'Deadliest Catch' captain Johnathan Hillstrand retires with a bang and lots of crabs
After 37 years of fishing, Deadliest Catch captain Johnathan Hillstrand decided it was time to retire. But first, the captain had to finishing catching his 250,000-pound quota of crabs.
Hillstrand had no doubts he was ready to retire. He said, “You see me back out here again, kick me right in the nuts and gouge my eyes out. I’ll do it myself … if I come out here again. I’ll kick myself in my own nuts and poke my own eye.”
Hillstrand managed to find the crustaceans, and it wasn’t too long before his tanks were too full to hold anymore.
As the last crab pot was being pulled up, Hillstrand said of his retirement, “Hasn’t resonated in my head yet, but I don’t believe this is real. It chokes me up.”
The crew thanked their captain by break-dancing for him. And his loyal friend and deck boss, Freddy Maugatai, visited the wheelhouse to tell his captain how much he meant to him.
Throughout the fleet, fishermen set off flares to bid the skipper a fond farewell. Hillstrand made a speech that was broadcast across the fleet: “Thirty-seven years out here and, man, just know when it’s time to go, and it’s time to go and do something else.”
Deadliest Catch regularly airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on Discovery.
Watch as a deckhand is injured when falling while stacking crab pots:
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