Cornelia Marie Captain dies at age 53.

The Discovery Channel says the captain of the "Deadliest Catch" fishing vessel Cornelia Marie has died.

Capt. Phil Harris suffered what his family described as a massive stroke on Jan. 29 while the boat was in port at St. Paul Island, Alaska. The 53-year-old fisherman was flown to Anchorage for surgery.

A Discovery spokesman says the Harris family contacted the network Tuesday evening with word of his death.

Discovery Channel spokeswoman Elizabeth Hillman issued a statement on behalf of sons Jake and Josh Harris. It says in part, "It is with great sadness that we say goodbye to our dad — Captain Phil Harris. Dad has always been a fighter and continued to be until the end."

In the network's own statement, Hillman says, "We will miss his straightforward honesty, wicked sense of humor and enormous heart."

In an e-mail she said no additional information was immediately available.

The Discovery Channel reality show depicts the crab fishing industry in the dangerous waters off Alaska. Harris' fishing vessel was based in Seattle.

My wife and I love this show and Phil was my wife's favorite. The show won't be the same without him.

I will miss seeing him and the jokes played on him by his sons. When will the show start back up again?

I don't know Ryan, but it is a cool show. Phil was a tough son of a gun you could tell that for sure. I'm sure his sons are tore up bad.

That's one of the few shows on TV that I watch.

He was quite a character, but it doesn't come as much of a shock to me after the health problems he's had and the chain smoking he did.

RIP captain

I am sure he will be missed. He was a very entertaining person for sure. Hope his sons and family the strength to deal with the loss.

Deadliest Catch is one of our favorite shows. It won't be the same without Phil. I started to wonder about his health last season after the blood clot incident. Then they talked about his daily habbits while "fishing." I think it was something like 12 red bulls, four pots of coffee and 3 1/2 packs a cigarettes a day. I don't see how anyone could keep that up for too long, without some serious impact on your health.

Col Forbin you are correct. Dude's blood was nothing but nicotine and caffine. The human body can't stand that long. Great show and he will be missed. Those guys that work on those boats are nuts. I would never even think of crab fishing on the Barin.

Forbin - From what I can tell most all of those crab boat captains have a lot of habits. I guess it's a heck of a life to live. I can't imagine myself with only one of the three habits you mentioned let alone all three of them....Geeesh, I wonder how I would feel if I drank four pots of coffee per day? Heck, I only drink one cup every once in a great while!

BarkleyPup - I can't imagine living up there where they do and constantly dealing with the wind, ice, snow, below freezing temperatures, etc...but I'd like to give one of those crab fishing excursions a whirl, make my 30K or whatever they happen to luck into...just so long as I knew that I'd be heading back home to Kentucky in a few weeks.

C'mon Spring!!

I couldn't remember exactly which one he was at first since I quit watching it. Just saw a commercial in remembrace of him. That was the one I thought but some of those other guys are rough as well.