm very happy.
Very happy.
And that doesn't happen
very often.
Well, sometimes, you're happy
just to survive another day
and that's what
this season is about.
We've had more crap
thrown at us this season
than I even remember,
but we didn't give up,
and in the end,
found a way to keep going.
And we also learned
for the future
that the gold is incredible
when you go deeper on 56.
All right,
we'll do a fist bump.
- Yeah.
- Yes.
- Fist bumps?
All right.
- Great stuff.
Tony, tell me what it takes.
Teamwork.
Well, that's it.
Let's get the hell
out of here.
Wish I had a nicer jar.
You could see the gold
in it a little better.
I'm supposed to meet
Shawn down here.
Pay him up his royalties
for the season.
-How's it going, Zeke?
-Hi, Shawn.
It's been going good.
This boat crushes.
Dude, I love
running this boat.
These are all the cleanups
we did this year.
And so that comes
to 22.8 for your royalties.
Okay.
So, I hope this buys you
some fuel or...
Don't spend it
all in one place.
Well, it helps pay
for the claim
so we can keep
mining on it.
Right on. Well, yeah,
I'm really glad
you got that claim.
-Yeah.
-It's really, uh,
really working out for us.
Well, I appreciate it, Zeke.
And...
- Appreciate it, Shawn.
-I wish you the best
of luck with everything.
Right.
Well, good luck. Thanks.
-Yeah.
- Appreciate it.
All right. Thanks, Zeke.
I've got Shawn paid up
for royalties
for, uh, all the gold
I've mined this year.
And I've gotten more gold this
year than I've ever gotten
in a season before,
so I feel like that's a win.
Good to go.
There's a lot
of chunky gold.
Better than the slap
in the face.
I think we did pretty good.
Andy, let's start cleaning
off these screens.
Let's just start
getting this crap done.
For Reaper Nation,
it's the final clean out
of the season.
And while it hasn't reached
the heights Kris Kelly hoped,
he's still optimistic
about the future.
I know it was a tough week
and we worked ourselves
to death,
but it's all for the cause.
One day, you're gonna look
back on the beginning
of Reaper Nation and say,
"You know what?
I did that."
-Uh-huh.
- Oh, really.
He's gonna look back
and be, like,
"Why the
did I do that?"
I hope that's not
the case.
Andy, you .
So it's been a long,
hard season for me,
getting the Mistress
dialed in,
getting the All In
on the water, working,
getting the crawler
on the bottom of the ocean.
Hey, Andy,
thanks for all your help.
It was ambitious,
but we definitely
moved the ball forward
for Reaper Nation.
I just hope
that Kevin feels the same
at the end of the day.
Okay.
Let's get this going.
Everyone's tired.
And I'm gonna throw some pizza
and some energy drinks,
and we're gonna push
through this.
We got pizzas.
This is the best thing in
Nome, man, the cheesy bread.
Less talk, more work.
-How's the gold looking?
-Good.
Good. Good.
We're almost done.
We got the gold ready.
All right, Kris,
here we go.
Here we go.
Uh, there's actually
a lot of gold there.
Yeah, I'm excited, man.
Let's see what we got, huh?
Let's see what we got.
There it is.
We got 1...
- Yeah.
- 3, 5, 6.
Come on, baby.
Where's the weight at?
That's not bad for the amount
of hours that we ran.
That's a lot of gold.
I think we just beat
our average.
You know what?
This is hard-earned gold.
Wow, dude, 19.75,
you know how I'm happy
that makes me though? That
gives me energy today, bro.
brings in over $35,000,
but that's just
from the Mistress.
Oh, there's a lot
of gold in here, huh?
All right.
Now, it's time
to weigh out
the crawler's haul
from the season.
Okay. Let's see what we got.
-What you got? 3...
- Already 2, 3...
- 3...
- 5, 8.
-I'm already happy.
- You're at 8, Andy.
Why don't we give it
a couple taps?
is worth $26,000-ish.
