- Years ago went for short adventure. Long line fisherman in Dutch Harbor AK on contract. Signed on for XXxx per month. Went out into Bering Sea for 90 days on old WWII converted refueler into long line fishing vessel. Worked 18 + hours in wet and cold. Smell is awful. Bering Sea is rough. People puking all the time. Caught huge cod. Make lots of big messes - think fish guts like the size of regular organs in med school. It is fish bait later on. Flash forward to last two weeks. Running low on food. Cook cannot. Food born illness. Low on food last three weeks. Eating frozen danishs, tea, popcorn and catching fish from ocean for food source. At end of shift boat springs a leak. While I am getting off of a grueling shift. We are now bailing water with buckets. Pumps fail. Engineer uses rope due to old corroded valves break loose in boat ballast hold. All our catch is now ruined from oil and spoiled bilge. Any point of the catch being even close to a payoff is gone. Boat is at a list and we are on deck. Nearing a island about a mile away. Preparing to abandon ship and swim for safety. Only so many life saving suits. May have to just swim for it in very cold water. Now awaiting moment to abandon ship. Valves turned. Water is being pumped out of ship. Limp back to Dutch. Now temperature about 70 degrees. Leftover catch is placed in rotting fuel soaked bins in open holding area. It begins to rot. Think ammonia gas from decaying flesh. Overwhelmed. Abandon in Dutch. Thankful to be alive. Eat pizza at local bar. Moving on to better things.. . . . . . Ok, I think this deserves the gold medal in worst jobs ever. Anyone?
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