15x08 - The Miner's Code

[bunniefuu]

[Vernon] There's a dredge distress
about 17 miles to the east of town.

They're dead in the water.

No power.

Right now, we're the
only hope he's got.

[Shawn speaking]

[man speaking]

[man speaking]

- [Shawn speaking]
- [man speaking]

[Vernon] Hang on.

[Shawn speaking]

John, my engines are swamping.

[Shawn speaking]

[Vernon] Abandon ship!

[narrator] In Nome, the final days
of summer continue to slip away,

as an early winter storm
looms on the horizon.

And in the harbor...

[Shawn] We're gonna pile
up as much gold as we can,

dig until the weather turns
pretty flat out there right now.

[narrator] Shawn Pomrenke is determined
to get while the getting is still good.

Hoping to stay one step
ahead of Mother Nature.

[Shawn] Snow in the
mountains and ice in the mornings

that's your sign the
season's coming to an end.

Running out of time.

We got some nasty weather
coming in, whipping winds,

dropping temperatures,
unmineable for the whole fleet,

even this old girl.

The waves are going to
get too big for theMyrtle,

but hopefully, there's
a big enough window

that we can do some
damage before it hits.

[Shawn] Today,
we're treasure hunting.

We only got a few hours here,

and I'm impatient for
that box to turn yellow.

So, I want to find a spot that's
going to just knock it out of the park.

I'm looking for that
cheesy, easy cheesy band.

[Shawn speaking]

[Shawn] There's
no gold in the pan.

But my gut feeling with the way
the material looks says to dig it,

so we're going to dig it.

[Shawn] Even though we're
not seeing gold in these pans,

I'm going to put all my
eggs into this basket.

I've been doing
this long enough,

I know what paydirt looks like.

I'm even willing to
risk the whole day on it.

If I'm wrong, it could k*ll my
chances to make it to 3,000 ounces.

Pressure's on.

Running out of time.

[narrator] While
Shawn gets to work...

10 miles east...

[grunting] She's moving!

[narrator] Even though
it's late in the season,

it's the dawn of a new
era for team Tenhoff.

Well, here...

Whoo!

[man] Stop all that.

Woo!

[Zeke] I got my brother Gabe and our
friend, Shem and Nate out of the compound,

and we're up for
a new challenge.

Out with the old
and in with the new.

We're taking the Golden
Dawn out of the water

and we're breaking her down.

I'm salvaging some of
the parts for the winter.

[bleep]

Up, go...

[Zeke] And now, we're
switching over to the Havilah.

At the start of the season, we
made a deal with Shawn that

if we can make it seaworthy,
we could take it out

to Tomcod and run it out there.

This will be a game-changer.

It's a top-flight dredge
with a high-end system and,

most importantly, it
has a 10-inch hose on it.

It's the big league right there.

It's a colossal
amount of difference.

If I go out on the
Havilah and it looks like

we can pull some
really good numbers

and have like a
really good cleanup,

it's going to make me
think that maybe... maybe

I need to, like, find a
way to segue into, uh...

using a bigger boat.

I went out this summer
thinking that the gold,

there's going to be more gold

that was going to be
acceptable for a six-inch dredge,

and I didn't find
a lot of that, uh,

but I did find a lot of places
where the gold would be

really profitable for
a 10-inch dredge.

So, the four of us, me and
Gabe and Shem and Nate

are just going to,
like, give it a real nice,

hard run on that 10-inch dredge,

and I want to see
what it can do.

I was aiming for 50 ounces, but
I'm only sitting at about 20 right now,

and the summer is almost over.

- There we go.
- There we go, gentlemen.

[Zeke] Getting on the Havilah is
probably the key to hitting my mark.

The bummer is, is
that there's supposed

to be giant swells
headed our way.

And these swells
could be so bad that

they could keep
us off the water,

which would be a
huge bummer because

I'm really looking forward to seeing
what this dredge could do for us.

Man, I want to go, um, if it's
calm, you know what I mean?

I don't know. That
swell's just weird.

It's like this north wind should
be right putting it down and it's not.

Swell's determined
by tides, right?

No, I think that swell
is a big weather system

that's happening like out in
the Bering Sea somewhere,

there's a big storm out there.

It's just like pushing
up this big [bleep] swell.

At this point with like, what the
weather's doing and how spotty it is,

we just like, we look
at the weather report

and then look at it out there
and make a judgment call.

You know, we'll just
keep an eye on it.

For sure.

Should just did some
witchcraft and like,

sacrifice a small goat to
appeal to the gods of weather.

- [Zeke] I know a guy.
- [Nate] You got a guy there?

You got a goat guy?

[Zeke] We got a goat guy.

[narrator] Back at the harbor...

This better [bleep]
work right now.

This is my last ditch
effort to make this work.

[narrator] Kris Kelly is ready
to test his ailing mistress,

and the rest of his
season rests in the balance.

[Kris] I just hope he fixes it.

Fingers crossed.

So I paid this guy,
Kris and his wife,

to fly up from California to
get this excavator running.

Nobody else can figure out what's
wrong with this electrical problem.

Right now, this is
costing me a ton.

But if he can't figure out
how to make this work,

I won't be making
any money at all.

It's big risk, high reward.

Kris, got news for you.

I want you to go ahead
and try turning that key.

[engine starts]

What do you think of that, huh?

Yeah. That started like nothing.

Do you hear that?

That's [bleep]
purring like a kitten.

Well, he fixed.

Yeah, baby.

Yes, finally, I thought this
was never going to start again.

This excavator was going to
be a giant heap of rusting metal

on the Nome shore.

But now we're back in business.

Come on, let's go.

We've got everything
up and running.

Today's the day, the first
day of the rest of the season.

No excuses.

We're getting gold
no matter what.

So, we owe 125,000
in just a few days,

or this whole operation
is going to tank.

Right now, I'm not even close.

So it's like a mad dash
to pull this off this summer.

I'm even taking this
guy, Kris, with me mining

just to make sure this
doesn't break down again.

I'm not taking any chances.

I got Kris and his
wife here with me.

