22x12 - Crushing Ice

[bunniefuu]

[Rick]


[Nico speaking]

Get the guys up.
We're going to start stacking.

[phone ringing]

Mr. Hillstrand.

[Johnathan]
I'm right here by the canyon.

And it looks like the ice is
going to cover me up.

[bleep].

We've got to get
the [bleep] out of here.

And it's not going to be fun.

[narrator]
Three weeks into the winter
season, the first Arctic ice

floe descends onto the northern
fishing grounds,

forcing captains into
an all-out sprint to catch

the remaining $50 million of
the fleet-wide quota,

before over half a trillion
tons of hull-piercing ice

drag their pots
or sever their lines,

stranding their seven-figure
paydays on the seafloor.

I hope we can get these pots.

Whoo!

Let's go, let's go!
Let's go!

Hang on.

[Monte speaking]

I've been having some mild
discomfort in my [bleep] chest.

And you've been holding out
on me on this?

25 miles south of
the 900-mile-wide ice pack,

on the opilio grounds...

[Keith]
All right, hey, it's going to
be [bleep] nasty out there, OK?

There's like 30-footers coming
right now.

It's going to be ugly, OK?

...aboard the Wizard.

How's it going, Mouse?

[Monte speaking]

What's our plan here?


got to get them off, all right?

Right up those contour
lines there.

Make sure we don't miss
any depth.

- We don't have time
to juggle [bleep] around.
- Yep, I get it.

- Yeah.
- [bleep] coming around
[bleep] hard.

I know how to do this.
Don't worry.

All right.

Ah! Ha-ha!

[Keith]
We've got to boogie to town.

Go in, deliver our opies,

and switch to bairdi
as quickly as possible.

The ice is coming down.

When it occurs, man,
you don't want to be anywhere

near where we're going to
go fish.

Whoa!

[Keith speaking]

[deckhand] Yeah!

[Keith] Man, I'm just getting
pushed around here like

nobody's business.

The thing is, I've got to
really throttle up

and go into it.

That just opens up more
possibilities of taking

a big wave, either through
the workstation

or right over the bow.

Whoa!

Hang on!

[deckhand] Going over!

[Keith] So far, so good.

We're getting them off
in a timely manner.

We're getting there.

It's slow.

Um...

Oh, [bleep]!

Ah!

Oh!

[bleep].
Everybody still standing?

[crew speaking]

All right, we got about


Let's get them off.

Tides are gonna get worse

in the next couple of days
as we get...

[deckhand speaking]

Let's just get these pots off
of here safely.

Hopefully...

on solid numbers.

46 miles south of
the ice edge...

[Johnathan speaking]

You'd roar too
you had crabs on your bottom.

My granddad used to tell me
that one.

He-- my granddad thought that
was funny as...

I did, too, when I was five.

...aboard the Time Bandit.

[Johnathan]
Anyways, I just thought
I'd check the ice report.

But I can tell it's close.

Here's where we're at,
right by the islands.

It's going to be here.

We've got to really catch
these crab

in the next four or five days.

I got one up here.

Facing an Arctic floe

careening south
at 10 miles a day,

Captain Johnathan Hillstrand
bets the 90-fathom canyon

can fill his tanks with
a final 100,000 pounds of

opilio before the ice covers
the surface and his pots below.

[deckhand]
Opilio pot coming up!

We'll see.
First pot coming up.

You can only hope.

We're gonna eat
some opilio today.

Oh, yeah.

Phew.

Yeah.

That's big numbers.
Wow.

Dude, I'm going to have to
do it.

I can't help it.
I got-- I got a feel.

- Whoo!
- Whoa!

Wow.

[deckhand speaking]

Oh, my God, dude.
Aye, aye, aye.

They look like bairdi.

[Steve]
So a bairdi, if you look,

has red eyes and an
M-shaped mouth,

where an opilio has green eyes

and a straight mouth
on the top.

We got a lot of bairdi here.

That's what's going
over the side.

Even with sea ice heading for
his location, John can only

harvest one species at a time,

meaning even the buccaneer
captain must cast

every bairdi back to the deep

or face fines
larger than his profits.

That's something.

Hopefully we get cleaner crab
here, less sort.

[deckhand] Coming out.

Seeing a lot of sorting still.

Takes so long to sort through,
there's no way I'm going to be

able to run from this ice
when it comes.

Aye, aye, aye.
I got to figure something out.

OK.

You know, Aleutian Lady's
not far away.

