F/V Northwestern

F/V Northwestern in the Bering Sea

F/V Northwestern is a crab fishing vessel notable for being featured in the series Deadliest Catch on Discovery Channel. The vessel is owned and operated by the Hansen family of Washington state; the current captain is Sig Hansen and his brothers, Edgar and Norman, are both deckhands/engineers on the ship.

The Northwestern, a western rigged boat, was built in 1977 at Marco Shipyards in Seattle for the sole purpose of fishing King and Tanner Crab off of the coast of Alaska. It was christened Northwestern on November 5, 1977 by Snefrid Hansen, wife of then-captain Sverre Hansen and mother of the current owner/operators, Sig, Norman, and Edgar Hansen.

Sig Hansen in front of the F/V Northwestern

In the 1980s the boat was one of the first to fish Opilio crab. Throughout the '80s the Northwestern kept very busy year round fishing Opilio crab, Blue King crab, Red King crab, and Brown King crab at different times of the year.

To keep up with the increasing demand for crab in the late '80s and early '90s, boats needed to carry more pots (steel box shaped traps that are used to fish crab). Rather than buying a new boat, the Hansen family decided to have the Northwestern extended twice. Originally built at 108 feet (32.9 m) with the ability to carry 156 pots, the Northwestern was extended to 118 feet (36.0 m) in 1987 to allow for 200 pots. In 1991, when the maximum crab pots a boat could carry was raised to 250, the Hansens again had the Northwestern lengthened, this time to 125 ft (38 m). Today, in the IFQ system, they usually carry no more than 195 pots.

Sverre Hansen's three sons worked aboard the Northwestern as deckhands throughout their childhood, and all three decided to make fishing their profession, joining in the long line of Hansen men making their living as fishermen throughout the generations. Sig Hansen, the eldest, took over as captain of the Northwestern full time in 1990. Under his leadership, the Northwestern boasts an amazing record of never having suffered a death at sea despite its home territory being the dangerous Alaskan crab grounds, where deaths average out to nearly one fisherman per week during the heart of its productive seasons.

 

F/V Northwestern in Seattle, WA

Lego Version of the F/V Northwestern