We're going to get out there

and I'm sure they're going to have a
great vacation out there on the water,

but I'm really bringing them
in case [bleep] goes bad.

Any problems with the excavator,

we're going to
handle it right away.

We're ready to go.

Yeah. Let's do this.

We're going to push hard.

We're going to make this happen,

and we're still going to get
at least 200 or 300 ounces

before the [bleep]
season is over. Watch.

We're going to call Kevin,
tell him the good news,

because if anybody
needs good news, it's Kevin.

Yo, buddy, can you hear me?

[Kevin speaking on phone]

Hey, we're going
on the water today.

Everything's fixed.

[Kevin speaking on phone]

We're going to get some gold.

[Kevin speaking on phone]

Kevin is happy.

You know, it's always funny

when you start making money,
everybody loves you again.

So the good news is
this albatross is working,

and we can finally get gold.

The bad news,
the storm is coming

and it's going to
knock us off the water.

So it's a race today to get
as much material in the box

before we get booted.

I need this excavator
to start paying for itself.

I've got people with families.

I can't let everybody
go bankrupt.

[man speaking]

[man] Hey, we're good.

Yeah!

It all started and
warmed up for you.

[James speaking]

[James] We've left the
excavator running this whole time.

Hopefully, this thing lasts us a
couple of hours, a couple of days.

Who knows?

James is in the excavator.

We're going to
start making gold,

and all I got to say,
it's about [bleep] time.

[man speaking]

Yeah, baby.

[Kris speaking]

First test pan of the day,


[machine beeping]

[James speaking]

[Kris] Oh, that's not good.

What's the matter?

[James speaking]

Try to idle this b*tch up.

It's not idling up at all?

We're having problems with
the communication again.

All right. So I got
Kris brought it.

He's going to do
the best he can,

but he's not a [bleep] magician.

[Kris] I don't understand
it. It worked [bleep].

The problem is we don't
know what the problem is.

That's the problem.

[machine beeping]

[Kris] Oh, you
[bleep] sack of [bleep]!

If this excavator
doesn't fire back up,

it's in a really
[bleep] position

and I won't even be able
to dock up the harbor.

It's all bad.

[bleep] man, one
thing or [bleep] another.

What [bleep] joke, man.

[Vernon] I don't know how
long this is going to last.

Nobody does.

These weather forecasts, you can
pretty much wipe your butt on them,

for all the good they are.

[narrator] Rather than playing
chicken with the approaching storm,

Vernon Adkison isn't
taking any chances.

[Vernon] I've been
through these periods,

I don't know how
many times up here.

Extremely frustrating.

There's nothing worse
than being stuck up here

hemorrhaging money
and nothing's coming in.

We're up here to gold mine,

but the weather
doesn't let you do it.

Not a damn thing
you can do about it.

So, there's no sense
in even going out.

The forecast is terrible,
particularly for out on Claim 56.

We've had a few hiccups
with the gold ship this season.

I can't risk getting her
knocked out right now.

I've got to keep her
healthy for the last push.

So it pains me
not to be out there,

but it's a decision I made
as a captain and that's it.

It's part of the drill up here,

this happens
frequently, believe me.

Let's go down to Airport Pizza,

get some coffee, get warmed up.

It is what it is.

[narrator] While Vernon
stays onshore, two miles east...

[Jeff speaking]

[Emily speaking]

[narrator] Emily Riedel
is choosing to push

through conditions
while she still can.

A little swell won't hurt him.

[Jane speaking]

[Emily] Yeah, or I,
I'll probably vomit first.

A goal this season
is 250 ounces,

and I think it's within reach.

We're down to the last
few days of the season,

and we've got a
storm rolling in soon,

so we're down to
the last couple hours.

So, we're going to push,
we're going to dive in with Jeff.

But we got some
swells coming in,

so it's not going to be pretty.

[Emily singing]

That boat's going to be rocking.

[producer speaking]

[Jane speaking]

[Emily] All right, let's go.

I'm just looking this way because
the diver is changing his clothes.

I've already seen
him naked once.

I don't need to see it again.

- [Emily] Ready?
- [Jeff speaking]

[Jeff speaking]

[Emily] How's it going
down there, Jeffrey?

[Jeff speaking]

[Emily] Okay.

[Jeff speaking]

[Emily] You're in
front of the boat.

[Jeff speaking]

[Emily] Ah, that sounds awesome.

I think he's going
underneath the boat.

[Jeff speaking]

[Emily] Good, good.

[Jeff speaking]

[Emily] Woo-hoo.

[Jeff speaking]

[Emily] This swell's
coming down a bit,

hopefully, it keeps coming down.

[Jeff speaking]

Good day, man. Jeff's on
the gold, we're making money.

[narrator] Two miles west...

[Andy] That's a beautiful
day on the water.

Good old Reaper right here.

It's small, but it does the job.

[narrator] With
the Mistress down,

Andy Kelly is currently the only
Kelly with a shot at getting gold.

Reaper Nation, really
there hasn't been a nation,

there's only just been
the Reaper really.

My brother brought up
this specialist guy to see

if they could get
something running.

They're not going to get
nothing up and running.

So I'm taking my buddy, Daniel
and Anthony from that crew,

and we're all going
to go dredging.

Oh, I can see right over
your head, dude, don't worry.

That's what I love about
working with short people.

So shocker of all shocks, the
Mistress isn't working again.

My brother has a
big payment due,

so it's up to me and the Reaper
to get us on the gold board.

So it can't only be me diving,

so I'm going to put two new
guys through the wringer.

We're going to see
what they can do.

My buddy, Daniel, he's
been helping out on the boat.

And Anthony, who
stunk it up last time

he dived under Kris' guidance.

Let's see if they
can impress me.

Hey, boys and girls...

let the fun begin.

We just got to put it all
right [bleep] right now.

I'm bringing them to the spot,

where I already found gold.

So there's no excuse
if they strike out.

Daniel's up first.

My hopes aren't that high,
but maybe he'll surprise me.

