In the treacherous waters of the Bering Sea, where every wave could spell disaster, Deadliest Catch delivered another heart-pounding episode as Captain Keith Colburn of the F/V Wizard faced a mechanical meltdown that threatened to derail his final push for red king crab. With just four days left to offload and 31,000 pounds of quota hanging in the balance, Colburn’s throttle controls suddenly failed, locking the vessel in forward gear and turning a routine haul into a high-stakes battle for control.
The incident unfolded during what should have been a focused effort on the Wizard’s remaining 160 pots. As the crew grappled with pots brimming—or disappointingly empty—of sun crab, Colburn’s voice crackled over the intercom: “I’ve got no throttle, Joe. I’ve got zero throttle up here.” The air-operated throttle system had given out, leaving the captain with no way to adjust speed or shift gears from the wheelhouse. “Always something,” Colburn muttered, encapsulating the relentless grind of Alaskan crab fishing.
With tides clashing against the wind and rogue waves threatening to swamp the deck, engineer Joe scrambled below to troubleshoot. “This runs on air,” Colburn explained, as the boat careened forward uncontrollably. The risk was immediate: without throttle control, navigating the hostile seas became a gamble, with potential for waves to crash over the rails and endanger the crew. Yet, the show must go on—crab needed to be hauled, stacked, and secured before the looming delivery deadline.
In a testament to seafaring ingenuity, Colburn and his team improvised a system of hand signals to keep operations afloat. Thumb up signaled “slow ahead,” thumbs down meant “slowest turn,” a raised finger called for more throttle in forward, and a flat hand indicated “all stop.” From the engine room, Joe manually operated the gears while Colburn steered from above. “We’re trying to figure out how to basically put the boat in and out of gear down in the engine room,” Colburn said, as the crew pressed on with pot retrievals amid the chaos.
The pots themselves offered mixed fortunes: some yielded promising hauls, others fell flat with “no winnow” or scant crab. “Hope we find something ’cause we’re almost to the finish line here,” one crew member noted, underscoring the pressure. Despite the throttle debacle, the team managed to continue stacking gear, with Colburn directing from the helm: “Let’s make sure we get these pots in the block.”
This episode highlights the unforgiving reality of Deadliest Catch, now in its 21st season, where mechanical failures are as common as monster swells. Colburn, a veteran captain known for his no-nonsense style, has faced everything from injuries to crew conflicts, but this throttle lock-up added a new layer of peril to the red king crab season. As the Wizard looped lazily to port to buy time for repairs, viewers were left on the edge, wondering if the fix would hold or if disaster loomed.
Fans of the Discovery Channel staple praised the raw intensity on social media, with one X user calling it “classic Deadliest Catch—man vs. machine in the deadliest waters.” As Colburn’s crew races to fill their quota, the Bering Sea reminds all: in crab fishing, control is fleeting, but resilience is key.
Harlan Reed covers reality TV and extreme adventures for the Bering Sea Sentinel. Follow him on X @HarlanReedBSS for live recaps of Deadliest Catch Season 21.
