Captain Phil Harris Passes At Age 53

There is no more American open range.

There is less freedom now -- our U.S. government has seen to that. There are few if any frontiers left. And there are no more cowboys.

With one quintessential exception: those who fish the deadly waters of the Bering Sea off the coast of Alaska.

Those who helm the wheel of small ships facing massive frigid seas and those who crew those same ships.

Which is why the Discovery series "Deadliest Catch" so resonates with its viewers. Large men on small ships who brave thirty-foot seas on pitching decks to catch King, opilio and other crabs. Men who live hard, drink hard, live large, live their own way in their own time, capturing as much as is left of the so-called "American Dream."

And that "American Dream," as we all know, is about to pinched, chopped, brokered, spent and regulated out of existence.

Fisherman Phil Harris, captain and owner of the F/V Cornelia Marie, passed away this past Tuesday, February 9th, at the age of 53 in Anchorage, Alaska. He had first suffered a stroke on Friday, January 29th, whilst unloading crab on St. Paul Island. He was flown to a hospital in Anchorage.

Captain Phil Harris was a cowboy. He lived on the open range. His freedoms were many.

He is the last of a dwindling breed.

You can say a lot of things about Phil Harris; but you can never say that he didn't take the biggest bite possible out of Life, that he didn't live large, hard, fast and close to the edge at most every second of every day.

And that's why we loved him, watched him, admired him, wanted to be him in many ways.

With this caveat: it's easy to want what you don't know. And what we mostly don't know is the brain-glazing amount of work, sweat, angst, pain, worry, confusion, money, conflict, nerves, fear, courage and independence it took to be Captain Phil.

God bless this mariner. He went out doing what he wanted. He lived Life to the fullest.

Calm seas, my friend, calm seas and fair skies.

Last of the American cowboys on the open range.

Living the dream.

BZ