What happened to F/V Victory? Latest Updates

After several years on air and numerous seasons premiered, “Deadliest Catch” still manages to impress us with the unexpected things which happen to its cast. Many of the negative incidents featured in the show are not to be taken lightly, but some of them have fortunately not become full-blown tragedies.

One of the latter cases concerns the newcomer Captain Sophia ‘Bob’ Nielsen, who in the 19th season was seen working hard to keep her late parents’ legacy alive through the fishing vessel Victory.

Things haven’t turned out as well as Bob expected, especially since a failed bait transfer resulted in several damages on the Victory, due to an accidental collision. That incident was caught by the “Deadliest Catch” cameras and fans of the show haven’t forgotten about it.

So what happened to the Victory, and is it coming back to the Bering Sea? Stay here to find out.

What Is Going On With The F/V Victory?

The 19th season’s episode “Victory At Sea” left viewers flabbergasted and intrigued after Sophia ‘Bob’ Nielsen’s boat Victory suffered a collision with an unidentified vessel, damaging its waterline beam.

As Captain Bob Nielsen affirmed in front of the cameras, the Victory needed some repairs which could take her away from finishing her season. Some of the reported damages included a gash on its beam and planks. However, an Instagram post of Captain Nielsen from April 2023 showed that the Victory was at the shipyard while getting ‘ripped apart’, but was in an ‘overall good condition’.

The next update about the Victory’s condition was in May 2023, when Captain Nielsen revealed repairs were still in process. She also revealed that the Victory had its deck renovated, on top of getting new planks and other changes on its cleats and anchor winch.

Following this post, Captain Nielsen has refrained from sharing more information about the Victory’s current condition, thus leaving many open questions about the ship’s future, and its return in an upcoming 20th season of “Deadliest Catch”.

What Happened To The F/V Victory?

The collision of the Victory with another vessel was not only shocking but confusing as well. In the episode “Victory At Sea”, Captain Bob seemed aware of the proximity of the other ship from starboard, but as she tried to steer away, the ship crashed against the Victory.

Unfortunately, not many details about the other ship were given in the show, except that it was a steel vessel and that both of them weren’t too far away from the shore. Only the footage inside of the Captain’s cabin was shown in the show, but that scene was enough to let viewers see how the Victory shook during the crash, on top of the shock and distraught of the crew at finding themselves in such a situation.

Captain Nielsen had good reasons to be upset about the crash, as not only could it keep the Victory in the shipyard for an unknown time, but also because the ship meant a lot to her family. As seen in her introduction to “Deadliest Catch” at the beginning of the 19th season, Sophia’s family was involved in commercial fishing, but the tragedy of losing both of her parents was what eventually pushed her to go to the high seas. After becoming Saga’s Captain Jake Anderson’s mentoreé, Bob then became the skipper of her family’s boat the Victory.

Is There A Lawsuit?

The collision suffered by the Victory wasn’t the only thing which had “Deadliest Catch” viewers on the edge of their seats. At the beginning of the episode “Victory At Sea”, a warning could be read about how some of the events featured in it were related to ‘ongoing claims and pending judgments’. It was also mentioned that due to those reasons, the show refrained from acknowledging any ‘admission of fault or liability’ through it.

While it would be fair to assume that the warning could refer to any incident featured in the episode, fans quickly noticed that the scene of Victory’s collision was lacking the usual narration of Mike Rowe, something very rare considering the format of “Deadliest Catch”, but which goes in hand with the legal warning of the episode.

Unfortunately, not much is known about the supposed lawsuit involving the Victory. No official reports about it have been posted online, and it’s also unclear whether it was Captain Nielsen who was seeking legal damages or the other boat’s owners. Nevertheless, could these details come in handy while trying to understand why the Victory’s stay at the shipyard lasted for so long? Hopefully, the answers will come either from Captain Nielsen or the show.

Will Captain Bob Leave The Show?

Although the mystery surrounding the state of the Victory after its collision is a current focus of attention for fans of “Deadliest Catch”, the same could be said about Captain Nielsen’s stay in the show. In an Instagram post from July 2023, Sophia affirmed that she had a ‘couple of days left’ in a contract, accompanied by a pic of herself wearing a beaming smile.

While she didn’t say exactly which contract she was soon to be freed from, her followers quickly suspected that it was her contract with “Deadliest Catch”, as read in the comments section. Whether her possible exit from the show is related to the collision of the Victory and its possible legal implications is unclear, but it would be a shame for viewers to be left without any clear information about the ship’s condition, and the uncertainty about the future of Captain Sophia ‘Bob’ Nielsen on the high seas.