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THE BOATING REPORT

THE BOATING REPORT; In the Real Storm, the Skipper, the Crew and the Boat All Survived

By Herb McCormick

• Aug. 6, 2000

About midway through ''The Perfect Storm,'' the film adaptation of Sebastian Junger's phenomenal best-seller, the skipper of the 32-foot sailboat Mistral, sporting a jaunty yachtsman's cap and a highbrow New England accent, makes an offhand remark about his vast offshore prowess. It's a setup line. He's silly, smug and about to get walloped.

As readers of the book know, the character is based on Ray Leonard, the skipper of Satori, a Westsail 32 that was abandoned by its crew in a North Atlantic gale during a United States Coast Guard rescue operation in the fall of 1991. Portrayed by Junger as a strange introvert with a fondness for the bottle, Leonard has now been skewered both in print and by Hollywood.

With each subsequent retelling of his story, the lines that define who Leonard is and what happened during that terrible, perfect storm become more blurred. In fact, Leonard is a retired research ecologist for the United States Forest Service, a former college administrator and an accomplished long-distance voyager with a Coast Guard license and tens of thousands of miles under his keel, and he does not fall within the neat, nasty boundaries of his depictions.

''I haven't seen the movie and I probably won't until I can borrow a copy of the video,'' Leonard said last week from the small home he is building for himself in western Vermont. ''But as for hats, I just wear a ball cap at sea. It keeps the sun out of my eyes.''

Junger, who did not speak to Leonard for his book, did not return a phone call seeking comment for this column. But in a 1997 interview about Leonard in The New York Observer, Junger said, ''He didn't sound like the kind of guy I wanted to talk to.''

That's a shame, because Junger, whose book focuses on the loss of the fishing vessel Andrea Gail and includes vivid writing about meteorology, long-line fishing and Coast Guard heroics, missed a grand opportunity to capture the passion of a long-distance sailor.

Leonard, 72, bought his Westsail in 1974, the same year the rugged little double-ended yacht was featured on the cover of Time as the perfect vessel for folks ready to chuck it all and head for the South Seas.

''Satori is the Buddhist word for enlightenment,'' Leonard said. ''I was at the midpoint of my career, and the boat gave me new insight into myself. Whenever I got into a bad fix with her, she always did better than I thought she would. She was very well named for me.''

From 1974 to '91, Leonard sailed Satori hard and often, mostly alone. The boat was well equipped with designated storm sails, and Leonard had plenty of chance to use them in roughly 60,000 miles of sailing. Divorced in 1985, he moved aboard Satori the same year. In October 1991, accompanied by Karen Stimson and Susan Bylander, two women he had spent the summer working with, Leonard and Satori set out from New Hampshire bound for Bermuda.

By all accounts, the voyage was a nightmare. Several days into the trip, after receiving a Mayday call relayed by a commercial vessel, a Coast Guard helicopter plucked Satori's crew from a roiled sea. While that fact is indisputable, the events leading up to the rescue remain unclear; there are two very different versions of Satori's fateful passage.

In Junger's book, which is based largely on interviews with Stimson, the sailors survive through the initiative of the women, who are forced to take action when Leonard, ''sullen and silent, sneaking gulps off a whiskey bottle,'' refuses to do so. In what he describes as 30-foot seas, Junger wrote that Satori was ''starting to lose the battle to stay afloat.''

Leonard, however, dismisses much of Junger's account. ''I'd guess the seas were 15 to 18 feet, tops,'' he said. ''Satori had been in much worse. It was a very uncomfortable ride, but the boat was sound and we weren't taking on water, except for a few gallons that came through the hatch. And the drinking bit is just totally untrue.''

Leonard was employing standard tactics for weathering extreme conditions: he had battened Satori down and was content to wait things out. ''You never head towards shore in a heavy storm,'' he said. ''It's too dangerous. And the weather forecast said a hurricane was heading towards Bermuda, so it didn't make sense to keep going that way.''

Leonard said he did not authorize a Mayday call, though he did give the women permission to radio the Coast Guard to update Satori's position. And when the chopper did arrive, he considered staying aboard Satori. Ultimately, when he was ordered to leave, he complied.

''When I knew the crew would have to jump in the water, I wasn't comfortable about having them go alone,'' he said. ''Also, I knew if I disobeyed I wouldn't be able to land in a U.S. port for several years, and I've seen expatriates in foreign ports. I didn't want to be one.''

Stimson, who was on vacation from her job in Maine last week, was unavailable for comment. Interestingly, according to a friend of hers, Stimson now owns a Westsail 32.

What transpired after the rescue supports Leonard's contention that Satori was still seaworthy when her crew leapt off her transom. Several days later, the boat washed up on a Maryland beach. A bag of personal items that Leonard had mistakenly dropped when he left Satori was still on the afterdeck.

''A park ranger found my phone number in it,'' Leonard said. ''He called me up and said come get your boat. It was fine. I went down and had her hauled off, cleaned her up, then sailed her to Florida.''

Leonard continued to sail Satori until this spring, when he sold the boat to a Texas couple. As for the fallout from Junger's book, which Leonard has read, he said: ''People who don't know me who've read it have preconceived notions. I've only had one boat delivery job, and I used to get plenty. I'm not bitter, but I don't think the book or movie explained what sailing's all about. Bluewater sailors are sharp, self-reliant, and proud.''

And while Leonard no longer owns Satori, he is still drawn to the sea. Earlier this year, fulfilling a lifelong dream, he went to Alaska in search of the same work that took the lives of the crew of the Andrea Gail. Once there, he signed on aboard a salmon trawler. Of all things, the sailor became a fisherman.

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Miracle on the Sea: Andrea Gail’s Crew Bodies Found

On October 28, 1991, the fishing boat had set out from Massachusetts for Newfoundland. But as it entered an area of intense weather that would later become kown as the Perfect Storm, it never returned.

The crew of six—Captain William Tyne, Robert Shatford, David Sullivan from Gloucester; Dale Murphy and Michael Moran from Bradenton Beach, FL; and Alfred Pierre from New York City—was lost at sea in the midt of 30 to 60 foot waves (some reports even say 100ft). After an extensive search effort that lasted nine days and included an Air National Guard helicopter running out of fuel and crashing off Long Island’s shore (resulting in one fatality), authorities called off the search due to the low probability of crew survival.

In August 1992, after months of uncertainty and mourning, fishermen discovered human remains onshore near Provincetown, MA. DNA testing confirmed it was one of the Andrea Gail’s crew members—Robert Shatford—ending months of anguish for his family. In November 1992, authorities found more remains from four additional crewmembers onshore in Maine. The last two bodies were never recovered.

