Deadliest Catch's Scariest Moments Ranked

Life on the Bering Sea is a tough old ride, and for almost 20 seasons, "Deadliest Catch" has been on hand to take it all in. Following a fleet of fishing vessels as they scour the Bering Sea for the best crab supply, drama has never been too far behind the many crews that have appeared as the years have gone on. The show has been so popular that its spinoffs have had their moment, bridging the gap between beloved faces and newbie stars looking to cut their teeth on the boats.

As is often the case for unscripted television shot at sea, the possibility of a scary moment never completely goes away on "Deadliest Catch." Even the cast is well aware of what might be in store for them, with Captain Johnathan Hillstrand telling The Hollywood Reporter, "That's the craziest thing about this show, and it's real, and God's the director, so nobody knows what's gonna happen." Whether it's a storm that threatens to jeopardize a vessel and its crew or an accident so bad that that leads to legal action, "Deadliest Catch" has seen a whole host of terrifying moments play out since 2005. Ready to never go into the ocean again? Here are the show's scariest moments, ranked.

Back in Season 9 of "Deadliest Catch," the crew aboard the F/V Wizard were left facing a challenge that is totally unique to the open water. While floating on the Bering Sea, Captain Keith Colburn spotted a walrus carcass nearby, and scouted its tusks as a possible means of profit. Tasked with trying to get his hands on the prize, deckhand Freddie decided to do something different from the conventional method of winching the carcass aboard and tossed himself onto it instead.

As far as duties at work go, having a floating dead walrus on top of you is certainly something that would have most quaking in their boots. During the episode, Colburn can be heard saying [via HuffPost]: "Freddy just disrobed and jumped in the f*cking water on me ... I don't know what he's f*cking thinking." Rising above the moment of madness, Freddy managed to get what he needed, with the rest of the crew quickly pulling him out of the choppy cold. He might have risked hypothermia, but the F/V Wizard had a possible $10,000 to show for it.

Unlike bumper cars at a fun fair, two boats colliding can easily veer into fatal territory. While Harley is on hand as captain of the F/V Southern Wind, Wild Bill is nearby on the F/V Summer Bay. Though both vessels are slow-moving, they ended up in a nasty collision after Harley tried to maneuver out of the docking port. Practically happening in slow motion, the two captains watched helplessly as their boats locked with one another, hoping for the best that no permanent damage was done.

Though this isn't an outwardly scary situation, the prospects of what could have been are terrifying. For both captains, any damage to their vessels or equipment could mean ongoing damage to their livelihoods, alongside possibly injuring any crew that was toward the back of the boat. While Wild Bill is exactly that in name and in nature, he handled the conflict surprisingly well, keeping calm instead of directing any anger towards Harley. The gusty winds are the perfect condition for something terrible to happen, but the captains and crew managed to halt things just in the nick of time.

When life gets rough out on the open ocean, all a crew can hope for is that all of their equipment is firmly secure. However, back in 2016, Jake Anderson's crew experienced what it was like for their own vessel to work against them. Aboard the F/V Saga, the crew was caught in increasingly rough waves as night began to fall. Though there was still some light left, the deckhands battled against the elements in order to brace for the worst that might be to come. However, one 800-pound crab pot wasn't playing ball, and began to swing back and forth at a dangerous pace.

Sure enough, it wasn't long before the pot swung so violently that it began to chip away at part of the boat's exterior. Deckhands dodged out of the way as if their lives depended on it, which they definitely did. One crew member could be heard remarking that the pot was "gonna kill somebody," while Anderson watched on from the captain's chair in complete horror. It took multiple deckhands to wrestle the pot back into submission and finally offload the crab catch that they'd always been after.

Scary events in "Deadliest Catch" don't just happen in front of the camera, but behind the scenes, too. As the resident stalwart on the show, Captain Sig Hansen has a reputation that speaks for itself, and has turned into a firm favorite in the eyes of fans and those that he works with. During Season 17 of the show, Hansen got a call from his wife while in the middle of filming. The result was Hansen learning about the fate of the F/V Destination, captained by his long-time friend and fishing colleague, Jeff Hathaway. Capsizing after being weighed down by around 340,000 pounds of ice, the accident became known as the most perilous fishing accident since 2005.

For viewers and Hansen alike, it was a deadly reminder of just how volatile fishing on the open water can be. None of the Destination's crew members survived, with the six of them unable to make a mayday call or seek out any alternative help. In an interview with KUCB, Chris O'Neil from the National Transport Safety Board said, "Whatever happened happened very, very quickly, and there's no one left to tell their story." Hansen had to take some time out to decide whether he wanted to continue filming the season, with the rest of the "Deadliest Catch" cast noticeably shaken to the core.

