Deadliest Catch: After the Catch

Cafe Society
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Did anybody catch this last night?

Background: After the death of Captain Phil Harris of the F/V Cornelia Marie, Derrick Ray was hired to take the vessel out for red and blue crab. There was a huge difference of opinion between Ray on one hand and Phil’s sons and heirs, Josh and Jake, on the other hand, about how to run the boat. Ray apparently was used to running a tight ship while Phil’s style had been what was described as “loosey-goosey.” Derrick was shown apparently bad-mouthing Phil to Josh’s face, saying that he did the boys a disservice by not teaching them what they needed to run a crab boat. The vessel had a poor catch and Josh and Jake elected to bring the vessel in to port early to cut their losses.

Cut to last night. Mike Rowe asked Josh Harris what went on between Derrick and him. Josh was telling Mike how he felt Capt. Ray was disrespecting his father to his face and that Ray basically thought of Josh and Jake as a couple of idiots who would never learn to run a boat. He felt that Derrick had reneged on his agreement to teach the boys and that he basically shut Josh down any time he tried to ask a question. The Harrises looked upon Derrick as an outsider coming into what was basically a family-run operation and not trying to fit in, but unilaterally trying to impose his own particular style and disrupting the family.

Rowe then brought Derrick out to tell his side of things. Derrick and Josh got into a huge shouting match, with “(bleep) you’s” flying, and Ray threatening to kick Josh’s ass. Ray was calling Josh a narcissistic no-nothing little punk. Producer Todd Stanley felt compelled to step in and separate the two men before fisticuffs started flying. The Harrisses and Derrick all left the table and went their separate ways and left the conflict unresolved. But you could tell there was a lot of bad blood between Ray and the Harris brothers. Josh kept telling Ray that he respected him “as a captain,” but you could clearly tell he felt just the opposite. There was no respect apparent in Josh’s tone. It certainly made for compelling TV.

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I saw it too. I noticed Sig and the other captains were careful not to take sides.

I suspect they supported Derrick Ray. He’s a retired captain that went back to work just to help out Phil’s kids. From what I saw, Derrick Ray is a no nonsense hard ass captain. Phil always ran a pretty loose operation and it just didn’t work out.

Sig is also a very hard ass captain. Pushes his crew way beyond whats reasonable. A lot of of the captains on this show push pretty hard. Derrick Ray didn’t seem any worse.

I loved Sig’s shocked reaction when his brother mentioned captaining the ship during Opie season. I don’t think that will be happening any time soon. :smiley:

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Yeah, and even though it wasn’t mentioned, Jake Harris has his own addiction problems. Derrick found some pot and a pipe which he suspected of belonging to Jake. I can see Derrick being very no nonsense about this of course, because any drug use on a vessel can get a captain’s license suspended and bring down some very heavy fines.

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Josh Harris made a complete fool of himself. His brother remains a congenital fuckup.

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I suspect they were careful to exercise restraint on camera out of respect for Phil Harris, and residual affection for “the boys” who are pinwheeling out of control.

From what little I’ve read elsewhere on the webs, I gather that all of the other adults in that “community” strongly support Ray’s position. Most notably including Sig Hansen and Jonathan Hillstrand, who were supposedly very close friends with Phil.

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