The Andrea Gail tragedy is an example of life’s fragility and unpredictability at sea. Our thoughts are with all those affected by the loss of these brave fishermen who were taen too soon.

The Size of the Wave That Hit the Andrea Gail

The wave that hit the Andrea Gail was estimated to be approximately 75 feet high. This is based on data from October 1991, when winds of 60 miles per hour blew for nearly 24 hours near the last known position of the Andrea Gail. This generated a peak wave height of about 75 feet.

The Fate of the Andrea Gail Crew

Unfortunately, the crew of the Andrea Gail were never found. The ship, captained by William Tyne, was battered by huge waves estimated to be beween 30 and 60 feet–some reports even say 100 feet–and was lost at sea. Onboard were Robert Shatford and David Sullivan from Gloucester, Dale Murphy and Michael Moran from Bradenton Beach, Florida, and Alfred Pierre from New York City. No trace of the vessel or its crew was ever discovered.

The Fate of the Andrea Gail Wreckage

The wreckage of the Andrea Gail was ultimately found after a search was called off by authorities on November 9, 1991. The search yielded only some debris such as fuel drums, a fuel tank, an empty life raft, and other flotsam. Unfortunately, no crew members were ever located. This tragedy is remembered as one of the worst in commercial fishing history.

Number of Coast Guard Deaths in the Perfect Storm

Sadly, the 1991 Perfect Storm resulted in the loss of 13 lives, including one Coast Guard crew member. The victim was Petty Officer Robert “Bobby” Shatford, who was serving as a rescue swimmer on an HH-60 Jayhawk helicopter that crashed off the coast of Long Island during the storm. He is remembered and honored for his bravery and dedication to protecting others during the storm.

Did Any Boats Survive the ‘Perfect Storm’?

No boats survived The Perfect Storm, which occurred in October 1991 off the coast of Nova Scotia. The storm was one of the most powerful and destructive storms ever recorded in the North Atlantic. The storm generated waves up to 100-feet high and hurricane-force winds reaching up to 150 miles per hour. As a result, several fishing vessels were destroyed and sunk during the storm, with no survivors from any of them. This included both commercial fishing vessels as well as recreational boaters who were caught in the storm’s path. In addition, many oter vessels were severely damaged by the intense winds and waves, though some did manage to make it back to port with their crews safe.

The Loss of Life on the Andrea Gail

Six people were lost on the Andrea Gail during the Perfect Storm. The commercial fishing vessel was out of Gloucester, Massachusetts and was carrying a crew of six when it was lost at sea. This tragedy was part of a larger storm whih caused 13 deaths in total, as well as extensive damage to property with an estimated cost of $200 million.

Tragic Loss of the Crew of the Andrea Gail

The Andrea Gail tragically lost all six of its crew members: Captain Bill Tyne, 37, David Sullivan, 29, and Bob Shatford, 30, all of Gloucester; Dale Murphy and Michael Moran, both of Bradenton Beach, Florida; and Alfred Pierre, of New York City. All six brave fishermen were lost at sea without a trace in what has become known as the Perfect Storm of 1991.

Accuracy of the Movie ‘The Perfect Storm’

The movie The Perfect Storm is generally quite accurate in its depiction of the events of the real-life storm that occurred in 1991. While some aspects of the story have been exaggerated for cinematic effect, the storm itself was an incredibly powerful one. The meteorological data collected at the time shows that winds were sustained at more than 100 mph, and wave heights reached over 30 feet. What’s more, there have been reports of wave heights as high as 100 feet from eyewitnesses who were on board vessels in the area at the time. So whie some elements of the movie may be sensationalized, it is accurate in portraying what was a truly monstrous and destructive storm.

The Coast Guard’s Attempts to Rescue the Andrea Gail

Yes, the Coast Guard did try to save the Andrea Gail. On October 28th, 1991, Moore’s Coast Guard helicopter from Air Station Cape Cod was sent out to search for the missing fishing vessel. Unfortunately, due to limited fuel capacity and unfavorable weather conditions, the helicopter was forced to ditch. Despite not being able to locate the Andrea Gail and its crew, the Coast Guard crew did manage to rescue three crewmen from the Tamaroa and people from a nearby sailboat. The heroism and dedication of thse brave individuals should be celebrated for their willingness to put their lives at risk in order to save others.

Coast Guard Helicopter Loss During The Perfect Storm

Yes, the U.S. Coast Guard lost a helicopter during The Perfect Storm. On October 30, 1991, Major Robert Ruvola and his crew were flying Jolly 110, a Sikorsky HH-3F Pelican Helicopter on a rescue mission in the midt of the storm. With just twenty minutes of fuel remaining, Major Ruvola had to make the difficult decision to ditch the helicopter into the sea while the engines were still running. At 9:30 p.m., the Sikorsky’s number one engine flamed out from fuel starvation and all onboard were forced to abandon ship in their life rafts until they could be rescued by another Coast Guard vessel some hours later. Tragically, no lives were lost that day but the Coast Guard did lose an expensive piece of equipment during The Perfect Storm.

Is the Flemish Cap a Real Phenomenon?

Yes, The Flemish Cap is a real geographic feature located in the North Atlantic Ocean. It is an area of shallow waters that extends roughly between 47° and 48° north latitude, and 44° and 46° west longitude, or about 563 km (350 miles) east of St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador. The Flemish Cap is a part of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, whch have been known since the 16th century for their abundance of fish species such as cod and haddock. The area has been an important fishing grounds for centuries, but has also become known for its hazardous weather conditions due to strong winds and storms.

The Depth of the Flemish Cap

The Flemish Cap is a shallow plateau of roughly 200 km in width, located east of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, and separated from them by the approximately 1200-m-deep Flemish Pass. The depths of the Flemish Cap range from depths of

Has a Coast Guard Cutter Ever Been Sunk?

Yes, a Coast Guard cutter has sunk. The most well-known incident occurred in 1989 when the CGC Mesquite ran aground near Keweenaw Point in Lake Superior. After being declared a total loss, the vessel was towed off the shoal and sunk in the lake as an artificial reef. This incident was significant as it marked the first time a U.S. Coast Guard cutter had been intentionally sunk for marine conservation purposes.

The CGC Mesquite is just one example of a Coast Guard cutter that has sunk over the years. In the early 1900s, several cutters were lost while patrolling during World War I and World War II, including CGC Acushnet which was sunk by a German U-boat in 1942 and CGC Tampa which went down during a storm in 1918 with all hands lost. Other cutters have also been lost to storms, collisions, fires, and other natural disasters or causes throughout history.

