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Q: Is it tough to train a greenhorn?
PH: Training a greenhorn is probably one of the toughest things on a boat, 99.9% of the guys can't do it in the first place and they get scared. And seasick, of course. I think a lot of that is just being scared. They're out there and away from mom and dad and family and friends, and nobody can help them. They're alone out there in the real world of crab fishing and they have to make it or break it. A greenhorn will do a lot of squirrelly things because he's scared.
Q: What has been your scariest moment at sea, and what was your best prank?
PH: I've been scared on the water about three times in my career, and every one was a bit different but equally scary. We were at the Pribilofs and it was blowing in the area of 150-175 knots, maybe 100ft seas. We came off a comber and there wasn't any water on the other side and the boat just free-fell about 100ft. The boat weighs around 700 tons, so it just blasted all of us. It just ripped things off the walls inside the boat: the microwave and stereo went flying, dishes all over the place. We blew off one of our rudders too, and all the alarms were going off. We didn't know if we'd punctured a hole in the boat or what. We were sideways at this point in 100ft seas, We got it spun around and I knew I'd done something to the boat because it wouldn't steer properly. It took a few minutes to get all the alarms shut off. Guys were checking the engines in the engine room to find out if there was structural damage. At that point we were going in the same direction as the seas and the waves were so big that I was just terrified. A friend called to see how it looked and for four hours I didn't even turn around to look. I knew if I did, it would probably give me a heart attack. It was just too big. The pranks, they're all good, it just depends on who you're doing them to! The one we did with Sig was funny because he's Norwegian and I was trying to think of something rare. We've put toilets in pots, we've dressed a mannequin in rain gear and put him in the pots. It just goes on and on. It's just endless stuff that we do back and forth. That was probably one of the funniest ones though.
Q: What's your favourite memory on board?
JH: I'd have to say just hanging out with the family and continuing the family tradition. All the Harris clan together. It's quite something.
PH: Wow. You know, I really don't have a favourite one. To me, it's all work. There's some fun things that happen, but it's not a situation where you can really relax and enjoy things. A good memory to me is when it's calm out and you're hauling pots and they're full. Having my kids on board is a fond memory. But things are just way too intense to just sort of sit back and think about what's fun.
Q: You are involved in a lot of rescues. Have you have ever lost a crew member of your own?
PH: Yes, I lost a guy about 20 years ago off my dad's boat. I have been in a number of rescues. One year I picked up 22 guys, I think, out of the water. I've been in numerous situations where I'd have to grab hold of a boat to keep it from going on the rocks, or involved in a search and rescue, looking for survivors or bodies.
Q: The last two seasons the Cornelia Marie seems to have had a lot of mechanical problems. Is this typical considering the weather conditions or just bad luck?
PH: When you think about it, we actually haven't had that many problems. There were engine problems on season two, and the second time it happened was because it wasn't quite fixed properly the first time. The propeller problem we had, we'd taken the propellers off the boat and had a gentleman work on it intensely to make sure they were in top shape and properly tuned for the boat. That gentleman made a mistake, and did the whole procedure wrong. The propellers on that boat are very high-tech, and he obviously wasn't in tune with the kind of metal that they're made of. So it wasn't the boat's problem, it was a problem with the guy putting in his two cents' worth. Generally we don't have problems like we did that second season.
Q: How did you break your back twice?
PH: I didn't exactly break it twice, I broke it in two places at one time. I was in the wheelhouse and we were loading some big hose. The guys looked like they needed a hand, so we all picked up this hose and I heard a snap. I went back to the wheelhouse and sat down, and 10 minutes later I tried to get out of the chair and couldn't. I could barely walk. The guys had to help me get into bed, and then I couldn't get out of bed. Some guys thought they knew what it was. They thought it was a kink in my back, so they walked on my back to straighten it out. That didn't do any good, so I flew to Seattle. A buddy who's a surgeon gave me some good pain pills, and I wound up in the hospital and they did an MRI. The guy at the hospital started laughing and said, "You're a crab fisherman?" I said I was, and he said "Man oh man, you guys are tough! Your back is broken in two places!" I was afraid I'd be paralysed, and in fact 95% of people with that injury do end up paralysed. I was just lucky.
Q: How many months are you at sea per year?
PH: For the last few years, we've been spending a lot of time because of the way the seasons are structured. Right now, it's probably eight months out of the year.
Q: How do you set up the pots to catch different species of fish or crab?
PH: Interesting question. The pots generally are the same: 6.5ft by 7.5ft, and 33 inches deep. There's a tunnel ring in each side where the crab can come in, and hopefully not come out. We can change the size of the tunnel ring. For king crab, the tunnel rings are wide open. When we fish opies, we block part of that opening so no king crab can get in. The opening is 2 or 2.5 inches high so an opilio crab can scamper in there, but a king crab couldn't.