[Andy speaking]

[Daniel speaking]

[Andy speaking]

[Daniel speaking]

[Andy] Okay. Watch out.

[Andy speaking]

And of course, it's a
dumpster fire right off the bat.

Par for the course this season.

[Daniel speaking]

Tough case we're
having right now.

He has a fat face and
an extra-large helmet.

Hood's not working for him.

[Andy speaking].

This isn't a big
deal, I wear 2X.

Daniel's got a
huge head like me.

All the best people do.

So I'm going to give him my mask

and we'll see if he
can get it together.

[Andy speaking]

How's it going?

[Daniel speaking]

[Andy] Yeah, because
you're at the end of the hose.

Come closer in.

[Daniel speaking]

Keep going.

I'm basically putting
you in front of the boat.

That way you can
check over there for me.

[Daniel] Yes.

[Daniel speaking]

[Andy speaking]

[Daniel speaking]

[Andy] All right, big
rocks are always good.

[Daniel speaking]

[Daniel speaking]

[Andy speaking]

[Andy] Good job, bro.

[Daniel speaking]

[Andy speaking]

Anchor's been down


Doing really good.

Found gold, I'm happy.

Now we're just going to dig down
for another two and a half hours,

three hours, and we're great.

[Andy speaking]

[narrator] While Andy
gets gold for Reaper Nation.

Nine miles west...

[Kris] Well, we're
not technically dead,

just the computers don't
want to [bleep] make it work.

I don't know, it's beyond me.

[Kris speaking]

[narrator] Their fearless leader
has yet to excavate himself

from his latest
equipment trouble.

The thing is, there's
nothing mechanically wrong

with that excavator at all.

It should work.

At least we're on the water and we're
working it out rather than at the dock.

We do have gold in the box,
but we just need a lot more.

A lot more.

Again, again, with
this damn excavator,

this thing breaks down again.

I spend big money on equipment,

and we have bigger problems and
we're in the last days of this season.

This is like a slow,
agonizing death.

[man speaking]

[man speaking]

[man speaking]

Yeah, be like hey,
put a bow on it.

[Kris] Nothing's better.

[Kris speaking]

- Okay.
- [Kris speaking]

Yeah, let's do that.

So this is the deal.

We got to keep running this piece
of crap excavator in limp mode.

What is limp mode?

Limp mode means it's
working, but just not at full power.

So everything
will be super slow,

which honestly will be
pretty depressing to watch.

But this will be digging and
still getting gold at a snail's pace.

Make a little bit of gold, but
this is going to be [bleep] slow.

So late in the season.

I just have to run
with what we got.

So our machine right
now is in limp mode,

which means that it's not
operating at 100% speed one.

Even though the excavator
should be running faster,

I'll take any gold I
can get right now.

First bucket in a while.

That's as fast as it'll move.

So, we're getting gold, it's just
we're not getting fast buckets.

But thank God, we're
at least getting gold.

Pretty pathetic, but some
money is better than none.

[Kris] Taking us twice
as long to do a scoop.

So usually our cycle
time is 40 seconds.

Right now, it's a minute
and thirty seconds.

Which is [bleep].

I'm happy to see it but I'm
pissed we're not running at 100%.

That excavator's pissing me off.

Limp mode, how embarrassing.

Who wants to be in limp mode?

It's pathetic.

Come on. Andy
moves faster than this.

It's a piece of machinery.

You know, it should fix,
and then it [bleep] works,

and it's not [bleep]
working after you fix it.

I poured money, fixed
so many damn things,

I'm not a whining [bleep],
but this [bleep] not fair.

I'm not going to call Kevin
and let him know the news.

I'm just going to tell Kevin,
"Oh, things are going good"

and then hopefully, we
can Band-Aid everything up

and still get 200 or 300 ounces
this season, that's what I'm hoping.

[man speaking]

Looks like we're just
going to stay on the boat

and run it as long
as we possibly can.

Like midnight or two
o'clock in the morning.

No point in telling
anybody the bad news until

it's time to go home and
then I'll spring it on them that,

"Hey, we're staying around
another four or five hours."

So, you know, like, no point in taking
away people's momentum right now.

At least, we're getting gold.

[narrator] As fierce
winds creep closer...

[man] I test fired the pump
this morning, it fired right up.

Sweet. This is awesome.

Dude, I'm stoked. Let
me go grab Shannon.

[narrator] Hopes in the
Tenhoff camp are still high

and the time has finally come
to launch the mighty Havilah.

Yeah, buddy.

[Zeke] After weeks and weeks
of searching around on Tomcod

for hotspots, I'm really ready
to unleash the Havilah on it

and see what kind of damage
we can do with a 10-inch dredge.

Off we go.

It'll be super sweet to step
up our game this summer

on a great dredge
and on a great claim.

Honestly, the only thing that
would make it better this season

is if we have more time.

But we'll crush it with the
amount of time we have left.

They've like really gotten a good
handle on running all the systems

on this big boat and figuring
it out and making it work well.

Big, powerful diesel pump.

Big, a 10-inch hose, four dudes,

I want to see what that can do.

[Gabe] So looks like we're
sending Zeke down first.

He's got the spot.

He's going to make
sure we get right on it.

[Zeke] We're going to start
off with a little patch that I found

is difficult to get through
with the 6-inch dredge.

But I think with
a 10-inch dredge,

there's just more volume, and we'll
be able to move through it real easily.

[Zeke speaking]

[Zeke] We'll need to anchor the
Havilah exactly over the spot that I found.

It was a little bit easier
with the six-inch dredge

because you could
be off a little bit

and that you could more easily
move it around from the bottom.

The Havilah is a massive boat and
we have to be a lot more accurate.

I'm pulling us over that way.

If you don't get it right, then
you're not going to get gold

because you need to
have it in the exact right spot

and it looks like
it takes a lot of...

it's like difficult and
takes a lot of finesse to do.

Pull over a little
bit towards the port.

Okay, so the thing's line

should be between 25-30
feet right off the [bleep] bow.

[Zeke speaking]

[Gabe speaking]

[Zeke speaking]

[Gabe speaking]

[Zeke] I think I
recognize where I am,

and I think it's in both
directions, that's really good.