Has Storm Unice Resulted in Any Deaths?

Yes, Storm Eunice has killed at least four people. In England, three individuals died as a result of the storm. A man in his twenties was killed in Alton, Hampshire after the car he was travelling in collided with a tree. Additionally, two men were killed near Birmingham and the Isle of Wight respectively. In Ireland, one man was killed whle trying to secure his boat during the storm. Furthermore, another man is currently hospitalized with serious injuries related to the storm.

The Conflict Between Murph and Sully

Murph and Sully have a strained relationship due to Sully’s history with Murph’s ex-wife. It is implied that Sully had an affair with Murph’s ex-wife when they were still together, which led to the dissolution of their marriage. This created a rift beteen Sully and Murph, as Murph felt betrayed by Sully and held a grudge against him. Furthermore, while they are both caring fathers, they have different parenting styles which can clash at times.

The Andrea Gail was a vessel that sadly met its end during the 1991 Perfect Storm. With a crew of six men, Captain William Tyne, Robert Shatford, David Sullivan, Dale Murphy, Michael Moran and Alfred Pierre, it was lost at sea with catastrophic consequences. Winds of up to 60 miles per hour and waves reaching 75 feet caused the ship to break aprt and sink in the unforgiving Atlantic Ocean. Despite an extensive search effort, no trace of the vessel was ever found. The tragedy of the Andrea Gail serves as a reminder of how dangerous unpredictable weather can be on the high seas.

William Armstrong

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The ship that saved 7 during 'Perfect Storm' to be sunk off N.J.

The USS Zuni survived the submarine-infested waters of the Pacific during World War II as it towed torpedoed warships to safety and aided in the Battle of Iwo Jima.

A half-century later and renamed the Tamaroa, it overcame gale force winds and 40-foot waves to help save seven people off the New England coast, a rescue effort immortalized in the book and film "The Perfect Storm." But the Tamaroa could not conquer time. This ship that has made so much history will soon be sunk off the southern coast of New Jersey to help expand an artificial reef that attracts both scuba divers and anglers. A decadelong effort to turn the ship into a museum and memorial was derailed when the Tamaroa's hull sprung a leak four years ago, causing significant damage to key parts of the ship. Having the Tamaroa sit on the ocean floor isn't how many who served on the ship envisioned its fate. There is, after all, an emotional attachment to the ship far more powerful than mere nostalgia. The Tamaroa was home to generations of crew members who routinely risked their lives in some of the most brutal conditions to save others. The man who commanded the ship during the 1991 "Perfect Storm" said sinking the Tamaroa is a better outcome than being demolished for scrap metal, a common ending for old service ships. "It's always sad when you sink a ship, but some good will come of it," retired Coast Guard Capt. Larry Brudnicki said. "It's being repurposed. It's being used. If it's cut up, who's going to know that their razor blade came from the Tamaroa?" New Jersey and Delaware officials say the 205-foot ship will help expand their joint deepwater reef 25 miles south of Cape May Point by attracting large game fish and aiding the Garden State's $1.7 billion recreational fishing industry. They plan to sink the Tamaroa around Oct. 30, the 25th anniversary of "The Perfect Storm," although no official announcement has been issued. It is also a coup for New Jersey divers.

"It’s like anything else, it’s name recognition," said Brian Nunes-Vais, a trustee with the Ann E. Clark Foundation, which helps fund New Jersey’s artificial reef program. "Would you want to dive Bob’s boat or the Tamaroa?"

Island-hopping tug

Long before the "Perfect Storm" the Tamaroa was the Zuni. It was launched July 31, 1943, and deployed as a Navy tug to the war-torn Pacific, hopping from island to island as the U.S. drove Japanese forces back east.

It would tow two heavily damaged cruisers, the USS Houston and USS Reno, hundreds of miles to safety, according to the Navy’s history of the ship.

In 1945, the Zuni arrived at Iwo Jima three days after the assault began and stayed there for a month. It pulled a transport off a sandbar and deliberately ran itself aground to help get ammunition to a disabled landing craft. Two crewmen later died when a tow cable snapped and struck them. They were the only casualties during a two-year span in which the Zuni participated in four invasions and traveled thousands of miles in seas patrolled by Japanese warships and skies swarmed with fighter squadrons.

Of the dozens of men who served on the ship, the last known surviving member of the original crew was Lt. Herb Ruben of Westchester County, N.Y., who died last year at 94.

"He always said it was a ship that could take anything," said Elinor Parsont, Ruben’s widow. "He was very proud of being in the Navy and being on the Zuni."

A year after the war ended, the Zuni was transferred to the U.S. Coast Guard and renamed the Tamaroa, where it spent almost five decades rescuing ships in distress, intercepting drug smugglers and enforcing fishery laws. In 1956, it was one of the first ships to reach the sinking luxury liner Andrea Doria off Nantucket, where it helped rescue more than 1,600 passengers and crew.

But it was on Oct. 30, 1991, that it made history, when three storm systems slammed together off the New England coast with gusts of 70 mph and waves as high as a four-story building.

75 miles south Nantucket Island, MA (Oct. 30)--The Coast Guard Cutter Tamaroa's rigid hull inflatable rescue boat is sent to help the sailing vessel Satori. Satori, with three people on board, needed help about 75 miles south of Nantucket Island after being caught in a northeaster-like storm that raked New England on Halloween week. U.S. COAST GUARD PHOTO

The Coast Guard cutter Tamaroa sends its rigid hull inflatable rescue boat, right,to help the sailing vessel Satori on Oct. 30, 1991. Satori, with three people onboard, needed help about 75 miles south of Nantucket Island during the nor'easter that came to be known as The Perfect Storm.

Photo Credit: Coast Guard

The Tamaroa was dispatched to find a sailboat, the Satori, which was caught in the storm 75 miles off Nantucket.

The Tamaroa tried to rescue the Satori’s three crew members via a smaller, inflatable boat it had launched. The crew was able to toss survival suits to the three men on the Satori. But the waves were too much and the Satori’s stern came crashing down on the smaller boat. Both crews were soon hoisted up to a helicopter and flown to safety.

The Tamaroa’s work was far from done, though. It was soon sent to rescue the crew of an Air National Guard helicopter. The Jolly 110 had run out of fuel on a rescue mission in the storm and had to be ditched in the ocean. Bobbing up and down in the sea, the Tamaroa made several attempts over two hours before finally hoisting four of the five crew members aboard.

The storm claimed the life of Sgt. Rick Smith, of the Jolly 110, along with six fishermen who died when their boat, the Andrea Gail, was sunk.

