Wow - tonight’s episode was sobering, based less on the usual crew of crab fisherman than on the harrowing survival stories of the four Katmai fishermen who were rescued by the coast guard. Seven other crewmembers weren’t so fortunate. You can watch the raw video feed of the coast guard rescue below:

As for the Deadliest Catch crews, it looks like Keith and the Wizard were having a super-rough start to the season - but strangely, at the end of the episode, when they did their usual “crab count”, the Wizard looked like it was up there, number-wise, with the rest of the fleet. Not sure what to make of that… We didn’t see much else this episode - a few bits about a similar shipwreck 28 years ago from a Cornelia Marie crewmember, and some crabbing shots from the Northwestern (they seem to be “on the crab” at this point, doing the usual 20-hour-grinds).

I’m guessing the fans who really love watching their favorite captains and boats probably feel a bit let down by this episode, but on the whole, I liked it. What a story. These guys went through seventeen hours of absolute hell on that lifeboat. The damned thing flipped over something like 50 times throughout the night - can you imagine that? Jeez. Anyway, it really puts things into perspective. Like the guy said on the Cornelia Marie, all they got under their feet is that boat - and it could just as easily be them in the water at any given moment.

Best wishes to the crew of the F/V Katmai and their family members…

If you saw tonight’s episode, then you saw the tragic loss of the Katmai fishing vessel, a cod-boat that sank in the Bering Sea in October 2008. The episode ended with the finding of a body in a survival suit - the fate of ten other fishermen was left unknown and the storyline will presumably pick up next week. For those who are dying to know what happened to the Katmai and its crew, you can click here for more information, but in deference for those who want to wait until everything plays out on next week’s episode, I won’t say anything about it for now.

You can view a photo of the F/V Katmai below:

F/V Katmai

Wow, no waiting this year for the big drama… what a great first episode! Phil came in strong, looking good, feeling good, and then WHAM, got sidelined by a last-minute call from his doctor telling him that another trip out to sea might kill him. This is the first king-crab season he’s missed in THIRTY-THREE years and you can tell he’s just devastated about it. You’ve got to feel for him, but I also hope he takes this as an opportunity to start taking better care of himself - starting with those cigarettes!

Speaking of tobacco, captain Keith of the Wizard faced down his own little health scare in this episode, with a biopsy for what might have ended up being mouth cancer, but was actually (thankfully) just some sort of sore or irritation. That’s good news there, but the bad news is that he’s essentially broke, put $400,000 into repairs on the ship, and is losing crab pots due to some sort of metal snag on the boat. What’s worse, he went into the water to check on the snag and got smashed in the head by the hull of the boat when it heaved in the water. Youch! My Tivo unfortunately switched channels right after that so I’ll have to wait for a repeat episode to catch the final 1-2 minutes - if anyone can fill me in though, please do!

Not much going on yet on the Northwestern, though Sig was unlucky enough to pull the short straw and had to bite the head off the traditional herring. Man that looks gross.

The only boat that’s got nothing but good news this episode was the Time Bandit, with the Hillstrand brothers landing DIRECTLY on the crab right from the start - first pot, 96 crab! Looks like they might be in for a good season, and may very well win the captain’s bet - which, at $1000 per boat, could end up being a heck of a nice post-season bonus!

All said, a GREAT first episode for Deadliest Catch Season Five! Way to go, Discovery Channel! Keep ‘em coming!!

Just got an AWESOME message from Discovery Channel - they’ve sent us some promotional materials we can make available on the site for all you Deadliest Catch fans! Here’s a few videos to whet your appetite - meanwhile I’ll keep reading through the promotional material and see what other goodies they have in store. Enjoy! And thanks again to the Discovery Channel for providing these!

Here’s the first clip from Episode 501:

THE BURN BARREL

FISH BITE TRADITION

KEITH TAKES A BEATING

DEADLIEST SLIDESHOW

Just caught this on Youtube - a Cornelia Marie tribute video. Enjoy!

Well, the Deadliest Catch Season 5 promo video has garnered a lot of attention and response here at Deadliest-Catch.com, but not quite in the way I’d imagined! Instead of discussing the people and scenes depicted in the promo, it seems everyone’s DYING to know who wrote the violin music that’s playing in the background. I’ll admit, it’s a good tune - emotional and vibrant, with those celtic overtones that we often hear in this show.

Search no more! Thanks to one of our readers who posted a link to the Musikvergnuegen web site, where they proudly proclaim:

Discovery Channel recently tapped Musikvergnuegen to score a promo for their hit show “Deadliest Catch.” Our own John Luker composed the music, employing rustic violins and electric guitars to capture the drama of these Alaskan fishermen’s tribulations.

Whether or not the music will ever become available on CD or MP3 download is yet to be determined - but if the number of inquiries we’ve received is anything to go by, someone could certainly make a pretty profit by doing so!  (Though it’s more than likely this 30 second promo song is just that, a promo song, and not part of a full-length, traditional piece of music).

Interestingly enough this company seems to have produced a lot of well known music and audio logos… most notably perhaps being Intel’s trademark “DING - ding ding ding ding!”

More info at: http://www.musikvergnuegen.com