Even though I’m proud of the amount of crab we’ve harvested and money we’ve made over the years, I think my greatest achievement in life is that over the years we’ve been blessed never to have a death or permanent injury aboard the Northwestern. Knock on wood. The chances of getting hurt or killed are so great, that safety is a full-time job. So when I said earlier that the captain’s job was to find the fish—that’s actually his second responsibility. Job One is keeping the boat safe. I’ve done pretty well at this, but I could have done better. We’ve had plenty of close calls and near misses that keep us humble. If you watch The Deadliest Catch, you may be a bit of a disaster junkie, and if so, this may be the part of the book you’ve been waiting for. This is the part where I recount some of the close calls.