If you’ve been following Deadliest Catch over the years, you’ll know there’s a new captain aboard the Cornelia Marie following the tragic death of Phil Harris.
Harris’ sons Jake and Josh lacked the experience needed to run the fishing vessel so they hired Derrick Ray, the former captain of the Siberian Sea.
As viewers of the show are seeing, Ray is of the opinion that the crew of the Cornelia Marie needed whipping into shape, especially Jake and Josh.
It tends to make you wonder if Ray has watched the previous seasons of Deadliest Catch. Considering how successful the Cornelia Marie has been at catching crab, his heavy-handed approach wasn’t necessary.
Derrick Ray
More interestingly though is why Ray attempted to become master of a domain he didn’t control.
Perhaps Ray forgot that the Harris brothers hired him to be the captain, so what made him think an employee could tell his employers what to do?
Since Tuesday’s airing of the latest episode, fans have reacted strongly towards Ray after the crew decided they weren’t working with him any longer.
Ray addressed the fans reaction in a recent interview, saying, “People are so passionate about hating somebody. In modern society today, I understand that we need our distractions, and television’s one of them, but man, take some of that energy and put it to good use. Don’t hate on somebody you don’t even know.”
“But they don’t know me as a father; they don’t know me as a human being. They have no idea. I don’t get it. That’s the part I don’t understand.”
There’s a lot of things Ray doesn’t understand, foremost among them is his obvious inability to grasp reality.
As Tuesday’s show came to a close, Ray displays a stunning lack of awareness when suggesting that he’d done his job and can hold his head high.
No, Ray didn’t do his job. In fact, he was a complete failure. He failed on so many levels there isn’t enough time to list them all.
Had Ray done his job, the Cornelia Marie would have caught more than a paltry 21,000 pounds of blue king crab. While he was busy creating an atmosphere of discontent, Ray caused financial harm to himself, the crew and the Harris brothers fishing business.
Having served six years in the U.S. Navy, I know a thing or two about captains. During those six years, I served with four captains aboard two ships.
One was basically riding out the string until he retired, two were exceptionally good commanding officers and the other was literally taken off the ship in a straight jacket just hours before we were scheduled to depart on a major deployment.
Granted, serving aboard a guided missile destroyer is completely different than working aboard a fishing vessel. But it doesn’t matter if you’re sailing aboard the USS Sampson or the Cornelia Marie, because the success of the ship begins and ends with the captain.
Rather than adapting to the proven culture of success aboard the Cornelia Marie, Ray foolishly fell victim to his own ego.
Instead of earning the respect of his crew, Ray alienated them. And as it played out before our eyes, once you’ve lost the crew, you’re finished.
Ray’s biggest failure was forgetting that his primary responsibility as captain was to ensure the ship and crew met their goals. Despite his efforts to accuse the crew of failing him, it was Ray who failed them and the ship.
His inability to recognize and accept that responsibility caused the Cornelia Marie to have their worst king crab season since they’ve been a part of the Deadliest Catch fleet.
No matter how he tries to spin it, Derrick Ray needs only to look in the mirror for the reasons why the Cornelia Marie failed.