As far as nights go on the Bering Sea, there's no such thing as normal. When Jake Anderson is acting as captain of the F/V Saga, there's a fairly big chance that something will go wrong. During Season 17, Anderson's unlucky reputation once again proved itself to be true when his crew struggled to save the vessel's life raft during a nighttime storm. While Anderson dropped his head in his hands, his crew tackled the perilous waves to try and get it back on board. Just as two of them looked to haul it up, the raft dropped, heading back out to sea.

Not only does the impromptu rescue mission feel exhausting just to watch, but the Saga's crew put their lives on the line for something that could quite literally save theirs in return. Under the floodlights in the darkness, viewers felt the scope of the empty space around them, with the waves looking to throw them off course at a moment's notice. In the end, it took a team of five to get the job done, with deckhand Matt stating that, "Somebody could have easily gone under the water."

Though she's a born and bred Hansen, Mandy Hansen is still a new kid on the block amongst the "Deadliest Catch" captains. Starting her time on the show with a cameo at 13 years old, it wasn't until 2014 that she became a regular cast member. Just like her dad, she's able to take life on the ocean waves in stride as she shares captaining duties aboard the F/V Northwestern. In the unluckiest of situations, it was when Hansen was working the vessel alone that disaster chose to strike. During a Season 15 episode, the boat crew warned that a hook had worked loose while the Northwestern was traveling too quickly to fix it. A few moments later, the hook flew off its rope toward those on board, with the potential to do some fatal damage.

Within seconds, Hansen's face turned as white as a ghost. It's not surprising given that she's rarely seen to be captaining on her own, but also, minutes before, deckhands had expressed their concerns on camera about her captaining by herself. Luckily nobody was hurt, but the accident certainly set pulses racing. When Sig comes back from his break there's a stern lecture — which leaves his daughter a completely different kind of terrified.

Even for those who have never been aboard the F/V Wizard, the Colburns are known to be tough nuts to crack. Though fans have recognized that Keith might be the best fisher on "Deadliest Catch," his frequently bad attitude and temper don't go unnoticed. When the Wizard gets caught in a compromising situation, Colburn does all he can to wage against the weather. During a particularly dangerous fishing trip in a 2016 episode, bad sea conditions made it almost impossible for the crew to do their jobs. While the boat rocked back and forth, deckhands clung onto crab cages and hoped for the best, only for things to continue to get worse.

It's not an episode to watch for those who easily feel travel sick, with the camera never staying still for longer than a few seconds. That being said, it's an effective way to understand just how colossal these waves are — one false move from Colburn would wipe the entire crew out in an instant. And after the worst of the waves are clear, it's time for the heavy rain to kick in, beating down the tired and exhausted crew. Are crabs really worth all of this time, energy, and pain?

Even if you have never watched an episode of "Deadliest Catch" before, Nick McGlashan is a name that you might recognize. Joining the cast back in Season 9 as a deckhand, McGlashan racked up appearances in 78 episodes over seven years before being suspended from the show by bosses during Season 13. Before things got that bad, he took a scary turn while working on the F/V Summer Bay. While the crew was getting ready to set off on a nighttime fishing expedition, McGlashan tripped and fell on the dock while running to get on the boat. The fall quickly turned nasty, with paramedics needing to board the boat to attend to him.

While the injuries were scary enough on their own, McGlashan's fall set the precedent for the rest of his journey on "Deadliest Catch." The crew was aware of his issues with drug addiction while working as a deckhand, and he sadly passed away at the age of 33. Though he was no longer on the show at the time, his legacy lived on, with his father Wild Bill learning of the news on camera, and the "Deadliest Catch" vessels paying tribute. If nothing else, the scariest problems are the ones that were there all along.

If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357)

It wouldn't be a day on a "Deadliest Catch" vessel if the various crews weren't taking their lives into their own hands. This time, it's Johnathan Hillstrand at the helm of the F/V Time Bandit who's having an issue with one of the younger deckhands. By this point, Wyatt had made himself known as a troublemaker and often didn't play by the rules. While Hillstrand gave him a warning, the rest of the crew got to work unloading crab cages as the weather turned from bad to worse. As the waves grew more volatile, the door of one of the cages landed on a deckhand's head.

Given that the cages weigh around 800 pounds, it's a miracle that the deckhand didn't sustain any further damage. What's even more remarkable is that the deckhand in question wasn't Wyatt, even though he idly stood nearby watching the events unfold. Hillstrand attended to his hurt and very bloody deckhand while the rest of the crew carried on as if nearly losing a life is completely normal. Let's face it — no one should be signing up to this for a paycheck.