Yeah. You seeing well?

[Zeke speaking]

All right.

[Zeke] Where,
where am I right now?

Am I on the starboard
side of the boat?

Yeah. You're like, 10
feet off the dive ladder.

Hey, man, how's that


I know you've been
working that 6 all season.

How is it? How does it feel?

Are you comfortable?

[Zeke speaking]

[laughter]

[Zeke speaking]

[Gabe] Are you getting on any
hard pan or is it all pea gravel?

[Zeke speaking]

How... I mean, if you're in it
right now, open that thing up.

Start, start that big old cut.

Just work it back and
forth as wide as you can.

[Zeke speaking]

Well, we're going to hog all the
material, the cobble and the sand,

everything. It's going to be
a barren [bleep] wasteland,

FernGully [bleep] down there.

Okay?

We're on the money now!

[whooping]

[narrator] Nine miles east...

How's it going?

[Daniel speaking]

[Andy speaking]

[narrator] Andy Kelly is testing
out the Reaper's first new diver.

[Andy] All right, man,
I'm very proud of you.

You got down.
You went right for it.

Good job, bro.

[Daniel speaking]

All right, come back up.

[Daniel speaking]

Daniel surprised me.

He got down there, got the
gold, and didn't complain.

[Daniel speaking]

Now, it's Anthony's turn.

Last time, he dove,
he [bleep] the bed.

He got a day ending rock jam.

[Kris speaking]

[Anthony speaking]

It couldn't have gone
any worse with Anthony.

He's going to have to show
me something real different

or he's going to
be kicking rocks.

[Andy speaking]

All set?

[Anthony speaking]

[Andy speaking]

[Andy speaking]

[Anthony speaking]

Looks like he's sucking material

and I'm looking at rocks
going through the box.

[Andy speaking]

[Anthony speaking]

What?

Did he just say he
can't hear anything?

Anthony?

Hey, [bleep].

So far, I'm not optimistic.

[Daniel speaking]

No.

[Daniel speaking]

[Anthony speaking]

[Andy] How's the suction?

[Anthony speaking]

[Andy speaking]

[Anthony speaking]

Pull him up.

[Andy speaking]

[Anthony speaking]

What's that?

[Anthony speaking]

This guy's been down 10 minutes,

he already wants a break.

Hell, I've been down for three
hours at a time before I need a break.

I can already smell
how this one's going.

He's coming up for a break.

I had to pull him for the break.

What the [bleep], dude!

I've seen some
[bleep] in my life, dude,

but I've never had to drag
somebody in the boat for a cigarette.

I don't know where my
brother found this dude at, man.

This dude's from Alabama.

He should have
stayed in Alabama.

When you hear amateur
hour, this is it right here.

[Anthony speaking]

[Daniel] You good?

[Anthony] Yeah.

[Daniel speaking]

[Anthony] Uh, a little.

[Andy speaking]

I thought this was amateur hour,

but no, it's amateur 10 minutes.

I think I've seen all I
need to see from Anthony,

not that he has
anything else to show.

No gold.

Waste of gas.

Waste of my time.

This guy is my night crew.

So why would I want somebody
like that on my night crew?

I dive and get gold and
he takes a percentage?

I already got one
[bleep] like that.

I got my dad.

I don't need another one.

All right, today
was a decent day.

I got to see what
everybody can do,

and I figured out
what I needed to know.

Now it's time to
eliminate people.

[Andy] It's hard
to find good help.

[narrator] Two miles east...

[Emily] How's the gold looking?

[Jeff speaking]

[Emily] All right. I like it.

[narrator] Trying to outrun
the store before it hits,

the crew of the Eroica is winning
the race against Mother Nature.

[Jeff speaking]

[Emily] That's good.
Sounds really good.

The Bering Sea will always
try to throw you off your game.

But you just got to focus on putting
hours in the box, so that's what counts.

That's what's happening today.
Jeff's down there on awesome gold.

And we're just going to keep
pushing as long as we can.

It's the end of the
season, but we're...

[Jeff speaking]

[Emily speaking]

[Jeff speaking]

[Emily speaking]

[Jeff speaking]

This weather is
not joking around.

[Jeff speaking]

All right. Roger that.

It's probably time to call it.

[Jeff speaking]

[Emily speaking]

Hey, Jane, wanna
pull up his umbilical?

[Jane] Weather's changed and
we don't want to stop working,

but we have to.

[Emily] All good things
have to come to an end.

Swell's kind of picked up.

It's getting too rough
to stay out any longer.

At this point, we can't
really risk the boat, you know.

We're on great gold, but
Bering Sea's telling us no.

[Jeff] You just wanted me to come
up and tell you that the gold's good.

[Emily speaking]

[Jeff speaking]

[Emily speaking]

[Jane speaking]

Oh!

Oh.

Don't get hit in the face.

[Jane speaking]

[man] Good to go?

[Emily] We got
to get out of here.

I'm bummed that we're leaving.

Um, it's been a
super productive day.

But just looking at the horizon

and watching this storm come
in, like, we've got to get out of here.

But we know where the great
gold is once the storm is over,

so we're not doing too bad.

Yeah, we should be
there in just a few hours.

[Emily] Slow ride in.

[Jane] Driving a boat at four
knots is never that enjoyable.

It's like, yawn.

Yeah, so, maybe we will get
some decent days out, you know,

it's not freezing, it's
October ninth, but it's not...

[Jane] It's like Rocktober.

- Rocktober?
- Yeah.

Let's Rocktober.

- Just don't hit the rocks.
- What?

What rocks?

[Emily] Kind of called it for the
day, got knocked off by weather.

We were making money and
we just got to get out there.

Damn, it's cold.

[Jane] We can't
complain. It's October.

[Shawn] This stuff
looks really good.

There it is.

[narrator] Despite no
evidence of gold in the pan,

Shawn Pomrenke is gambling
on good-looking ground.

[Shawn chuckles]

[narrator] Trying to
grab what he can before

mounting winds send
him to the sidelines.

