If you have ever watched the show “Deadliest Catch”, you’ve seen the treacherous situations the fisherman fight to survive every day. Boats go down for a variety of reasons and rescue is often unavailable as crews fight to supply the demand for crabs and salmon.

Captain Christian Trosvig and his crew of three make their living fishing for salmon. This particular day saw them patrolling in the Kupreanof Strait. They spent most of the day trawling the area when suddenly their vessel began to take on water.

Their ship, the Grayling, quickly settled deeper and deeper into its watery nest which prompted an even faster response from her crew. A distress call was sent out to other boats fishing the area, of which the Calista Marie heard and responded.

When the Calista Marie first arrived, they found the Grayling in a pretty dire situation. It had taken on quite a bit of water and was capsizing so the crew agreed to tow her to back to safety. What should have been a quick quarter-mile tow back to shore turned into disaster.

No sooner had they hooked up to the troubled vessel and started to move, the Grayling rolled over. This sudden change of standing for the boat sent the crew into the frigid forty-seven-degree waters.

Despite the waves, Captain Trosvig and one of his men were able to swim to one of their own lifeboats, hauling themselves into it. A second crew member swam to the Calista Marie where her crew helped him on deck. That left one man unaccounted for.

It was a sickening moment when they realized they were missing a man. The crew of the Calista Marie as well as nearby boats scanned the turbulent sea but to no avail. Her captain, Dale Pruitt, called the Coast Guard on his marine radio with an emergency message describing the sinking vessel and missing crewmember.

The Coast Guard sent out a Sikorsky MH-60 helicopter that was on a training run. Immediately the chopper left but it had a 50 miles hike from where it was dispatched to the spot the boat needed help.

Meanwhile, Captain Trosvig continued to search for his missing ship mate. A full twenty minutes passed still without a sign until, just as the helicopter arrived, his lifeless body surfaced right next to the overturned Grayling.

Captain Trosvig jumped back in the water without waiting for the air support. Pilot Lt. Kevin Riley flew the rescue helicopter, noting that once they located the bodies of the crew in the water, it looked as if the Captain was swimming incredibly fast despite the cold water and life jacket he wore.

The situation was dire. Nets and rigging floated around the scene making a rescue among high waves and an overturned boat very risky. Captain Trosvig was all in it by that point though. He swam hard to where the unconscious fisherman bobbed up and down, grabbed on to him, and began to swim towards the Calista Marie. He lost his grip at one point; for a heart-stopping moment the man’s body sank below the surface out of view.

The determined Captain dove under, grabbed a renewed hold on the man’s arm, and swam to where a small boat threw them a line. As soon as the two were hauled on board, Captain Trosvig began to perform CPR on his mate and five miraculous minutes later, successfully revived him.

Those that were there say that Captain Trosvig is a hero. His bravery saved a man who could’ve easily been lost at sea. He was determined to not give up because he once lost his twin brother to the sea and couldn’t sit by letting it happen again.

He wrote in a Facebook post, “To God be the glory for giving me courage and strength to get my man out of the water and bring him back to life.”

As for the Grayling, officials still have yet to determine what was the cause to her taking in water. We also don’t have a final word on the fisherman’s status.

This man is truly a leader to his team. Know a great leader? TAG him/her below!