The Deadliest Catch boats are as big a symbol of the Discovery Channel reality series as the oversized Alaskan king crab and snow crab they hunt for in the blistering Bering Sea. While there are some parts of Deadliest Catch that are faked in the way Discovery reality series often are, those are real boats out on the freezing and tumultuous North Atlantic Ocean, weighing upwards of 370 tons. The sight of one of these behemoth and industrial, but somehow nostalgic, ships blasting through ocean spray as gulls soar overhead is a defining shot of the series.
Names like Northwestern, Seabrooke, and Wizard are as tied to the show as Sig Hansen, Phil Harris, and Keith Colburn. With F/V as a prefix ("Fishing Vessel"), the boats on Deadliest Catch set out from Alaskan harbors in the October king crab and January opilio crab (snow crab) seasons. Narrated by Mike Rowe, Deadliest Catch has been on the air since 2005, outlasting many similar Discovery Channel shows that have been forgotten over the years. The crabbing vessels are one of the most impressive aspects of the show: a filming set, home, and source of danger.
