Working on the Edge
Surviving In the World's Most Dangerous Profession: King Crab Fishing on Alaska's High Seas
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4.5 • 19 Ratings
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
In a breathtaking, action-packed account that combines his personal story with the stories of survivors of the industry's most harrowing disasters, Spike Walker's Working on the Edge re-creates the boom years of Alaskan crab fishing and the crash that followed.
No profession pits man against nature more brutally than king crab fishing in the frigid, unpredictable waters of the Bering Sea. The yearly death toll is staggering (forty-two men in 1988 alone); the conditions are beyond most imaginations (90-mph Arctic winds, 25-foot seas, and super-human stretches of on-deck labor); but the payback, if one survives can be tens of thousands of dollars for a month-long season. Walker rivetingly depicts the modern-day gold rush that drew hundreds of fortune-and adventure-hunters to Alaska's dangerous waters.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The pay was fabulous--a deckhand could earn $100,000 in four months--but working conditions were nightmarish. Fishing for king crab in Alaskan waters is the most dangerous occupation on earth, stresses Walker, who crewed with the crab fleet during the boom years 1976-84 and here presents bone-chilling tales about men (one woman), ships and the sea. Deckhands frequently worked around the clock, pushing 750-pound crab pots over a pitching deck swept with icy, stinging salt spray, enduring gale-force winds and gigantic waves. Because of the lack of privacy and sleep, irregular meals, darkness and isolation from civilization, the offshore life affects sailors mentally as well as physically. Walker gives a gripping account of the 1981 fall season, with its lost ships and heroic rescues. He combines his personal experiences with sailors' stories for a vivid picture of an occupation that challenges nature. Super adventure. Photos.
Customer Reviews
Awesome book
This is an awesome memoir of the Alaskan crab boom of the late 70s. It at once makes you want to set out to Alaska in search of your own seafaring adventure while at the same time makes you terrified of ever leaving the shore. Couldn’t put it down!