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Did Myrtle Irene Sink on 'Bering Sea Gold'? Captain Kerr Sends a Distress Call

Did Myrtle Irene sink on 'Bering Sea Gold'? The dredge, owned by Ken Kerr, runs into some hassle on the Discovery Channel display's new season.

Allison Cacich - Author

The new season of Bering Sea Gold premieres on May 15, and it sounds just like the Myrtle Irene is in trouble.

"Mayday, mayday! Catastrophic dire failure!" Captain Ken Kerr can also be heard yelling in a trailer for the Discovery Channel display. Fellow miner, Emily Riedel (captain of The Eroica), then says, "This is history right here. This is the end of the Myrtle Irene." So, what occurs to the excavator dredge?

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Did Myrtle Irene sink on 'Bering Sea Gold'?

You’ll have to wait until the sequence starts airing once more to peer what Ken’s distress call was once all about, but it surely’s not the first time the Myrtle Irene workforce has discovered themselves in an unlucky predicament.

In 2018, the mining vessel was broken as workforce contributors tried to drag it out of the water. "The frickin’ back of the barge is on the ground," Ken informed the digital camera. "Our back end’s hitting the bottom now. We’re sunk."

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It used to be published that "over 75,000 gallons of water rushed in through an open hatch" as backhoes tried to get it safely on land. "When temperatures plunge overnight, all that water will freeze and expand, putting insurmountable pressure on the hull and causing the Myrtle Irene to burst at the seams," a voiceover explained.

Though the sinking brought about Ken and his crew a variety of issues, it in the long run led the captain to make some much-needed enhancements to the barge.

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The Myrtle Irene dredge proprietor's upgrades cost over $1 million.

The vessel returned to the water a year later revamped and raring to go. "It’s like starting over with a brand new Myrtle," Ken stated. "You fire everything up, get everything rockin’ and rollin’, slam [the bucket] down through the water, and dig it up for the first scoop. It’s pretty exhilarating."

That season, Ken and the Myrtle Irene controlled to dethrone "Mr. Gold," Shawn Pomrenke, by way of bringing in a greater haul. Their first shuttle out netted 111.7 oz. of gold, which is value over $134,000.

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Unfortunately, the Myrtle Irene didn’t have a scandal-free 2019. In December, two high school scholars sued Ken’s company, Arctic Sea Mining LLC, when they had been injured in a automobile twist of fate involving a steel cable hooked up to the dredge. 

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According to the complaint, the teens’ automobile struck the cable, which attached a loader to the Myrtle Irene, on a street in Nome, Alaska. "The cable that they hit came over the front of their car and basically leveled the cab, not completely but it mangled the cab… So it was not a pretty sight," one of the crucial minor’s attorneys mentioned.

"It was a significant accident, and both of them suffered blows to the head of varying degrees. And the progress of the recovery is uncertain at this time."

The plaintiffs claim Arctic Sea Mining didn't warn them of the cable’s presence and are seeking $100,000. The present status of the case is unknown.

New episodes of Bering Sea Gold air Fridays, beginning May 15, at Eight p.m. ET on Discovery Channel.

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Brenda Moya

Update: 2024-06-02