There is no shortage of heavy equipment onboard the ships of "Deadliest Catch," and as Greenhorn Shea Long almost finds out, a lot of it can be incredibly hazardous. During Season 4, Long is working as a deckhand on board the F/V Time Bandit, when he is nearly split in half after an equipment malfunction with the picking hook.
The picking hook is one of the most important parts of a crabbing vessel, as it raises and lowers the nearly 1,000-pound crab pots in and out of the water through a heavy-gauge steel wire. While dealing with heavy westerly winds one night, the 4-inch steel-pin that supports the picking hook snaps, causing the heavy-gauge steel wire to come careening towards the deck. Long is barely 3-feet away from the cable when it slams onto the deck, just missing its trajectory.
Luckily for Long, the picking hook was not attached to a crab pot at the time, because if it had been it likely could have proved fatal. Due to Long's position, he would have been crushed under the weight of the wire and 800 pounds of crab pots. With how fast the cable came flying down, there was zero chance for Long to react, and it was pure luck he wasn't hit at all. Long emerged from the ordeal unscathed, but things could have gone downhill quickly.
