How Five Brutal Minutes on ‘Deadliest Catch’ Separated the Tough from the Weak

Watching Deadliest Catch isn’t an activity for the faint of heart. Over 20 seasons, the fishermen on the show deal with crushing waves that send boats colliding into each other, heavy steel crab pots crashing into the deck or the crew, and winters that cover the Alaska landscape in sheets of ice. Many fishermen have been injured or even lost their lives in this line of work, but there is one episode of Deadliest Catch that hammers home how dangerous crab fishing is. In the Season 14 episode “Greenhorn Overboard,” deckhand Spencer Moore was pulled overboard and nearly drowned, leading the rest of the Summer Bay crew to carry out a harrowing rescue mission under five minutes.

Spencer Moore Had a Literal Brush With Death During ‘Deadliest Catch’

“Greenhorn Overboard” takes place during a “supermoon”, a celestial event that had a major effect on the Bering Sea, causing an already tumultuous body of water to become even more chaotic. Captain “Wild” Bill Wichrowski put it best: “I’m —ing scared —less.” Throughout the episode, crews have to struggle to keep the pots from falling overboard, and one boat was even forced to turn back to shore. The Summer Bay was one of the few boats not to exit the malestrom, which eventually led to Spencer Moore being pulled overboard when he tried to attach a crab pot to the railing of the boat. His crewmates quickly hurried to get him back on board — even throwing him a life ring, then utilizing all of their strength to pull him back onto the Summer Bay’s deck. What makes these five minutes even more harrowing is the fact that Moore was treading water for the majority of that time, in water that’s a chilling 34 degrees.

Even Moore’s recollection of the incident sounds harrowing. “I was trying to get the bag in the block, and it’s just ripping hard, and I held on, and it ripped me over way faster than I could let go,” he said once he was back on board. The speed of this incident, combined with the icy waters and rolling tides, makes it one of the most dangerous moments of Deadliest Catch. Even crazier? This was the first time that one of the Summer Bay’s crewmates went overboard. Previous seasons had put the crews through hellish weather and conditions, but the Summer Bay managed to pull through every time. Having one of its crew members go overboard was a big deal, but what’s even wilder is “Wild” Bill’s reaction to it.

The Summer Bay Incident Is a Reminder of How Great a Captain “Wild” Bill Is

Most of the captains on Deadliest Catch stand out in one way or another, and “Wild” Bill Wichrowski is definitely one of the biggest standouts. While he might seem exacting, he genuinely cares for his crew and wants them to do their best. In fact, after Spencer Moore got pulled overboard, “Wild” Bill actually started shedding tears! While he joked that “there’s no crying in crab fishing”, he couldn’t be happier to learn that Moore was OK after such a harrowing experience. “I love you guys even more than you’ll ever know,” “Wild” Bill tells his crew in what’s one of the more heartfelt moments in Deadliest Catch history. It wouldn’t be the first time that “Wild” Bill was at the center of an emotional moment on Deadliest Catch, as Seasons 19 and 20 dealt with his harrowing battle with prostate cancer.

“Greenhorn Overboard” is the most harrowing episode of Deadliest Catch because in five minutes, it shows just how genuinely life-threatening this profession can be. Forget the fans who are still convinced that the show isn’t real. Forget that these men are putting themselves through hell to get some major hauls, and therefore some major paydays. Spencer Moore’s brush with death is utterly terrifying, because it was completely unexpected. Falling overboard and landing in freezing water is a fate I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy, and it’s a genuine miracle that Moore’s crewmates managed to save him. While Deadliest Catch continues to tackle the dangerous moments that fishermen go through, nothing’s been as horrifying or nerve-wracking as the five minutes where Moore toppled into the sea.