I know he's fishing bairdi.

If I tell him what I'm getting
here, maybe I can entice him to

come over here just next to me.

Maybe we could help
each other, maybe.

38 miles northeast...

just three miles from
the forecasted ice edge.

[Rick] All right.

Here we go.

I haven't seen ice yet,
but I got 112 pots.

And I was planning on
hauling them and just

setting them back.

But right now,

my main objective is getting
my gear away from the ice.

With up to $350,000 in steel
and crab soaking

500 feet below,

Captain Rick Shelford races to
haul his northern set

before an ice field
three-feet thick drags

or destroys his gear.

[Rick]
If I lose 50 to 100 pots,

I just ate into all of
our profits for the winter.

Whoa!

No way in hell,
that's just a reflection.

Oh, OK.

You can see a break on
the horizon up there where

there's white and then
there's blue.

We got an ice floe
up in front of us.

[bleep] me.

I am going to be digging pots
out of the ice if we don't get

this gear on board now.

Aboard the Aleutian Lady...

[Rick] Yeah, this is just
a massive floe.

[sighs]

And I see it everywhere.

It's coming fast.

- Roger.
- Roger.

I think I see our first pot
over there.

And now I got to
navigate through it.

[bleep].

All right, guys.

These pots are a couple grand
a piece, and that comes out of

our pay, so hopefully we can
find them.

Let's go fishing, baby.

Nine.
[bleep]-- ah.

- Yee haw!
- Stay right here.

[Rick] That thing looks
like a boulder.

All right.

[deckhand] Roger.

- Whoa!
- There it is.

Whoa!

I mean, that is a true
full-on iceberg.

I mean, that's at least


I'm going to have to move
really slowly

and hopefully not poke a hole
in my boat.

I mean, this can sink us
if I'm not paying attention.

[Nico speaking]

[Rick]
Definitely not triple digits.

[indistinct chatter]

[deckhand speaking]

[Rick]
Next one is right there.

We gotta hurry up and get
through these pots.

I gotta get
out of the ice, and--

[phone buzzing]

Hey, John,
how you doing?

OK, I was just checking in
to see how the battle's going

with you over there.

The ice came down
on top of me,

and I'm trying to pick out
as many pots as I can,

Actually, I was calling you up
to tell you I might have a spot

for you down here.

It'd be nice if I had
a bairdi boat next to me.

Then I wouldn't have to,
you know, throw some bairdi

over the side, because you'd be
taking all the keepers.

[Rick speaking]

Yeah.

[Rick speaking]

...string I got up there is...

...set them down by you?

[Johnathan speaking]

The fact that he's willing to
drop what he's doing

to come up and help us get
the rest of our gear,

it's pretty epic.

It'll help me,
it'll be an easier sort.

It'll help him, because his
pots will be safe from the ice

for about three or four
more days.

[deckhand speaking]

[Johnathan speaking]

18 miles southwest of
the ice edge...

OK, buoy, where are you?
It's got to be over there.

...on the Wizard.

Tides are taking the bags
down, especially at a gear down

below that's deeper.



After setting their gear in
strong five-knot currents

nearly 700 feet below...

- You see it yet?
- [Monte] I do not.

It should be right in front of
us there.

Captains Keith
and Monte Colburn scan

the surface for


if not hauled
in the next two days,

could be sealed
by the advancing ice

for the next two months.

I wonder if we ought to just go
to the other [bleep] end.

Yeah, I don't know if it's
my [bleep] eyesight

or I'm just getting tired.

It's giving me a headache.

Mouse, I'll take over,
all right?

[Monte] All right.

[Keith speaking]



[deckhand speaking]

[Keith] Oh, come on.

My brother

is what's holding me back.

He's worn out,
beat up, and tired.

Well, right now is when
we've got to [bleep] put

our [bleep] best effort forward
and get the hell out of here.

[sighs]

Let's see if there's a bag
up here.

[deckhand] I can't either.

We're going to be
zipping around.

Ugh!

[Keith] Oh, there it is.
All right.

The bags are starting
to pop up, folks.

[deckhand] Roger.

All right.
Crew's ready.

That's what I like to hear.

[deckhand] OK, here we go.
Let's go to w*r.

[Keith speaking]

[Robbie speaking]

Inside, for a captain-approved
cup of coffee,

greenhorn Damian Kerr opts for
a more substantial and,

in the Bering Sea workplace,
less efficient breakfast.

[Keith speaking]

[deckhand] Roger.