The storm made national news but attention quietly died down. For years it was called the "No-Name Storm" until the Tamaroa’s exploits were documented in Sebastian Junger’s 1997 book, "The Perfect Storm," and three years later in a film starring George Clooney.

Brudnicki said newer Coast Guard cutters would not have been able to make a rescue in "The Perfect Storm." The Tamaroa was 700 tons heavier and sat 6 feet deeper than more modern ships. That allowed it to endure the hill-sized waves.

"We would not have been able to sustain the waves we took if we were in a more modern ship," said Brudnicki, who retired in 2002. "Back then, they built ships to last."

But only three years after the storm, the Tamaroa was decommissioned. It changed ownership several times and was moored on the Hudson River and then in Baltimore. A group of Navy and Coast Guard veterans formed the Zuni/Tamaroa Maritime Foundation, with the goal of restoring it.

After almost a decade of work and tens of thousands of dollars spent moving it to Norfolk, Virginia, the ship sprung a substantial leak in 2012 and saltwater flooded key parts of the vessel. Repairs were estimated to cost as much as $2 million.

‘Undersea memorial’

With few options, the foundation members resigned themselves to sinking the Tamaroa.

"I’d rather see her be a permanent undersea memorial than be scrapped," said Bill Doherty of Rockland County, N.Y., who served on the Tamaroa in the late 1960s, when it was based in New York Harbor. "She has too much history for that."

New Jersey and Delaware acquired the Tamaroa for $300,000, much of it raised through non-profit groups like the Ann E. Clark Foundation, which gave $90,000. It will join the Navy destroyer USS Arthur W. Radford 120 feet below the ocean’s surface on the Del-Jersey-Land Reef, which is managed by Delaware, New Jersey and Maryland.

The ship has spent months being prepped at a shipyard in Norfolk to ensure no PCBs, asbestos, engine oil or other hazardous materials end up in the ocean.

Harry Jaeger, co-founder of Zuni/Tamaroa Maritime Foundation, said sinking the ship is the best outcome. It was a workhorse boat that will continue to be put to good use, he said.

"You want to see it? Put on your scuba gear and it’s right there," Jaeger said. "It’s the best outcome, given the circumstances."

Not every piece of the Tamaroa will be on the ocean floor, however.

Lt. Col. Dave Ruvola, the pilot of the Jolly 110 whose crew was rescued by the Tamaroa during "The Perfect Storm," heard the ship was in danger of being scrapped a few years ago and wanted a memento. The foundation gave him a porthole.

Today, it hangs at the headquarters of the 106th Rescue Wing in eastern Long Island in honor of Rick Smith, the pararescueman who died when the helicopter went down.

"It was the ship that saved my life," Ruvola said. "So I thought it was fitting that we use a piece of Tamaroa to pay respects to Rick. He was a guy who gave his life trying to save others."

Scott Fallon writes for The Record in New Jersey.

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This Day In History : October 30

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“Perfect storm” intensifies in the North Atlantic

On October 30, 1991, the so-called “perfect storm” intensifies in the North Atlantic , producing remarkably large waves along the New England and Canadian coasts. Over the next several days, the storm spread its fury over the ocean off the coast of Canada. The fishing boat Andrea Gail and its six-member crew were lost in the storm. The disaster spawned the bestselling book The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger and a blockbuster Hollywood movie of the same name.

On October 27, Hurricane Grace formed near Bermuda and moved toward the coast of the southeastern United States. Two days later, Grace continued to move north, where it encountered a massive low pressure system moving south from Canada. The clash of systems over the Atlantic Ocean caused 40-to-80-foot waves on October 30—unconfirmed reports put the waves at more than 100 feet in some locations. This massive surf caused extensive coastal flooding, particularly in Massachusetts ; damage was also sustained as far south as Jamaica and as far north as Newfoundland.

The storm continued to churn in the Atlantic on October 31; it was nicknamed the “ Halloween storm.” It came ashore on November 2 along the Nova Scotia coast, then, as it moved northeast over the Gulf Stream waters, it made a highly unusual transition into a hurricane. The National Hurricane Center made the decision not to name the storm for fear it would alarm and confuse local residents. It was only the eighth hurricane not given a name since the naming of hurricanes began in 1950.

Meanwhile, as the storm developed, the crew of the 70-foot fishing boat Andrea Gail was fishing for swordfish in the Grand Banks of the North Atlantic. The Andrea Gail was last heard from on October 28. When the boat did not return to port on November 1 as scheduled, rescue teams were sent out.

The week-long search for the Andrea Gail and a possible cause of its demise were documented in Junger’s book, which became a national bestseller. Neither the Andrea Gail nor its crew—David Sullivan and Robert Shatford of Gloucester, Mass.; William Tyne, Dale Murphy and Michael Moran of Bradenton Beach, Fla.; and Alfred Pierre of New York City—was ever found.

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What You Didn’t Know About The Andrea Gail & ‘Perfect Storm’ Location

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• Andrea Gail's last communication revealed critical information, hinting at the storm's unexpected strength and its tragic consequences.
• Multiple factors contributed to Andrea Gail's sinking, from modifications to seaworthiness issues, leading to solemn speculations about its fate.
• Even though the crew was never recovered, haunting items traced back to the ship were found, creating a reminder of the storm's devastating impact.

In the fall of 1991, a catastrophic storm swept the northeastern coast of the U.S., wreaking havoc along the coast of Massachusetts. The storm struck the coast with no name, afterward only gaining the 'perfect storm' title and inspiring a movie of the same name. It made landfall suddenly with no one anticipating its hurricane-strength devastation, with those on land feeling its effects but those at sea having a first-hand account of the strength of its winds and rain.

The Andrea Gail set out from Gloucester on what was meant to be a month-long fishing trip off the coast of Newfoundland, covering a total of 900 miles. What they didn't know was that the storm heading up the coast would take the lives of 13 people and cause millions of dollars in damage from Florida all the way up to Nova Scotia.

Winds from the storm reached strengths of 120 miles per hour, and when no communication was heard from the 72-foot Andrea Gail , which was right in the center of the storm, the search was called off in a matter of ten days. To this day, the trawler, and its crew, have never been recovered.

Here's what you never knew about the Andrea Gail's last communication, speculation about what exactly happened, and the haunting clues that have surfaced since.

The Andrea Gail's Last Communication Revealed Its Final Known Location

The andrea gail radioed the hannah boden during its final hours.

The last anyone had heard from Andrea Gail was communication between Captain Billy Tyne and Captain Linda Greenlaw, the captain of Andrea Gail's sister ship, the Hannah Boden. During the communication, Tyne gave Greenlaw his location, which is how the last known position of Andrea Gail was recorded.