[Shawn] I have to admit, I had a point
with all the breakdowns and everything.

I was getting a
little frustrated.

I've been working, working,
working on the Myrtle.

James, you know, handles
things, trying different things

and everything seems to be
kind of coming together right now.

And it's working.

Man, I love it when a
plan comes together.

[chuckles] Yeah.

I don't know how
much more time we got.

We're going to check the
box, see how we're doing.

Real hard to say, but I mean,

there's definitely some fresh
gold in that open top there.

Nice and soft.

- Beautiful.
- [man] Good?

Beautiful.

Box is looking good.

Everything's working wonderful.

We got a bunch
of gold in the box.

Weather's changing right now.

I'm pumped. I followed
my gut and it paid off.

We've done all we
can do out here today.

The weather's turning
and on the Bering Sea,

the weather turns
fast and nasty.

You'd never want to be caught
out here when that happens.

Let's boogie before
we break something.

Hey, you all, let's get
the spuds jacked up.

We got another day, day in
longer than what I thought we'd get.

Wait for good weather.

Do it again.

[narrator] While
Shawn heads in...

one mile west...

[Zeke speaking]

[Gabe] Yay!

[narrator] ...Zeke Tenhoff is rushing
to stay ahead of rough weather.

And he's reaping the benefits of the
Havilah's first voyage of the season.

[Zeke speaking]

Okay, well, let's rock
with it for a little bit.

[Zeke speaking]

Your compressor
is still running.

Maybe the hose is
pinched on your shoulder.

[man speaking]

[Zeke speaking]

[Gabe] There's a little
kink on the, on the hose.

Nate, he just got it right now.

[Zeke speaking]

[Gabe] No, you
don't. You're good.

[Zeke speaking]

Yeah, he was pulling the
kink over to the side of the boat

so he could get it out.

[Zeke speaking]

Yeah.

[Zeke grunting]

[Zeke speaking]

Yeah, we must have
drug on the stern [bleep].

[Zeke speaking]

[Gabe] It's [bleep] weird
that we moved that much.

Yeah. We must have, we got this
breeze coming in from the [bleep] south.

And I guess it just maybe that,

that anchor wasn't sitting on
something that it wanted to be on.

And yeah, I guess
we drug forward.

[Zeke speaking]

You're about maxed out.

[Zeke speaking]

- Yeah.
- [Zeke] Ah!

That's how it worked
out, it [bleep] sucks.

I'm sorry.

[Zeke speaking]

[man speaking]

I want you to hook, hook
the nozzle up and come up.

[Zeke speaking]

[Zeke] The winds are
starting to get really nasty.

The only things we've
been hearing is that

the weather is supposed
to get really bad.

We're going to
have to bail pronto.

Got to get this
blue one over here.

Yeah, I get that.
Yeah, yeah, I'll get it.

We may be getting kicked
off the water a little early,

but the bottom line is that we got gold
on our first time out with the Havilah.

The 10-inch rocks, and we marked
a k*ller spot for our first time out.

I'm just really stoked
about how it went today.

It's not supposed to be [bleep]
for that long, though, right?

- It was supposed to be like a day...
- A day or two.

A day or two?

Well, [bleep].

I mean I'm glad you
got to dive in tonight.

[narrator] As darkness
falls on the Bering Sea...

[Kris] You've gotta
love these [bleep], huh?

We're just finishing
up our 12-hour shift.

Everything went pretty good.

If the excavator were to work
better, we would've gotten more gold.

[narrator] ...Kris Kelly and
crew have limped into the night

with their
slow-moving excavator.

We're getting ready to
get the hell out of here.

We've had a long, hard day,
and I'm ready to take a shower.

It wasn't pretty and
it wasn't efficient,

but we stuck it out as long as
we could through the weather.

[man speaking]

[Kris] Despite being in limp
mode, we still ran for 12 hours

and I think we're actually
going to have a decent haul.

See what we got
in the box for gold,

hoping we're on
something halfway decent.

- [man speaking]
- Do you see gold?

Okay, well, we
see gold in the box.

Oh, yeah.

Well, that's awesome, dude.

Good job. Is that gold?

- Yeah.
- Ah.

That's actually a decent nugget.

A little picker.

Good job, Dave.

It's really encouraging to
start seeing gold in the box.

We got to be on
something halfway decent.

Beautiful.

[man] Good job.

- Good job.
- [man speaking]

[Kris speaking]

[man speaking]

Let's warm up the thrust
faster and get out of here.

We're ready for a
slow trip back to China.

Mexico, for taco [bleep].

[Kris] We got gold.

Just never enough.

[narrator] The storm
creeps closer to Nome.

Season's turned into a lot
of really bad weather, so...

Let's see what this turns out.

You always want to be
able to stay out longer,

but you don't want
to push it too far.

Gold in hand is always better
than a sluice box full of gold

at the bottom of the ocean.

We did it right.

And we had a
great day out there.

Can't wait to see the box.

[Emily] Three, four,
five, six, seven, eleven,

thirteen, sixteen, twenty...



Nice.

Really good man.

[narrator] 24.6 ounces
is worth over $44,000.

And the good times
keep rolling on the Eroica.

[Emily] Some summers up
here have been really tough,

but this summer like
work life, family life,

it's all been freaking amazing.

I'm pretty confident we're
going to be north of 250 ounces.

- You getting gold fever?
- [Jane] Yeah.

Just like staring at it...

- Yeah, I know. Sure.
- [Jane] I'll take it.

Like, literally,
I'll just take it.

- [Emily laughs] - [Jane]
Wow. That's so cool to see.

- It's just cool to see.
- [Jeff] That's awesome.

[Jeff] That's awesome.

[Emily] Sweet.

[Kris] Okay, right here, boys.

I know it's not a lot of gold,

but for the hours that we
got, it's pretty [bleep] amazing.

[narrator] For Kris
Kelly, it's time to find out

if limp mode is the pimp mode.

[Kris] We're finally
starting to make money.

It wasn't fast and furious.

More like slow and mild.