This is [bleep] ridiculous.

He has no motivation.

Need to get you
out there, Damian.

[Damian speaking]

[Keith]
OK, I'm just trying to--

[Damian speaking]

[Keith] No, no.

Your idea of scarf it down is
bull[bleep], OK?

You've been here
for a half-hour.

The rest of you guys are taking


Right now,
I'm short-[bleep]-handed.

[Keith] Mouse, yes, really.

You don't need to start on me.

I need a bit of respect
from you, buddy.

- [Monte] OK, all right.
- [Keith] All right?

OK, I understand that there's
yelling going on outside.

- OK.
- But these guys are taking


- OK.
- That kid's been in here
for 30 minutes.

- OK.
- The first thing out of
your mouth can't be

right in my face--
"Oh, yeah, really?"

That is just
disrespectful to me.

OK, let's go upstairs
because we have--

No, get up there and [bleep].
You just get up there.

I'll be there in a second.

[bleep] horse [bleep].

- Where are we at?
- [Keith] Let me just sit down.

I'll explain everything to you.

OK, and I'm gonna explain
something to you.

Oh, you get...
Move.

- Because I've got a problem.
- [Keith] OK.

Well, you got a problem.
Let me know what it is.

I've been meaning to tell you,
but the way things have been

going, I've decided it's best
to wait.

What's up now?

Ever since this trip started,
I've been having

some mild discomfort
in my [bleep] chest.

I'm short of breath.

My arm feels like somebody's
got their [bleep] hands

wrapped around it.
- [Keith] Which arm, Mouse?

My left arm.

And you've been holding out
on me on this?

On the Wizard...

Ever since this trip started,
I've been having

some mild discomfort
in my [bleep] chest.

Monte, here's the thing.

I want to try and get this boat
to town.

And now my sense of urgency has
gone up 25,000%.

- [Monte] I know.
- All right?

Mouse, you know the drill, man.

You report an injury,
you report something, OK?

- This is ser--
- There's nothing we can do
about it out here.

No, what we can do about it
out here is get you to

the [bleep] beach
where you belong.
- [Monte] No, [bleep].

We're [bleep] busier
then [bleep] up here.

I know, Monte-- I don't want
to argue about this.

I want to tone it down, but...

At this point, I need to
make a medical assessment.

- All right?
- [Monte] Yeah.

Let me slide in there.
Let's get this over with.

I'm going to go get
the blood pressure gauges.

[Monte]
Well, I should have told
my brother a long time ago.

We've just really had our hands
full out here,

and I didn't want
to burden him with that.

[Keith]
Let's go ahead and give this
a try, Mouse.

Relax.

[Monte] Does it go on your wrist
or on your [bleep] cuff?

[Keith] It's right here.

Right there.

Just put something under
your arm here.

[Monte] No, I just, just...

[Keith] Well here, no,
you gotta...

I just go like this.

[Keith] Yep.
All right, yeah.

And then...



OK, I'd say that's
a little high.

That's just from being out
here doing this,

stressed out about the buoy,
stressed out

about everything going on.
- [Monte] Yep.

[Keith] Yeah, go over there
and just take it easy.

[Monte] OK, hold.
Let me by.

[Keith speaking]

[Keith] I'm upset with Monte
for not saying anything.

That's not acceptable.

The older we get,
the more susceptible we are to

things like miniature strokes,

bruised kidneys,

heart issues.

If anything ever happened,
I'd have to live with it.

Hopefully...

you know,
we can haul 60, 70 pots,

then get to the dock, get
my brother into the clinic,

and have 'em take a look
at him.

140 miles southeast,

on the ice edge...

[Rick]
There should be another pot.

Well, our next pot's hit
by that floe.

Right over there.

Now we're gonna have to slowly
make our way that way.

...aboard the Aleutian Lady.

What's crazy is the longer it
takes me to haul this string,

the more ice that's gonna be
over my next string.

Just a mile and a half out,

it looks like it's a massive
slab of ice.

But with the Time Bandit,

we'll be able to haul a couple
of them.

Every little bit helps.

Just eight miles northwest...

[Johnathan] Oh, God.

It just does not look
good here.

...on the Time Bandit.

OK, guys.

[deckhand] Roger!

Approaching the Aleutian Lady's
northern bairdi string,

Captain Johnathan Hillstrand
launches his rescue

of Rick's 36 buried pots,

picking his way
through a minefield

of hull-crushing ice.