The biggest problem with the ship's location was that it sat on the convergence line of three separate storms (hence the name the 'perfect' storm), resulting in powerful winds and seas that were wholly unexpected by the captain and crew. Captain Greenlaw thinks that the nor'easter formed over the Andrea Gail , creating conditions that were nearly unavoidable and, ultimately, fatal to a ship of that size.

One of the main issues here was that the Andrea Gail was tiny: 72 feet, to be exact. With winds of nearly 120 MPH, this small fishing boat had no chance once the storm made its way. It's also haunting because the boat was in the center of the storm, becoming a prime target of nature's wrath.

To this day, no bodies have been recovered. Many speculate they could have sunk to the bottom of the water or traveled miles away in the high winds.

Multiple Things Were Believed To Have Led To The Sinking Of The Andrea Gail

The andrea gail never had a fighting chance, according to various theories.

• Many people believe that multiple storm systems converging led to the deaths of those on board Andrea Gail.

First and foremost, the terrible weather, brought on by three separate storm systems converging, is what ultimately brought down the ship. However, other details were believed to contribute to the vessel's seaworthiness.

One of them was the modifications to the boat before it headed out on its last voyage. The ship was prone to riding low in the water with full fish tanks and fuel, which meant that water could quickly flood the deck, especially with waves as high as they were.

Secondly, the ship's port side had weather siding that prevented water from draining correctly and allowed it to remain trapped on the deck. According to the script consultant for The Perfect Storm , Captain Richard Haworth, the ship encountered a wave that rolled the Andrea Gail, forcing it to heave to one side.

Jack Flaherty, a fisherman, believes that the storm muddied the fuel in the ship's tank with a combination of algae, rust, sediment, or even air, which resulted in the ship's engine failure during the storm.

Several Items From The Andrea Gail Were found That Same Year

The andrea gail's crew was never recovered, but items from the ship were found later.

• Many items from Andrea Gail were found on Sable Island, including a fuel tank, flotsam, and an empty life raft.

On Sable Island, which was not far from the last known position of the Andrea Gail, several items washed ashore that were identified as belonging to the ship. A fuel tank, flotsam, and an empty life raft were among them.

These items were traced back to the boat with the emergency position indicator radio, and roughly 180 artifacts sat between the ship's recorded position and the island itself.

It's believed that the ship encountered waves that were roughly 30-foot seas with winds that were about 50 to 80 knots.

One bizarre fact about Andrea Gail's last position is that she was believed to have gone down in the same area as the Titanic, which also has plenty of lore, including the rumor that the captain may have survived .

Six Crew Members Perished With The Andrea Gail

Captain Tyne's last known words were, "She's comin' on boys, and she's comin' on strong!" over the radio to the coast guard. After that, there was radio silence from the Andrea Gail.

Captain William Tyne from Gloucester, Robert Shatford from Gloucester, Dale Murphy from Bradenton Beach, Florida, David Sullivan from Gloucester, Michael Moran from Bradenton Beach, and Alfred Pierre from New York City lost their lives on that tragic day.

Their names are among the 500 inscribed on the Fisherman's Memorial in Gloucester, Massachusetts . The Gloucester Fishermen's Memorial Service pays tribute to them, and the 30 or more other lives lost every year.

The Damages From The Storm Were Huge

In addition to the lives lost because of the storm, there were also material losses and damages of up to $500 million. Those included the loss of hundreds of businesses, homes, and more. 38,000 people lost access to power, and airports and roads were closed.

10 Abandoned Ghost Ships & The Stories Behind Them (& Where To 'See' Them)

From the Mary Celeste to the Bel Amica, the chilling stories of these abandoned ghost ships around the world blur the line between history and legend.

However, such large storms usually result in much more severe material losses. This particular storm resulted in more minor damage due to the decreased amount of rainfall and a lack of foliage due to winter. That is one positive aspect of this deadly storm system, as if there had been more to throw around, we're sure the "perfect storm" would have done so.

This often becomes a major complication during hurricanes in the Southern US, as plants, trees, and even buildings go flying. If anything, the perfect storm proved to be the deadliest for those on the water.

Sadly, the Andrea Gail is far from the only ship that has disappeared without hardly a trace.

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The perfect storm (1991).

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Also known as the Halloween Storm, “The Perfect Storm” of literary and Hollywood fame wracked the Atlantic seaboard in late October 1991 and sunk the Andrea Gail. On 30 October 1991, this nor’easter reached peak intensity when it was 340 miles (547 km) south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, but the storm had been building since 28 October 1991 when it killed the six crew members of the Andrea Gail. Oddly, this storm was neither one of the worst in terms of wind severity or precipitation nor in overall impact to people and property. Rather, it was “an extraordinary confluence of atmospheric ingredients” and “unique in its evolution” ( Ostro 2006 ). In late October and November the eastern United States experiences rapid changes in weather. To the west, cold Canadian air masses regularly envelope the Midwest. To the east, the Atlantic Ocean loses its stored summer heat more slowly than the continent, and hurricanes sometimes form over the warm waters. The contrast between two very dissimilar air masses (i.e., cold to the west and warm to the east) often results in massive storms just offshore North America. These tempests, called “nor’easters” in the Atlantic states, have sunk many ocean vessels ( Mcgahee 2008 ), and indeed, The Perfect Storm lived up to this reputation with the Andrea Gail. In addition to this storm’s legacy in popular culture, however, the storm’s evolution is noteworthy. The Perfect Storm began as an extratropical system, absorbed a tropical system (i.e., Hurricane Grace), and ended somewhat uneventfully as an unnamed hurricane. According to The Weather Channel’s senior meteorologist Stu Ostro, “a non-tropical system absorbing a tropical one is not unprecedented, nor is a tropical cyclone developing from a non-tropical system. But for both processes to occur with the same system, not to mention one of this magnitude, is what made the cyclone so amazing. To me, this was the ultimate ‘hybrid’ storm” ( Ostro 2006 ). A state by state damage summary reveals the widespread impacts caused by the storm. Most memorably in the public psyche may be the damage suffered to then-President George H. W. Bush’s house in Kennebunkport, Maine, where windows were blown out, water flooded the building, and some structural damage occurred. Yet, coastal areas from Massachusetts to Puerto Rico experienced flooding and high winds, and beach erosion was severe and widespread. Hundreds of homes and businesses were knocked from their foundations. Sea walls, boardwalks, bulkheads, and piers were reduced to rubble. Numerous small boats were sunk at their berths, and thousands of lobster traps were destroyed. The Hudson, Hackensack, and Passaic rivers all experienced tidal flooding, and high winds brought down utility poles, power lines, tree limbs, and signs. The most extensive damage occurred in New England where federal disaster areas were declared for seven counties in Massachusetts, five in Maine, and one in New Hampshire. The National Park Service’s weather and climate inventory for the Northeast Coastal and Barrier Network recognizes The Perfect Storm as an example of an extreme storm event that introduced large-scale disturbances into National Park System units such as Assateague (Maryland), Cape Cod (Massachusetts), Fire Island (New York) national seashores, and Gateway National Recreation Area (New York) ( Davey et al. 2006 ).

