Discovery Channel’s “Deadliest Catch,” a series about the day-to-day dangers of crab-fishing crews on the Bering Sea, has lost a deckhand overboard.
Todd Meadows, 25, the newest member of the reality-TV crew, died after falling overboard from the Aleutian Lady in the Bering Sea late last month.
The incident occurred near the end of filming for the season.
The crew recovered Meadows from the water ten minutes after he fell in but he was unresponsive and couldn’t be revived.
The show three years ago featured Linda Greenlaw of Maine, who flew to Alaska, joining the cast to break into the dangerous work of Alaskan crab fishing.
Greenlaw, who lives on Isle Au Haut, spent weeks captaining a ship, hauling and setting gear, and learning the art of catching king crabs on the icy waters.
The show’s 19th-season premier featured Greenlaw.
Having been going to sea since she was a youngster, Greenlaw knows too well the deadly toll of commercial fishing, statistically the most dangerous job in the world.
The book and movie “The Perfect Storm” featured Greenlaw, the first female swordfishing captain from the east coast and her valiant but unsuccessful efforts to try to save a fellow vessel.
Sebastian Junger’s book recounts a 1991 storm that resulted in the Gloucester fishing boat Andrea Gail going down off the coast of Nova Scotia, and the loss of all six crewmen.
Greenlaw had attempted to warn the Andrea Gail about the impending storm.
Raised in Topsham and a graduate from Colby College, Greenlaw became famous when her fishing out of Gloucester, Massachusetts, was documented in Junger’s blockbuster book.
A dragger out of Gloucester that sank earlier this year, taking seven crew members to their deaths, was also featured in a TV documentary on the History Channel that included the story about a Maine fishing boat.
Besides fishing, Greenlaw has written three best-selling books about the incredible challenges of commercial fishing.