Bringing Reaper Nation's
summer haul
to a hardy 197.45 ounces
worth over $355,000.
Easily besting any previous
season total for the Kellys.
If we would have got it
dialed in,
way before the storm,
we would have done
a lot better.
I mean, how many days
you got on this material?
Really hours.
-Well, you--
-Well, now, we just gotta weed
through the problems.
But we know it works, Kris.
Are we millionaires
like I hoped?
No. But did we make huge
strides for the future? Yes.
And all of us
see the potential,
Kevin included.
Beautiful bread pan
of gold there.
With the Mistress,
the All In,
and my crawler
running at full strength,
the sky is the limit
next year.
And I can't wait
to get back out there.
This proves right now
that we're on the right track.
So we gotta put in
lots of hours
and we need it to run
- Yeah.
-That's the only way
we're gonna make 1,000
ounces a year
is if that thing
doesn't turn off.
Uh, let's sell this gold
and take care
of some financial
bull .
And that's it.
It's a wrap
to my season
and I'm glad it's over.
Across town...
Looking good.
Gold rolling up the wheel.
With one
of the toughest seasons
of his career
now in the rearview mirror,
Shawn Pomrenke prepares
for his final clean out.
It's definitely worth
pushing through
because that last hole
was a hot one.
Days like that
is what keeps you mining.
Some seasons,
everything goes right,
and then, sometimes,
the Bering Sea gods decide
to put you through the ringer.
Well, this was one
of those seasons.
Rich looking dirt.
Yeah.
Well, that's not bad.
But we finished strong.
That's the important thing.
Hopefully, we get enough gold
to hit our goal
and get past the finish line.
First on the scale,
the Christine Rose.
Time to weigh some gold.
Big number, Cody.
-All right.
-What do you got?
What do you got?
Final cleanup.
I'm already at 10, 20,
There we go.
is worth 65 grand.
And edges the Pomrenke
empire ever closer
to 1,500 ounces.
Now, it's up to the Myrtle's
last clean out.
Let's see what we got here.
there's 20,
Nice job, guys.
rings in at $72,000,
bringing Shawn's total haul
for the season
to 1,535 ounces
worth over $2.7 million.
Nice little pile.
I've had bigger seasons,
but not such a hard
fought one.
Just goes to show
what experience can mean
when you got your back up
against the wall.
And we proved once again,
we're at the top of our game.
I'm breathing
a sigh of relief.
But with an operation like
this one, it'll be brief,
because the fight
never stops.
You gotta get right
back at it.
I think we've done pretty
well for ourselves.
All right, that's a wrap.
Let's get the hell
out of here.
That's it.
It's 13 degrees out.
Harbor's freezing up.
Season's over.
It's done.
Definitely a weird season
this year.
Nome took a hit.
We've never had
a season like this.
That storm was unreal.
Burned a restaurant.
Bar down.
I mean, it floated a house
into the river.
It was bad.
Nome's been through
hard times before.
I'm sure this ain't
the last of it.
But right now,
we're gonna push through it.
We've survived some hard
times in the past.
This year was one of them.
But we'll be just fine.
We're gonna be just fine.
We're gonna pick up
the pieces
and carry on.
This town, there's one
thing that will fix it.
That's a bunch of gold,
big piles and piles of gold.
Put people to work,
Nome's full of good,
hardworking people.
So, I just wanna get gold
pumping through the veins
of this town again.
There's a lot of gold left
in that ocean.
That's just building the one
machine that'll go out there,
annihilate it.
Gonna be a lot
of opportunities coming,
and if you ain't ready for
it, it's gonna pass you by.
Time to get ready.
Let's go.
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17x12 - Endgame
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The show follows boats equipped with various setups to achieve gold mining in a summertime, cold northern latitude, shallow water, ocean environment.
The show follows boats equipped with various setups to achieve gold mining in a summertime, cold northern latitude, shallow water, ocean environment.