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Last updated: May 30, 2019

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The Perfect Storm

An unusually intense storm pattern catches some commercial fishermen unaware and puts them in mortal danger. An unusually intense storm pattern catches some commercial fishermen unaware and puts them in mortal danger. An unusually intense storm pattern catches some commercial fishermen unaware and puts them in mortal danger.

• Wolfgang Petersen
• Sebastian Junger
• William D. Wittliff
• George Clooney
• Mark Wahlberg
• John C. Reilly
• 841 User reviews
• 140 Critic reviews
• 59 Metascore
• 4 wins & 28 nominations total

• Bobby Shatford

• Dale 'Murph' Murphy

• Christina Cotter

• David 'Sully' Sullivan

• Mike 'Bugsy' Moran

• Alfred Pierre

• Linda Greenlaw

• Melissa Brown

• Edie Bailey

• Alexander McAnally III

• Irene 'Big Red' Johnson

• Ethel Shatford

• Sgt. Jeremy Mitchell

• Capt. Darryl Ennis
• Lt. Rob Pettit
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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• Trivia In the film's beginning, the Andrea Gail is shown offloading an unimpressive catch, and Billy Tyne is depicted as having "lost his touch." In reality, Tyne and his crew returned from that trip with an abundant catch. Likewise, the relationship between Tyne and Linda Greenlaw was fictitious. Tyne and Greenlaw were barely acquainted in real life.
• Goofs When the Andrea Gail enters the eye of the storm, the waters become calm. In reality the air would be calm and the skies clearer, but the seas would be just as bad as ever, on account of churning from the surrounding hurricane's eye-wall winds.

Christina 'Chris' Cotter : [sitting on the dock next to each other looking out at the ocean] I'll be asleep, and all the sudden there he is, that big smile. You know that smile. And I say, 'Hey, Bobby - where you been?' but he won't tell me. He just smiles and says, 'Remember, Christina: I'll always love you; I loved you the moment I saw you; I love you now; and I love you forever. There's no goodbyes - there's only love, Christina; only love. Then he's gone. But he's always happy when he goes so I know he's got to be okay - absolutely okay.

Ethel Shatford : [holds her hand] I love your dream.

Billy's voice : The fog's just lifting. Throw off your bow line; throw off your stern. You head out to South channel, past Rocky Neck, Ten Pound Island. Past Niles Pond where I skated as a kid. Blow your air-horn and throw a wave to the lighthouse keeper's kid on Thatcher Island. Then the birds show up: black backs, herring gulls, big dump ducks. The sun hits ya - head North. Open up to 12 - steamin' now. The guys are busy; you're in charge. Ya know what? You're a goddam swordboat captain! Is there any thing better in the world?

• Connections Featured in Siskel & Ebert: Shaft/Boys and Girls/Jesus' Son/Titan A.E./Pop and Me (2000)
• Soundtracks Yours Forever (Theme from 'The Perfect Storm') Written by James Horner , John Mellencamp and George M. Green (as George Green) Produced by John Mellencamp , James Horner and Mike Wanchic (as Michael Wanchic) Performed by John Mellencamp Courtesy of Sony Music

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• Jan 23, 2023
• What is 'The Perfect Storm' about?
• Is 'The Perfect Storm" based on a book?
• What is a "perfect" storm?
• June 30, 2000 (United States)
• United States
• Warner Bros.
• Cơn Bão Kinh Hoàng
• Gloucester, Massachusetts, USA
• Baltimore Spring Creek Productions
• Radiant Productions
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $140,000,000 (estimated)
• $182,618,434
• $41,325,042
• Jul 2, 2000
• $328,718,434

Technical specs

• Runtime 2 hours 10 minutes
• Dolby Digital EX

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Tragic Facts About The Perfect Storm, The Shipwreck Story No One Lived To Tell

While the phrase "perfect storm" might suggest an event in which everything goes smoothly and no one gets hurt, the reality is unfortunately far less pleasant. The 1991 Perfect Storm was named by a meteorologist who saw three separate storms on track to converge off the coast of Nova Scotia. The weather systems combined to create a single massive nor'easter that inspired the 2000 film The Perfect Storm starring George Clooney. The storm claimed 13 lives in the process, including those of the six crew members aboard the Andrea Gail .

The vessel was at sea in search of swordfish when the storm hit Gloucester, MA; the crew never made it home. What's confounding is that no one knows exactly what happened to the Andrea Gail . The ship never sent a distress signal, and the crew's remains were never found, so the terrifying  true story behind The Perfect Storm may stay hidden forever. 

• The Perfect Storm/Warner Bros.

The Storm Took A Total Of 13 Lives

From October 26 through November 1, 1991, a massive storm pummeled the East Coast as it traveled from Nova Scotia to Florida. The storm  claimed a total of 13 lives, including those of the six crew members aboard the fishing boat  Andrea Gail . 

The Andrea Gail crew members who lost their lives were Michael "Bugsby" Moran and Dale R. "Murph" Murphy, both from Bradenton Beach, FL; Alfred Pierre from New York City, NY; and Frank William "Billy" Tyne Jr., Robert F. "Bobby" Shatford, and David "Sully" Sullivan, all from Gloucester, MA.

The Last Conversation The 'Andrea Gail' Captain Had Was 'Typical'

Linda Greenlaw, a fishing boat captain from Maine, was the last person to speak to any of the crew on board the  Andrea Gail . She said her last conversation with Captain Billy Tyne was "typical."

Greenlaw told the Gloucester Daily Times ,  "I wanted a weather report, and Billy wanted a fishing report. I recall him saying, 'The weather sucks. You probably won’t be fishing tomorrow night.'"

• Wikimedia Commons
• Public Domain

No One Knows Exactly What Happened To The 'Andrea Gail'

It's still unclear exactly what became of the Andrea Gail and its crew . While it does seem the crew perished, the details are a matter of speculation. No distress signal was ever sent, very little wreckage was ever found, and there were no survivors to interview or remains to examine.

The lack of closure made the grieving process even more difficult for the crew's loved ones.