But hopefully all those hours are
going to equal up to a good day.

I really need it.

[Kris] Here we go.

There's one, that's
two, three, four.

I'm hoping for ten.

Five, six...

Grand total of 7.71 ounces.

[narrator] 7.7 ounces
is worth over 13 grand.

Not everything they need in the
final days to make their payment,

but a decent step forward.

[Kris] For nine or
ten hours of mining,

I think that's
pretty impressive.

Oh, yeah.

[man speaking]

At this point, I'll take it.

We just need to
get out of limp mode

and go hard the rest of the way.

Hopefully, we can get what we
need while there's still time to mine.

We're going to have to do anything
we can at this point to make sure

we can get out there for
every [bleep] possible hour.

Okay. Good job, everybody.

Give me some love.

[man speaking]

Yeah, I am.

I'm real proud of everybody.

[horn blowing]

[narrator] Across town...

[Shawn] Weather was crap and it
reflects on the, on the gold we got.

I'm ready for a break.

[narrator] Shawn Pomrenke hopes to
find a golden reward from yesterday's haul.

[Shawn] Weather
knocked us off early,

but, hopefully we did enough damage
to keep us on our 3,000-ounce goal.

All right, let's see
where we're at.



- Triple digits.
- [man] Not too bad.



Nice job, bro.

[narrator] One hundred and sixty
seven ounces is worth over $300,000.

And with the big tally, Shawn
may have just rescued his season.

Hot damn!

We made over a quarter million
dollars before that storm chased us off.

Now, that's what
I call a good day.

All right.

Get this jarred up and
get the hell out of here.

That's a wrap.

[narrator] As the
storm begins to land,

the rising waves have
forced the miners off the water.

All except for one.

I got a call bright
and early this morning.

There's a dredge in distress
about 17 miles to the east of town

and three miles to the south.

They're dead in the water.

No power.

Wind's picking up.

They're calling
for 28-knot winds.

I'm seeing the waves
starting to pick up already.

That's a lot for this boat.

But there's nobody else
jumping up and getting underway,

so we'll go out and
give them a hand.

This is a friend of
mine, Yukon John.

That's what we do around here.

We help each other out.

The Coast Guard
is nowhere around.

It would take them a long time
to get any type of equipment

up here to do a rescue.

He's fortunate that he was
able to relay his position

so we can go get him.

Otherwise, he would
end up over in Siberia here

in about two weeks.

The weather's getting much worse

and now I'm heading
out into the thick of it

and that's because I got a call.

My man, Yukon John
got his engine swamped,

and now he's stuck and it
looks like his boat is going down.

Not going to lie.

It's a big risk going out in these
conditions, especially for the gold ship.

She ain't no rescue vessel,
but if there's a miner in need,

you got to help.

Well, we got a call.

Yukon John's out
there dead in the water,


town to the east,

straight up from Cape Nome,
about three miles out from the beach.

We'll go down to the Cape.

We'll take a real
good look at it.

If it looks like it
ain't gonna sink us,

we'll go on out, pass him a line,
get him back in close to shore

and bring him to town.

[man speaking]

[Vernon] Oh, okay.

[man speaking]

I'm pretty sure we'll be able to
spot him when we get down there.

As long as he's still above
the waves, we'll spot him.

We still got to lasso his a*s
and then tow him back to town.

Hopefully, everything will go
smoothly, but most likely it won't.

Hold on.

Check the box.

[man speaking]

[Vernon speaking]

[man speaking]

[Vernon speaking]

[man speaking]

[Vernon] Finding that
boat in this kind of weather

is like finding a
needle in a haystack.

Flares burn bright, but we're
not seeing any sign of him.

It's time to go to plan B.

[Vernon speaking]

[Thomas speaking]



[man] 6420.932 north.

[Thomas] West number.

[Vernon speaking]

[Thomas] West number 165.12931.

[man on radio
speaking] Yes, sir.

[Vernon speaking]

All right, we got the
coordinates punched in.

We're looking it up now.

[Vernon speaking]

[Thomas speaking]

- [Vernon speaking]
- [Thomas speaking]

[Vernon speaking]

[bleep]

[Vernon speaking]

[Vernon] Things
are not looking good.

The sluice box wasn't tied down.

It could come off and
smash the side of the boat.

More importantly, we're
nowhere near Yukon John.

He's seven miles away.

Almost 10 miles off shore.

That far from land
in weather like this,

is about as precarious
as it gets for miners.

So we've got to cut
south now and see

if we can rendezvous
with them out there,

which is not where I want to go.

[narrator] Back on the water...

[Vernon] The further
offshore we go,

the bigger the seas
are going to get.

[narrator] The Wild Ranger crew
continues their hunt for a miner in peril.

[Vernon] We're putting ourselves
in danger to rescue these guys.

But right now, we're
the only hope he's got.

We got the new
coordinates from Yukon John.

He's been blown
way the hell offshore.

These swells are tossing the
gold ship around like a rag doll.

My boys better get that
sluice box tied down like ASAP

or we might be going down.

In these seas anything that can
come undone will come undone.

[Thomas] Man, swells are
getting pretty big out here.

I can only imagine what's
going through their head

at the moment having no...

motor. This is pretty
crazy having motors.

I'm surprised to still
get cell phone reception.

Give us an update on
the GPS coordinates.

All right, ready?

- 164.
- Yeah.



West 165.14.338.

[man speaking]

All right.

We just got your coordinates
punched here and you're at five-point...

Seven-five.

Seven-five miles away
from us heading out to sea.

[Vernon speaking]

[producer speaking]

[bleep] damn, don't ask me
stupid [bleep] questions like that.

If the engines get
swamped, you're [bleep].

That's what happens.

I'm thinking we don't
have the right coordinates.

Hold on. Let me get
you to the GPS guy.

[man speaking]

- New coordinates.
- Yeah, new coordinates.

Hey, hold on.

West 165.11.

One-one.

Two.

[bleep] I just
lost signal, guys.

I lost signal.

[narrator] As the gold ship
crew continues to comb the seas,

there's still no
sign of Yukon John.

