Phil Harris Died

Phil Harris, captain of the Cornelia Marie fishing boat featured on Deadliest Catch, has died in Alaska. He was 53.

Harris suffered a massive stroke on Jan. 29 while the Cornelia Marie was in port at St. Paul Island, Alaska. The boat captain was flown to Anchorage for surgery.

According to the ship’s Web site, Harris started working on fishing boats at age 7 and started work 10 years later on a crab boat. When Harris turned 21, he ran a fishing vessel out of Seattle, making him one of the youngest tocaptain a vessel in the Bering Sea.

When Harris suffered the stroke, the family said a friend, Derek Ray, had flown to St. Paul to take over the role of relief skipper for the rest of the opilio crab season. Harris’ fishing vessel was based in Seattle.