• Unknown USCG member

The Search For Survivors Was Called Off After 10 Days

While it seemed impossible for the  Andrea Gail to have survived the storm, the Coast Guard still led a massive  search covering  186,000 square miles over the course of 10 days. The only hint regarding the crew's fate was a small amount of wreckage , including an emergency beacon, an empty life raft, fuel drums, and a propane tank.

After 10 days, the search was called off due to the low probability of the crew's survival. 

The Storm Caused Nearly $500 Million In Damage

In addition to the human cost, the storm also racked up nearly  $500 million in damage. Hundreds of houses and businesses were lost in its wake. Roads and airports were closed, and  38,000 people lost power .

While this was substantial, the damages were actually less severe in many areas than those caused by other large storms.  The lighter toll was said to be attributed to the decreased amount of rainfall and a lack of foliage due to the winter season. 

• W. W. Norton & Company

The Families Weren't Thrilled With The Movie, But Most Appreciated The Book

Many people are aware of the Andrea Gail  tragedy thanks to  The Perfect Storm, the 2000 film starring George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg. Unfortunately, some of the families members of the departed crew were so unhappy with the movie that they filed a lawsuit .

Filed by the family of Captain Billy Tyne, the lawsuit charged Warner Bros. with "unauthorized commercial misappropriation and invasion of privacy." They claimed they had not given permission to use Tyne's likeness, and that the film had unfairly depicted him as incompetent. According to Warner Bros., the law did not require them to obtain permission to depict a historically important event. Ultimately, the Florida Supreme Court  threw out the case .

In contrast, Sebastian Junger's novel of the same name was considered to be quite fair and well researched. Maryanne Shatford, sister of crew member Bobby Shatford, told Boston.com she's glad to have both versions: "They were all like the characters in the book. It was the movie that was too Hollywood. They wanted it to be a story more than it was between the characters... but even though they didn’t get [them] all right, the people were unbelievably nice, all the actors and the producers."

• WIkimedia Commons
• CC BY-SA 2.5

Gloucester Has Found Many Ways To Memorialize Lost Sailors

In Gloucester, an official memorial is dedicated to the approximately 3,000 local fishermen who were lost at sea between 1623 and 1923. The bronze statue of a sailor at the wheel of his ship is called the Gloucester Fisherman’s Memorial. Services are held at the memorial every August, and they often leave the audience in tears. 

Gloucester also has less official ways of commemorating sailors who have passed. According to Maryanne Shatford, the best memorial to her brother and the rest of the crew is the family business, a local bar called the Crow’s Nest. The bar is decorated with photographs of the crew and includes a plaque that reads, "They will always be remembered by family and friends ."

These physical reminders help Shatford keep her brother alive in her heart. She told Boston.com :

His memory is never going to [fade] for me, but there are so many concrete things for me too. I can open the book, I can turn on the TV, people always want to talk to me about him, especially at the Crow’s Nest. His memory is here every single day. 

The Movie's Ship Was Used As A Memorial Too

The Perfect Storm may not have been a popular film with the crew's families, but one eatery was able to salvage something from the production. Boston restaurant Legal Seafood bought the ship used in the movie and turned it into a memorial for the Andrea Gail crew.

The memorial stayed up until the ship was damaged in a fire. 

• NOAA/Satellite and Information Service

Bob Case Dubbed It 'The Perfect Storm'

"Perfect" may not seem like the most appropriate word to describe a storm that took the lives of 13 people, but nevertheless, the "Perfect Storm" moniker stuck. Bob Case, a meteorologist at the Boston branch of the National Weather Service, coined the name when he noticed three separate storms set to  converge  off the coast of New England in October 1991.

"Perfect" in this case means perfectly terrible - it couldn't have been worse.

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The Story Behind ‘The Perfect Storm’

We caught up with author Sebastian Junger to find out how he reported the incredible Outside Classic story of the Andrea Gail’s crew, what’s changed in the commercial fishing industry, and why he’s drawn to people who have dangerous jobs

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This story update is part of the  Outside Classics , a series highlighting the best writing we’ve ever published, along with author interviews and other exclusive bonus materials. Get access to all of the Outside Classics when you sign up for Outside+ .

When the 70-foot longliner Andrea Gail was lost off Canada’s Grand Banks on October 29, 1991, Sebastian Junger was living in Gloucester, Massachusetts, the boat’s home port, working as a tree climber to support his freelance writing career.

The Andrea Gail was on day 40 of an extended commercial swordfishing trip when three powerful storms converged on the Northeast. Data buoys measured waves as high as 100 feet, and the boat was hit with winds measuring 80 knots (92 miles per hour). The night before the storm, on October 28, Andrea Gail ’s captain, Billy Tyne, radioed to area fishermen, “She’s coming on, boys, and she’s coming on strong.”

The Andrea Gail ’s six-man crew—Tyne, along with David Sullivan, Bobby Shatford, Alfred Pierre, Dale Murphy, and Michael Moran, all young men in their twenties and thirties—didn’t make it home. As one local fisherman would tell Junger, “Whatever happened happened quick.”

The Andrea Gail ’s emergency beacon washed ashore that November on Sable Island, off the coast of Nova Scotia, but the boat was never found. The crew left behind five children among them, and the entire small town mourned the loss.

The Original Story of ‘The Perfect Storm’

Read the Classic

Junger was captivated by the event—and eventually the world would be as well. He spent months interviewing fishermen and surviving family members to write “ The Storm ,” which ran in the October 1994 issue of Outside . The article grew into the 1997 bestselling book The Perfect Storm and the 2000 movie of the same name , starring George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg. The legend of the Andrea Gail fueled a fascination with the dangerous work of commercial fishing that led to shows like Deadliest Catch . Since the Andrea Gail ’s demise, the industry has only become more perilous, as violent storms have pushed farther into the north Atlantic Ocean and dwindling catches have meant smaller profits and smaller crews doing the same work. Since 1991, 11 more Gloucester fishermen have been lost at sea.

The dignity and adventure found in dangerous work are themes that have stayed with Junger throughout his writing career. His war reporting from Bosnia and Afghanistan informed his next books, War  and Tribe . And Restrepo , the documentary he made with the late photojournalist Tim Hetherington about a year in the life of a U.S. Army platoon in Afghanistan, was nominated for an Academy Award in 2010. His most recent book, Freedom , about a months-long walk along the railways of Pennsylvania, came out in spring 2021.

Junger spoke with contributing editor Elizabeth Hightower Allen by phone from his apartment in New York, where he lives with his wife and two children.