[man] Hey, you
guys. He's right there.

I got him.

I see something. There's
definitely something.

[Vernon] Oh, yeah, yeah.

He's just way the hell [bleep].

[Vernon speaking]

But we finally tracked him down.

He's way to hell offshore.

And he's been, being pounded by
these waves for I don't know how long.

We're gonna try to tow
him in when we get to him,

but we have no idea what
kind of shape he's going to be in.

And the swells are getting
worse by the minute.

[Vernon] All right,
here comes a big one.

Hang on.

This is a big one.

Real big one.

We're going to be lucky if our
engines don't get swamped.

[man speaking]

[Vernon] Okay. So the thing
that we gotta do is make sure

that we do not get that line
caught around our propeller.

Guys, if you do
it, you're going to...

It's got to be a really
[bleep] up situation.

[man speaking]

[Thomas speaking]

[Vernon] Hang on.

[man speaking]

What?

[man speaking]

[Vernon speaking]

Oh, [bleep].

[producer speaking]

Can't do it.

[man] Can't do it?

Get him on board?

[Vernon speaking]

[man speaking]

[Vernon speaking]

Is he getting on
his emergency suit?

[man speaking]

[Vernon] John!

[man] Hey!

[whistling]

[Thomas speaking]

[man speaking]

I got to get out of here.

You got to communicate with
him that he needs to abandon ship.

[man speaking]

John, I cannot tow you!

My engines are swamping!

Get in your suit, abandon ship!

You gotta come to us!

My engines are swamping!

He can't stay on there.

Nobody gonna tow him out.

We got to get back in.

I can't...

Watch out, guys.
Here's a big one.

Hang on.

[narrator] Ten miles
off Cape Nome...

[Thomas speaking]

[Vernon] Hang on.

Ah, [bleep].

[man speaking]

[Vernon speaking]

[man speaking]

Uh...

John, I cannot tow you!

My engines are swamping!

[Yukon speaking]

[man speaking]

I can't...

[Thomas speaking]

[man speaking]

[Vernon] Who is that?

[man speaking]

[Vernon] Yukon John is
refusing to abandon ship.

He's trying to get ahold of another
dredge that he thinks can tow him in.

Gold Shark. Gold Shark.

Gold Shark.

Wild Ranger...

Gold ship Wild Ranger
calling Gold Shark.

Gold Shark, Gold
Shark, Gold Shark.

Wild Ranger.

He may think that somebody
else is going to come out here

and get him, uh, but I doubt
that anybody else is going to be

crazy enough to come out here
in these conditions except for us.

He can't stay on there.

[Vernon speaking]

[Harbormaster speaking]

Yeah, we're out here.

He's drifted way
the hell to the west.

The front of his
boat is swamped.

I'm trying to get
him to abandon ship,

but he refuses to abandon ship.

I can stay here for a few more
minutes, but we've got very high swell.

And my engines are swamping.

So I'm gonna have to
get out of here pretty quick.

[Harbormaster speaking]

[man speaking]

[Vernon] Hang on.

These swells are getting bigger.

We're in danger of
swamping those engines.

I want to help my buddy, but
he's refusing to come with us.

My first responsibility is
for the safety of my crew.

And right now,
we're in jeopardy.

The best I can do is relay John's
coordinates to the Harbormaster

and then head back
in and pray for the best.

Stand by for GPS
position of Juliana.

[man] North,



[Vernon] Forget up with
the dot [bleep], just 6420.

That's all they need to know.

West, 165.171965.

[bleep] Damn it.
Quit doing that.

That confuses them.

[man speaking]

[Vernon] Just make it, give him that
position again and just the latitude...

The big number, not the dot.

[man speaking]

Damn it. Do what I told you!



Tell him what I told you.



[bleep] it. I'm gonna hit
you if you do that again.

[man speaking]

Look, not the dot.

Just 6420 and then the 165
and whatever the big number is.

[man] North 6420, west 16517.

All right.

[man speaking]

Because it's not important!

[bleep] fraction of a mile.

You just give them the big
number so they can hear it.

You give them all the
dots and it confuses them!

[bleep] fractions of a mile.

We've got to get out of here.

[man speaking]

[Harbormaster speaking]

[narrator] South of Cape Nome...

[Vernon] You know, sometimes
you just got to give up your ship.

[narrator] The Wild Ranger crew fights
building swells on the long journey home

after a busted rescue effort.

John refused to come aboard.

[Vernon speaking]

[Vernon] Holy [bleep].

[waves splashing]

[Vernon speaking]

[Gary speaking]

Everything's getting
knocked around.

I mean, as you can see, we got
flooding coming in through the window.

[Gary speaking]

[producer speaking]

[Gary speaking]

[bleep]

Just turn off the generator.
We don't need the generator.

- Turn it off.
- Yeah.

[Bryan speaking]

[bleep]

[Bryan speaking]

[producer speaking]

Oh, there's a hole [bleep] water
on the floor and it hit the power strip.

Well, it shorted out.

Ooh. Good save.

[chuckles] Think
you saved the boat.

[man] Whoa!

I tell you what?

Your worst nightmare is to be in
bad weather in a ship that's on fire.

Doesn't get any worse than that.

There's a hole.

There's a hole right here
going through the boat.

You see it? The water
coming in and out?

That's not good.

Look at the water just
flowing in there, man.

Man, it's a lot of water.

Two more holes
back here, damn it.

Look at those two [bleep] holes.

Damn.

We never go out in bad weather,

I mean, when weather's
[bleep] bad, we stay in the dock.

I mean, we're just
a gold getting ship.

We're not really a rescue ships.

So, first time we went
out on seas like this,

but obviously there's some,
as always, there's some issues.

[Bryan speaking]

[man speaking]

[Vernon] I'm gonna
boost it up a little bit more.

I might give it some more gas.

Hang on.

[man speaking]

[Vernon] Yeah,
it's getting closer.

[Bryan speaking]

[Thomas speaking]

[Bryan speaking]

[laughs]

[Vernon] Well, we did our duty.

Little dicey there for a while.

