Phil Harris | Of 'Deadliest Catch,' 53

Phil Harris, 53, the fishing-boat captain whose adventures off the Alaska coast were captured on the TV show Deadliest Catch, has died, the Discovery Channel said Tuesday.

Capt. Harris suffered what his family described as a massive stroke Jan. 29 while the fishing vessel he captained, Cornelia Marie, was in port at St. Paul Island, Alaska. He was flown to Anchorage for surgery.

The reality show, which has filmed five seasons, has been one of the Discovery Channel's most popular and depicts the crab-fishing industry in the dangerous waters off Alaska.

"It is with great sadness that we say goodbye to our dad - Captain Phil Harris," sons Josh and Jake Harris said in a statement released by the network. "Dad has always been a fighter and continued to be until the end. For us and the crew, he was someone who never backed down."

In a statement, Discovery Channel senior vice president Elizabeth Hillman said: ""We will miss his straightforward honesty, wicked sense of humor and enormous heart."

According to the ship's Web site, Capt. Harris started working on fishing boats at age 7 and started work 10 years later on a crab boat. When he turned 21, he ran a fishing vessel out of Seattle, making him one of the youngest to captain a vessel in the Bering Sea. - AP