[Freddie speaking]

[Johnathan] We got the wind
blowing us down, too.

[bleep].

[deckhand speaking]

OK, I see it.
Thanks.

[deckhand] Roger, Cap.

[Johnathan] Coming around.

We're just going real slow.

Ice is not a good thing,
but we did wrap our bow

with the skirt.

Don't tell anybody
the Time Bandit's got a skirt,
ice skirt.

[deckhand] Here we go.

[Johnathan]
So we have over an inch of
steel up there.

It's good for, you know,
three, four-foot ice.

Hold on.

My props are so shallow,
I gotta worry about it hitting

the-- clubbing the ice
with my prop,

and then that'll take me
out of business.

I don't think I'm gonna hit
this one.

I'm gonna drift right over it.

[deckhand speaking]

[bleep].

[Johnathan] Lost the pot.
Ice is a couple feet thick.

It'll just rip your buoys
right apart.

Now we're [bleep].

Oh, God, help us.

[deckhand speaking]

On the Time Bandit...

[deckhand speaking]

[Johnathan] Lost the pot.

[deckhand speaking]

[Johnathan]
Very disappointing.

Ice is no joke.

It'll just rip your buoys
right apart.

From what I'm seeing, I think
Rick's gonna have no gear left.

Poor guy.

Sucks, but I hope
we can get these pots.

This one drug right over here.

Shh. I just--
Feel that bob?

[Freddie speaking]

[Johnathan]
See, the whole boat's
shaking now.

OK, this might work.

Yeah, go for it.

[deckhand] Hell yeah!

Oh!

Well, he's caught
himself an iceberg.

[deckhands grunting]

- [deckhand] Oh, [bleep].
- Oh, man.

Mm!

Buoys just snuck away
from him.

- Damn.
- [indistinct]

[Johnathan] Aye, aye, aye.

[deckhand speaking]

[Johnathan] Yeah.

[deckhand speaking]

[Johnathan speaking]

[deckhand] Roger.

[Johnathan speaking]

- Roger that, Cap.
- Roger!

Just do it slow.

Yeah, Roger!

Ready.
Coming over.

Roger!

That's good.

You ask me if I have
a fancy plan?
No.

[deckhand] Careful!

[indistinct yelling]

[Johnathan] Look.

I might be able to get that
back if we use the crane to

move some chunks around.

[deckhand] Yeah, boy!

Good!

See if we can push the ice,
push it away.

Watch out for the boom.

[Johnathan over radio]
No, no, no, no, no, no.

[deckhand] No!

[Johnathan] Be careful.

- Yeah, Roger!
- Roger!

Come on baby!

There it is, right there.

It's right under
the block, Freddie.

There it is.

Come on, baby.

[deckhands cheering
indistinctly]

Woo, yeah!

Back to business.

[Johnathan] We can do it.

We can do it.
Come on, Freddie.

- [Freddie] Come to papa.
- Oh yeah!

- Oh, yeah.
- [Johnathan] Got it.

[deckhand] Woo!

Oh, thank you, God.
There it is.

Thank you, God.
Pull it slow, guys.

[deckhand] Whoo!

Yeah.

[indistinct yelling]

[deckhands cheering]

[Johnathan] Holy [bleep]!
[indistinct]

It's going to take a while to
do these, but we're going to

have to do it really quick
before the ice gets us.

Just got to keep trying
until I get them,

or not.

Ten miles southwest
of the advancing ice edge...

[deckhand]
Man, this is for you.

...aboard the Wizard.

[Keith speaking]

[deckhand speaking]

[Keith speaking]

We just need to get them,

now.

Get in,

regroup,

get my brother in the clinic.

We got 24 more pots.

We're gonna get
through them first.

[Monte speaking]

My blood pressure,
it's 140 over 90.

- [bleep] arm hurts.
- [Keith] All right, Mouse.

You need to follow up
on this now.

We're going to call
our insurance doctor here.

[phone ringing]

[Dr. Martinez speaking]

Hi,
my name is Keith Colburn.

I just have a few
quick questions.

[Dr. Martinez speaking]

My brother's been
having some, uh,

some symptoms with
chest pains and numbness.

[Dr. Martinez speaking]

Yes, hello.

First name of Montgomery.
Last name of Colburn.

I'm suffering and experiencing
chest pains.

I've got some shortness
of breath.

It's just like a sensation
in my chest that is

a stinging type of pain.

[Dr. Martinez speaking]

Uh, 62.