Yeah.

That's a big a*s swell.

All right.

We're between the jetties.

We're within swimming distance.

I can swim to shore
within five minutes.

The good news is we
made it back safely.

The more concerning news
what's become of Yukon John?

Anyone who thinks that mining
on the Bering Sea isn't dangerous,

he doesn't know
what he's talking about.

It can be life or
death out here.

Fingers crossed for them.

I mean, I like the guy.

I offered him to
come aboard with us.

He made the
decision not to do it.

I don't know who in the hell he
thinks is gonna go out and rescue him.

We might have been
his last ticket home.

[narrator] On the other
side of the harbor...

It's not the ideal conditions to
be going out on the Bering Sea,

but we got Yukon John out there.

He's on his dredge drifting.

So we're gonna go
and rescue his a*s.

Got a call about Yukon John.

He's stuck ten miles offshore.

Vern went out trying to pick
him up and Yukon waved him off.

Yukon John thought another dredge
was gonna come rescue him and tow him in.

But that's not gonna
happen, not on this weather.

I put a crew together, Joe
Fullwood, Chris McCully.

We're gonna try to go get him.

Hopefully, we're not too late.

We're his last option.

Okay.

You're ready?

[Chris speaking]

[Shawn speaking]

[bleep]

[Shawn speaking]

[Chris speaking]

- [Joe speaking]
- [Chris speaking]

[Shawn speaking]

This boat, how they set up the
plumbing. When you take a [bleep] in there

and then like people
are using it all the time,

then it just wafts out
from under the boat

and it makes the whole
[bleep] boat smell like [bleep].

One of my least favorite
experiences gold mining is

having a lion's mane jellyfish
suck into my hot water intake

and then into the suit.

Oh.

You can imagine a
filtered lion's mane jellyfish

all the way through my
whole body in my suit.

[indistinct yelling]

[laughs]

Just every crevice, the end
of my [bleep] was like burning,

my a*s [bleep] every...

It was just... [screaming]

[screaming]

What you want to do is just
stay down there and ride it out.

It might clear. It might not.

I've seen people come out
and there's like jellyfish tendrils

coming out of the hot water line

and they pull their suit up and
they're just all over their [bleep] body.

And it's just all
over you for months.

[Shawn speaking]

[narrator] Nearly


Shawn Pomrenke,
and his rescue team

are in a desperate search
for a miner in danger.

The last point was over
this way, just a little bit.

All right.

[producer speaking]

They're spotting.

They're looking.

They're looking, trying to
see if they can see John.

[Joe speaking]

Got him?

[Joe speaking]

[Shawn] Okay.

I see him.

I got him.

I got him, Joe.

He's almost right where
he gave you that GPS point.

[Chris speaking]

[Shawn] All right.

[Chris speaking]

[producer speaking]

Tell him to get the [bleep]
on board and let's go.

[Shawn speaking]

[waves splashing]

[Shawn speaking]

[Chris speaking]

[Shawn speaking]

[Chris speaking]

[Shawn speaking]

[Chris speaking]

[Shawn speaking]

I don't want to get
that close to them.

We'll end up
putting a hole in this.

All right, turning again, guys.

- [Joe] Okay.
- Okay.

[Shawn] After this...

Well, [bleep] no.
I'm going straight.

A boat to boat rescue
like this in seas this big,

it's not safe. It's not good.

It's easy for boats to slam into
each other and lines to get tangled.

You don't want anything to go wrong
with these kind of waves all around you.

[Chris] We're gonna throw
the dinghy in the water.

Can you jump on the
dinghy? And let it go fast.

[Yukon speaking]

[Chris speaking]

[Yukon speaking]

- [Joe] Okay.
- [Yukon speaking]

- [Chris speaking]
- [Shawn] All right.

[Joe speaking]

[Yukon speaking]

[Joe speaking]

[Yukon speaking]

[Chris] Let's wait till
they're ready, huh?

- [Shawn] Yeah.
- [Joe] Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[waves splashing]

The plan is we're
gonna deploy this dinghy,

so that we don't have to
come close to their vessel

because that could
get really dangerous.

So the smartest way to do
is throw this out in the ocean

and hopefully they can get on it

and we can really back reel,
reel them back into the boat.

[Chris] All right, guys...
We're gonna throw you this.

One, two.

[Chris] Okay. Go grab it.

Just jump in it?

[Joe] Yeah, jump
on it. Hurry up.

Hey.

We got 'em. We got 'em.

[Shawn] Okay.

All right. Grab the dinghy.

[Shawn] Nice job, boys.

- Good stuff.
- Yeah.

[Yukon] Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you.

- Mission complete.
- I owe you one.

I owe you one.

[bleep] got swamped.

[Shawn] Miners
are stubborn people.

We don't want to admit
when we pushed it too far,

and the last thing we want
to do is abandon our dredge

ten miles offshore.

These dredges
cost a lot of money,

and some guys put
everything they have into them.

But it's hard to admit when Mother Nature
beats you and it's time to give it up.

[Yukon speaking]

[beeping]

[Chris speaking]

[Shawn speaking]

[Shawn speaking]

[Shawn speaking]

[Yukon speaking]

[Shawn speaking]

[Yukon speaking]

[Shawn speaking]

[Yukon speaking]

[Shawn] Life on the
Bering Sea ain't no joke.

We're all up here trying to put
some gold in our own pockets.

But at the end of the day,
we're all a team up here.

We take care of our own.

It's a community, and
we never forget that.

We're home.

[narrator] After a
harrowing rescue,

Mr. Gold still
takes the top spot.

Next time, on Bering Sea Gold.

We don't [bleep] see
you in this [bleep] boat.

[man speaking]

I'm going out with
or without you.

We shall come back rich, richer
than our wildest imagination.

[clattering]

[bleep] Dammit!

[man] We hit the spot...

Come on.

[man] Yeah. Fire her up.

[man speaking]

[man speaking]

[man screaming]

[bleep] man.

[man speaking]

[Shawn] We're still not moving.

We're not moving.

Yeah! Let's go make money.

Let's make money!