Prayers are being sent to the family of famous American fisherman and star of Discovery Channel’s award-winning Deadliest Catch following his recent diagnosis. Bill Wichrowski otherwise known as “Captain Wild Bill owner of www.captwildbill.com and Captain (nautical) at Deadliest Catch has been diagnosed with a rapid spreading prostrate cancer. Bill was a former worker at Peter Pan Seafoods Inc. and an alumnus of Norwin High School. He is a well-respected resident of the San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico and is originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Captain Wild Bill Wichrowski is a retired Navy veteran, commercial fisherman, captain, and star of Discovery Channel’s award-winning Deadliest Catch. According to his online profile, Wild Bill is in his eighth season with the television show that chronicles King Crab fishing in the Bering Sea, a profession recognized as one of the most dangerous in the world. Over more than three decades of working his way up the ranks, he’s seen it all; life-threatening conditions, brutal weather, backbreaking labor, isolation, sleep deprivation, accidents, and death, and has lived to tell about it. And what stories he can tell.
Wild Bill enjoys sports fishing in warmer climates and competes in events all around the world when he is not fishing the waters off the coast of Alaska. Bill’s philosophy is “hard work and honesty,” however he has been known to employ unconventional means — which partly explains the nickname “Wild” — to keep his workforce moving.
While he has a potentially threatening reputation, Bill has the abilities to back up his comments. He’s worked as a naval engineer, boat electrician, and commercial fisherman. He is very aware of the dangers inherent in his career, which is usually regarded as the world’s most deadly. Bill joined the Navy after graduating from Norwin High School in 1975 and relocated to the West Coast.
When his military duty ended four years later, the lucrative king-crab fishing industry in Alaska enticed him to the Bering Sea. He spent the next 20 years there, eventually working his way up to captain. In 2005, he semi-retired to conduct sportfishing tours out of Costa Rica and Alaska. But when the economy tanked, Bill went from running sportfishing boats in Costa Rica and Alaska for three years to wondering what was next.
Around this time, the Discovery Channel’s Deadliest Catch had surpassed all expectations, and Captain Wild Bill decided to return to commercial fishing and appear on the show. In the sixth season of Deadliest Catch, in 2010, he broke into the tight-knit circle of captains. Bill brought his son, Zack Larson, on board his ship as a greenhorn two years later. Bill is originally from Irwin, Pennsylvania, which is located east of Pittsburgh. In the off-season, he lives in San Carlos, Mexico. Bill likes to travel, ride horses, watch NASCAR, and go fishing.
He contributes to non-profit organizations such as Wounded Warriors and breast cancer charity. He has a younger son, Jake, and a daughter, Delia, in addition to Zack.
Mandatory Credit: Photo by Amy Sussman
News from SNBC13.com