[Dr. Martinez speaking]

Huh.

Aboard the Wizard...

[Dr. Martinez speaking]

[Monte] Thank you for that.

[Dr. Martinez speaking]

All right, sir.
I guess all duly noted.

- Thank you so much.
- [Dr. Martinez] Yeah.

Bye.

[Monte] Let's go straight
to the [bleep] clinic.

We're going straight
to the clinic.

We're not [bleep] around.

When you start talking to
a doctor in Anchorage, um...

and you start hearing about
cardiac markers and taking

X-rays and EKGs...

you've got to
take it serious.

Basically, the doctor said,
"Get Monte into the clinic

immediately to
a professional cardiologist."

There's nothing else
on this boat I can do,

other than give him baby
Aspirin and nitroglycerin,

and have the [bleep] paddles

ready to put on his chest
if I need to.

160 miles southeast

and 30 miles south
of the Arctic pack...

[Johnathan]
Hey, you got me here, Rick?

Hey, John.

[Johnathan speaking]

...out of the 36.

This last floe was
so thick, Rick.

It's like three miles wide.

I can't go into that...

Thank you for grabbing them.

And then I'm going to set them
down next to me,

[Rick] Amazing.

OK.

- [Rick] Thank you so much.
- Bye.

All right.
All right, guys.

[deckhand] Hell yeah.

We're here to have him
fish bairdi,

clean the bairdi up for us.

To weed out bairdi from
his opilio pots...

...John baits the salvaged
Aleutian Lady gear with chopped

calamari, a delicacy that
should keep bycatch out

and his target species in.

[Rick speaking]

[deckhand] Going over.

Let's go, let's go!

Let's go fishing, baby!

All right.

[deckhand] Over!

If he cleans up the bairdi,
I clean up the opilio,

then this helps both of you.

Less sorting for him,
less sorting for me.

We fish in the same area.

Fish on, baby!

[Johnathan]
We'll see if it works.

[Rick]
I'm hoping there's a little
something something here.

- Over.
- Going over.

And it'll all work out.

- Yee-ee-haw!
- Woo-hoo-hoo-hoo!

[Keith] How much room?

OK, keep me posted.

Let him have it.

In Dutch Harbor...

[Keith] All right, hey,
you guys sit down.

...aboard the Wizard.

[Monte]
For the majority of the last
trip, I've been having some

chest pains and some numbness
in my left arm.

Unfortunately, I have to go to
Anchorage and see

a cardiologist before I can go
back out.

He's on standby first thing
in the morning.

So we're going to rotate.

We're going to have
five people.

So I just, I want everybody to
know that I'm really sorry

about having to leave here,
but I don't have a choice.

[Keith] Let's take care of it.

If you can't come back,
or if there's any questions

whatsoever, we'll get
through it.

OK, I'm going to go make
a couple of phone calls,

because I know there's other
people that are concerned that

don't really have
the full story yet, so...

[Keith] You know,

Monte's got some issues,
and right now he can't go fish.

Let's hope he's in good shape.

Let's hope that
the cardiologist gives him

a clean bill of health.

I just lost the best
relief captain

in the Bering Sea.

We helped Rick pull some pots
out of the ice up there.

And we're fishing side by side.

So hopefully, it'll just be
straight opies for me

and straight bairdi for him.

Hopefully, I'll just get
pure opilio, whoo!

[Rick]
Come on, baby, come on!

[deckhand] Let's go, baby!

Oh, dear Lord, please,
please have bairdi.

Pots coming up!

What do we got?
What do we got?

[deckhands cheering]

Whoo!

OK!
[exhales heavily]

- Oh, my God!
- Yeah!

Oh, yeah!

That is what we're looking for.

[deckhands cheering]

Whoa, it's getting better.

[deckhands cheering]

There it is.
Boom!

There it is!
Right there.

This info from John,
it's paying off huge.

I mean, freaking huge.

[deckhands cheering]

It's a lot cleaner sort with
your gear next to mine.

Almost all opies.
It's working great, man.

Yeah, we're seeing some
good numbers, too-- I mean,

Yeah, yeah, definitely,
my friend.

[deckhands cheering]

[Rick speaking]

[laughs]

Hillstrand Bank, I love that.

Thank you.

I'll buy you a drink when
we get to town.

Oh, man, as long as it don't
have ice in it, I'm down.

I've had enough ice.

Shaken, not stirred.
OK, buddy.

[indistinct]

I love it when a good plan
comes together.