One of the lesser-talked-about vessels featured on "Deadliest Catch" is the F/V Aleutian Ballad, captained by Jerry "Corky" Tilley during Seasons 2 and 3. Though not as popular as the likes of the F/V Northwestern and Summer Bay, the Aleutian Ballad made its time on screen count thanks to an extremely violent storm. With the weather so bad that fishing became impossible, the crew took shelter in the comfort of the mess deck. Meanwhile, Tilley was left to do the best he could with the vessel, despite being unable to see out of the windows thanks to heavy rainfall. Out of nowhere, the Aleutian Ballad was blindsided by a rogue wave, leaving them potentially about to capsize.

It's a moment that viewers remember well, with certain fans naming it as one of the scariest things to ever happen during an episode of "Deadliest Catch." Reddit user socialfishman remarked, "The wave was at a 90-degree angle to all the other waves and hit the boat completely broadside. You see it for a split second then everything is black.... I think the boat actually rolled and righted itself by some miracle. I experienced one in my life and it nearly got us but it was NOTHING like that one. The direction and size were mind-blowing."

The fishermen behind "Deadliest Catch" aren't strangers to lawsuits, but one of the scariest grounds for financial compensation came from something that actually happened on the show. Back in 2013, David "Beaver" Zielinski was a crew member aboard the F/V Time Bandit and eventually had the bones in his right hand shattered due to a freak accident. According to Zielinski, a mortar-style firework blew up in his hand, leaving him with permanent damage for the next few years.

This led to Zielinski suing his former bosses in 2015 on the ground that the firework itself was considered to be a Time Bandit device. Though the injuries weren't as gnarly as losing his hand completely, he suffered enough for fans to consider it one of the craziest moments that has ever been aired on the show. A year after the accident, Zielinski was reportedly expected to make a total recovery. Nothing so volatile has happened on "Deadliest Catch" since.

Deckhands are the bread and butter of a vessel, but they get a particularly hard time if they ever appear on "Deadliest Catch." As far as captains go, Wild Bill isn't exactly meek and mild, and is often noted for his creative use of swearing and fiery temper. During a nighttime fishing expedition aboard the F/V Summer Bay, Bill had his eyes set on the prize of beating the other boats to find the crab. On the way, deckhand Spencer Moore was suddenly thrown overboard by a rogue wave, while the rest of the crew jumped into panicked action.

There's not much scarier than the thought of being thrown into the cold sea in the middle of the night with little means of rescue — yet it became poor Moore's reality. As the Summer Bay crew struggled to get him back to safety, Bill remained assertive yet calm, even though he might have been part of the problem. Looking to turn the vessel in order to get a better angle on the crab, Moore's sudden loss of stability couldn't have been helped by the change in direction. With a supermoon hanging over them in the sky, was the Summer Bay always destined to host one of the scariest moments in the show's history?

Sadly, Moore wasn't the only deckhand to feel the refreshing waves of the Bering Sea firsthand. Captain Johnathan Hillstrand of the F/V Time Bandit has a fairly good reputation among fans and crew members; he's known for his exceptional craft and fatherly attitude. These traits were put to the ultimate test during Season 3, when his vessel passed another in distress, and Hillstrand quickly learned that one of their crew members had gone overboard. Without thinking, Hillstrand began working towards getting the guy back to safety with the rest of the crew members all pitching in to help.

Time stood still while viewers waited to find out if the unknown deckhand made it out alive, with Reddit user imnotclevrenuff4this commenting, "My adrenaline was pumping so much during that scene." Not only was Hillstrand putting his life on the line for a total stranger, but the prospect of seeing a potential fatality on camera was beyond uncomfortable to watch.

Storms are aplenty on "Deadliest Catch," but the F/V Northwestern ran into one that looked like it was straight out of a horror movie. Sig Hansen was in the captain's chair as the vessel headed out on an evening fishing expedition, with the boat gradually losing light as more time went on. As the sky turned pitch black, the boat's power completely cut out, leaving Hansen and the rest of its crew rummaging around in the dark. The generator alarm sounded while the waves picked up more speed, throwing Hansen out of his chair and across the captain's quarters. Cue frenzied shouting and cries for power, with the Northwestern unable to be seen from the outside.

Simply put, this scene is the stuff of nightmares. Even for an experienced captain such as Hansen, his fear and tension were palpable. At the last minute, someone founds a switch on the generator that seemed to start up an emergency supply, bringing Hansen back to a state of calm. Being stranded in a volatile sea with no light, no power, and no means of escape is certainly a slasher movie opening that writes itself.