THE CRAB BOAT

This story is about the the worst job I have ever had. I was desparate for money because my tuition and fees were due again for the coming year. The year, 1990........the time, January.....the weather, cold as hell. Maybe you have seen those tiny little ads in the back of papers saying "make big money in Alaska". Hmmmm.....what a novel way to make some fast cash. I mean....how hard could it be? As it was, I got hired by the All Alaskan Seafood Company in Seattle, Washington. My job? I was to be a crab fisherman and processor. So I drove to Seattle and caught the mother processing ship, the MV All Alaskan, north to Alaska. It was the first week of January and as we headed more north.....the colder it got. We took the inside passage up to the Aleutian island port of Dutch Habor.

From there....we took on more fuel and suppplies and then headed north to the Bering Sea. I have never seen such awful weather. We finally arrived at the Pribolof Islands. From there...some of us went abourd the crab boats....the ones with the traps...and some stayed on the processing ship. At first, I stayed on the processing ship for the first month. It was a virtual slave ship. As we headed out into the open sea. The wind blew continuously....the waves crashed and ice bergs would float by. It was the first time I had ever seen it snow.......sideways. There was no getting off that ship. If you quit, you had to pay your own way back....after they left you at the nearest island. For the next 5 months....I was at sea.....never to touch land.

The crab boats would haul their catches back to the processing ship. Man did it stink! We stood at stations.....lined up like robots in front of giant hoppers. At each station was mounted a double bladed axe. That is what it looked like anyway. There was no heat and it was partially exposed to the elements, snow and wind. It was so cold....that the thick rubber gloves we wore would become so hard, you could barely move them. Dressing warmly was an understatement. So here we would stand....for hours at a time....many times in excess of 16 hours a day. As we would wait for the catch to arrive.....we had a little time to chat....and move around to keep the blood flowing. Then it would happen....giant nets called "brailers" would drop the tons of Ophelio (snow) crabs in to the hoppers in front of us. The crabs were still very active and you could feel the heat coming from them.....you wanted to crawl into that pile for warmth. But the cold would quickly stop their movement....as they started to freeze in the outside air. So it started....we would grab each crab....and they were quite large....by their legs. One hand on each pair of 4 legs. With that, the crab would be lifted into the air in front of us......and would be slammed down on the double bladed axe. The guts and crab blood would fly everywhere......as their shells popped off of them and they split in two. After this.....we would lower each set of legs down to spinning wheels covered with thick brushes. The brushes would clean the guts off....and prep the leg sections. Then we would throw the leg sections on a conveyer belt....and reach for the next crab. And so it went......hour after hour.....day after day. I had killed thousands of them....how many.....I don't know, but there were thousands. Many crew members couldn't handle it...and they were dropped off. But I was determined to make it through the contract I had signed. I rotated between processing and catching the crabs.....both jobs were terrible. The crab catching boats were usually less than 50 feet long and would stay out for several weeks at a time....setting the traps. Miles and miles of traps. Each trap location was maked by a bouy. We would have to reel them in and remove the crabs from each....then rebait and set them out again. The water churned and was ice cold. The small boats had a crew of 4 or 5 usually. Every year, some were lost at sea. The swells were so big at times, that all you could see on both sides were walls of water. That would definately humble the most arrogant man. If it was a good catch.....the boats would ride very low in the water....taking maximum draft. At times....they would almost sink.....because they were overloaded.

When we arrived back at the processing ship....several of us would jump down into the holds....which could have 50 thousand, or more, pounds of live crabs. We would have to scoop them into our arms and load them into the giant brailer nets....for transfer to the processing ship. Believe me....those things can really pinch! It was hard backbreaking work for sure. Just were did all those crabs go? You would have thought they were destined for American eateries....but no......all were sold to the Japanese....the Tokyo express. Every couple of weeks....a Japanese freighter would tie up to the processing ship and we would have to transfer the flash frozen legs to it. How much were they paying for those crabs you may wonder? Well....they were sold by the "rack". A rack consisted of twelve (12) 65 pound boxes of crab legs. Each rack of snow crabs would sell for $20,000, or more.......that's right 20 Gs. By the time they made it to the Tokyo diners....that price would have increased 4 fold.

And so it was for 5 long and cold months.....sitting in the middle of the Bering Sea. I was promised to make 30 to 40 thousand dollars for that trip.....but no......it just happened to be my fate that the year before....the Exxon Valdez spilled its' load at Prince William sound. A good portion of our catch was contaminated with oil....unfit for human consumption. Since a large part of our pay came from the total gross weight of the seasons' catch....it went down considerably. What did I earn for those 5 months of hell....a whole $4,200! That's right....just 4,200 bucks. What a rip off. They actually tried to talk me into returning for another season. Not a chance Charlie.....not a chance. So ended my professional career as a crab killer. As I was so dubbed...as I was quite proficient in the art of killing at the end of those 5 months. Never again.