Deadliest Catch cast members who have died: the list runs to 20 — and one sunken boat took six of them

Discovery's crab fleet series has been running since 2005, and the names it has lost break down in a way most summaries flatten. Two of the deaths happened at sea in the fishery the show covers. Most of the rest happened on land.

Counting captains, deckhands, engineers and the crews of two vessels the series documented, the total stands at 20. The single largest loss came from one boat, in one night, in February 2017.

The on-camera cast

These are the people viewers knew by name from the show itself.

• Captain Phil Harris — Cornelia Marie. Stroke aboard the boat in Dutch Harbor on 29 January 2010, died 9 February 2010, aged 53. The episode covering his death drew 8.5 million viewers, Discovery's third-largest broadcast ever.
• Justin Tennison — Time Bandit deckhand. Died 22 February 2011 in Homer, Alaska, aged 33, of complications from sleep apnea, days after the season ended.
• Captain Tony Lara — took over the Cornelia Marie after Harris. Heart attack in his sleep, 8 August 2015, aged 50.
• Captain Blake Painter — ran the Maverick in seasons 2 and 3. Found dead at his home in Astoria, Oregon, 25 May 2018, aged 38.
• Mahlon Reyes — deckhand. Died 27 July 2020, aged 38; the medical examiner ruled acute cocaine intoxication.
• Nick McGlashan — deck boss, and a seventh-generation fisherman. Died 27 December 2020 in Nashville, aged 33, of an overdose involving methamphetamine, cocaine and fentanyl.
• Todd Kochutin — deckhand on the Patricia Lee. Crushed by a crab pot on deck, died 26 February 2021, aged 30. His death was filmed and aired.
• Ross Jones — Saga crew. Died 22 June 2022.
• Tom Brossard — Saga engineer. Died 26 January 2024, aged 64, of an apparent heart attack.
• Nick Mavar — Northwestern deckhand across more than 100 episodes. Died 13 June 2024 in Naknek, Alaska, aged 59, after a medical emergency.
• Todd Meadows — Aleutian Lady. Went overboard in the Bering Sea in February 2026, aged 25, and became caught in a crab pot; resuscitation attempts failed.

The Destination

On 11 February 2017 the Destination, a 110-foot, 196-gross-ton crabber, went down 2.6 miles northwest of St. George Island in the Bering Sea. There was no mayday. All six aboard were lost.

• Captain Jeff Hathaway
• Darrik Seibold
• Kai Hamik
• Larry O'Grady
• Raymond Vincler
• Charles G. Jones

The NTSB published its findings on 12 July 2018. The probable cause was the captain taking the vessel into heavy freezing spray without the stability margin to survive the ice it put on the hull and gear. The boat capsized quickly enough that nobody got a call out.

With no survivors, no witnesses and no distress signal, the NTSB stated it could not determine the exact sequence of the accident.

Season 13 covered the search in the episode "Lost at Sea," following the Northwestern's fleet as word came through.

The Ocean Challenger

Three more, from a vessel that capsized in 2006: David Hasselquist, Walter Foster and Steve Esparza. That brings the total to 20.

Read more: What happened to Hayden Panettiere: dead at 36, five days before her birthday — and what the autopsy couldn't answer

What the split actually shows

Two of the twenty on-camera names died doing the job on camera — Kochutin under a pot, Meadows overboard. Harris had his stroke in port. The rest died of heart attacks, overdoses and medical emergencies, most of them ashore, most of them out of season.

The show's title refers to the fishery. The casualty list, read in full, mostly refers to what happens to men in their thirties and fifties in the months when they aren't fishing.

For the record: Deadliest Catch premiered 12 April 2005 and reached 22 seasons and 383 episodes by its May 2026 return, which is roughly one death for every 19 episodes aired.

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