Discovery Channel: "Deadliest Catch" captain dies

[shooter32]

Discovery Channel: 'Deadliest Catch' captain dies
Wed Feb 10, 9:24 AM PST
 Phil Harris, the fishing boat captain whose adventures off the Alaska coast were captured on the television show "Deadliest Catch", has died, the Discovery Channel said Tuesday night. He was 53.

Harris suffered what his family described as a massive stroke on Jan. 29 while the fishing vessel he captained, Cornelia Marie, was in port at St. Paul Island, Alaska. The fisherman was flown to Anchorage for surgery.

The reality show, which has filmed five seasons, has been one of the Discovery Channel's most popular and depicts the crab fishing industry in the dangerous waters off Alaska.

"It is with great sadness that we say goodbye to our dad - Captain Phil Harris. Dad has always been a fighter and continued to be until the end," sons Josh and Jake Harris said in a statement released by the network. "For us and the crew, he was someone who never backed down."

In a statement, Discovery Channel senior vice president Elizabeth Hillman says, "Phil was a devoted father and loyal friend to all who knew him."

"We will miss his straightforward honesty, wicked sense of humor and enormous heart," she said.

In an e-mail to The Associated Press, she said no additional information was immediately available Tuesday night.

Harris had seemed to be improving, and in a posting last Saturday on the ship's Web site, he was described as "talking to friends and family today; showing his greatest progress" since the stroke.

His sons wrote in a Feb. 3 posting that "No one ever said Captain Phil Harris wasn't tough. Today, dad showed some good signs of improvement, squeezing our hands and even summoning his trademark Captain's bluntness ... We are encouraged but still very cautious."

According to the ship's Web site, Harris started working on fishing boats at age 7 and started work 10 years later on a crab boat. When Harris turned 21, he ran a fishing vessel out of Seattle, making him one of the youngest to captain a vessel in the Bering Sea.

When Harris suffered the stroke, the family said a friend, Derek Ray, had flown to St. Paul to take over the role of relief skipper for the rest of the opilio crab season.

Harris' fishing vessel was based in Seattle.

___

R.I.P. Captain Harris.

[twyacht]

I heard this on the radio. He lived a hard life, cigarettes and coffee on duty, and beer and liquor in port, non-stop..Year after year..

Watched every episode of that darn show. Capt. Harris cared about his family, and had a big heart when it came to his sons and crew.

  As a former commercial fisherman, and one who loves the sea, I respected him and his knowledge you can't learn unless your out there;  he was a good Capt. and having his sons to take over the business, meant a lot to him.

I pray that I may live to fish.......
Until my dying day.
And when it comes to my last cast,
I then most humbly pray:
When in the Lord's great landing net
And peacefully asleep
That in His mercy I be judged
Big enough to keep.

You have your fair winds and following seas now.
Rest In Peace Captain Harris.

[tombogan03884]

Gloucester Mass has a Statue dedicated to "Men who go down to the sea in ships".

[shooter32]

Captain Phil Harris
A true Fisherman!
May the sun always be at your back, and the wind in your sails! God Bless you!

We'll miss you Skipper.

[MikeBjerum]

He was a hard man and drove his crew, however you could see the love and concern he had for all even those that weren't his sons.  I tore me up last year when he had the clots and what he went fought help and the discovery crew finally ratted him out.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2FtehUVLKA

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[Rastus]

I liked the guy.  I wish he had stopped smoking...seems like when you do have a heart attack or stroke and you chain smoke that it's more likely the first one is the end of the line.

[GUNS-R-US]

This was one of the only REALITY show I actually liked to watch and I will miss seeing Phil in the Captains chair! The Sea lost a good man.