OUTSIDE : Let’s rewind. You were working as a tree climber when the Andrea Gail went down? JUNGER: I was 29. I was living in Gloucester and trying to make my way as a freelance writer, basically blundering through my twenties and wasting an enormous amount of time. I had this job as a climber for tree companies. I’d be topping out pine trees, 80 feet in the air. It was all the right mix of scary, chainsaws, and heights—things that could kill you if you did it wrong. But it allowed me to write. And it gave me a dose of reality. I got a little careless with the chainsaw and whacked the back of my leg. I was up in the tree on a rope, with a running chainsaw, looking down at my Achilles tendon. Thank God I didn’t sever it, but I laid it open. I was limping around Gloucester recovering when this huge storm hit. A Gloucester boat, the Andrea Gail , was presumed lost a thousand miles out to sea.

Had you written for many magazines at that point? It would have been my first national magazine piece. I’d been thinking about writing a book of essays about dangerous jobs. I was very enamored of John McPhee, and I wanted to do a collection of essays on forest firefighting, drilling for oil, working as a war reporter—basically all the stuff I wanted to learn to do myself. So I sent Outside what I thought of as the first chapter of that book: 15,000 words on the Andrea Gail . Hampton Sides, who was an editor at the magazine then, worked with me on a new shorter version that became “The Storm.”

So you were approaching people in the fishing community without an assignment saying, “I’d like to do a book on this.” I imagine that was hard. The family of one of the crew, Bobby Shatford, ran a waterfront bar, the Crow’s Nest, that was the center of the fishing community. His mother, Ethel Shatford Preston, was the bartender. I walked into that bar, and she didn’t know me from Adam, and I started asking questions about her son who had died. She didn’t throw me out. She heard me out. Had she not done that, the book wouldn’t exist. I would have been shown the door.

A lot of that was because, I think, I was someone who was also “working for a living.” I would go into the bar covered in sawdust from a tree job, dirty from a day’s work. There are two kinds of jobs: the kind where you shower the morning before you go to work and the kind where you shower at the end of the day after you come home. I had the latter. I have no idea, but I think that probably allowed her to at least give me a chance.

What did the community think about the magazine story? They loved it. They put it up on the wall at the Crow’s Nest. That said, it was hard to know if it made a larger splash beyond Gloucester, because the internet didn’t exist at the time. I think the story got some attention, but the earth didn’t stop. I didn’t necessarily think that the book would be a big hit, either—I knew I was writing something somewhat journalistically novel, but I wasn’t fool enough to think it would be a bestseller. Fast forward ten years, and everyone was obsessed with dangerous jobs— Deadliest Catch , all of that—but not in 1994.

When you did write the book, you found yourself in deeper water—that the central narrative, what actually happened to the Andrea Gail , was essentially unknowable. While the years were slowly turning in the literary world about whether I could sell that book, I went off to Sarajevo to learn how to be a war reporter. I’d been in Bosnia six months when my agent faxed me in Zagreb and said, “Congratulations. I sold your book proposal for $35,000. Now you’ve got to come home and write it.”

I thought, How do you write a whole book when the central drama of the book is just a huge question mark? The boat disappeared. How do I do that without fictionalizing? And then I read The Hot Zone by Richard Preston. He did this amazing thing where he was writing about things that he could not personally have known either. About the first character to come down with Marburg virus, he writes, maybe he was walking home, maybe he looked at the sunset. It had an inherent tension to it because the reader realizes, Oh my God, we don’t know. And there’s no way to know.

All of a sudden, what seemed like a deficit of information became a dramatic asset: the Andrea Gail could have done this, or maybe more probably, according to other fishermen, this is what was happening. When I started writing it in that way, I got really excited. The dread of impending failure finally left me and, and I thought, I can do this. This is a cool way to write a book.

Of course, it did become a monster hit. The Perfect Storm has now sold more than five million copies worldwide. How did that affect Gloucester? I think people in town really felt like the industry and the town were getting the credit they deserved; these are rough, working-class guys and working-class families, and they’re not used to a lot of love or even appreciation. Suddenly being a fisherman was cool, particularly with the movie. The bookstore was selling the book like crazy, and it spawned a cottage industry in town. There was a guided Perfect Storm tour—you’d have a drink at the Crow’s Nest, talk to the guys loading the ships with ice, and go to the bait shop. They weren’t banking millions, but it created something. It was a pride of place and pride of job—recognition for a very, very hard, brutal, dangerous job.

Did you keep in touch with many of the families? I was enormously fond of Ethel Shatford Preston, whose family ran the Crow’s Nest. She was this powerful mother figure for a lot of people in Gloucester. She had such a big heart. We became really good friends. When she died of cancer in 1999, the family asked me to speak at her memorial.

I did have one regret about Ethel, however. She smoked quite a lot, and I described her—I’d never written a book before, and it never occurred to me that the people you write about will actually read the book—as gray-faced. She loved the book, but at one point she was like, “Gray-faced, huh?” And I thought, Oh my God. Of course, you read that description. It was a funny moment of realization.

After The Perfect Storm , you moved into war reporting—embedding with U.S. infantrymen in Afghanistan for Restrepo , walking U.S. railways with veterans in The Last Patrol and Freedom . But in many ways, The Perfect Storm seems like the beginning of those themes—a group of brothers in dangerous situations. I hadn’t conceived of it in those terms. When I wrote The Perfect Storm , I really thought I was writing about dangerous jobs. But dangerous work is done by young men—young working-class men, typically, not that there aren’t women as well. And young men have an enormously high risk tolerance. As a result, they die in violence and accidents at something like six times the rate of young women. So, who are you going to put in a job or who’s going to be drawn to a job that has a very elevated chance of killing you?

Looking back, I realize that I’ve been drawn to writing about different forms of all-male groups. Their dynamics are fascinating. And honestly, being in those groups as a man is extremely enjoyable. When I was with a platoon in combat, I was as happy as could be. It was brutally cold and unbelievably dramatic. I mean, the helicopters and the firefights—everything was just so over the top. I couldn’t believe I was seeing Americans in a war zone. I was like, “Are you kidding? Some kid from Wichita is just returning fire in Zabul province at some Afghans. Are you kidding?”

Throughout your career, you’ve encountered a huge element of personal risk yourself—really off-the-charts personal risk. And you’ve lost friends in battle. Yet your closest call came right at home, in 2020, when your pancreatic artery burst. I stopped war reporting after my buddy Tim Hetherington died, who I made Restrepo with. He was killed in Libya on an assignment I was supposed to be on, and at the last minute, I couldn’t go, and he got killed. After that, I stopped war reporting. I got divorced, and I remarried; I had a family. Now, not only would I not put my life at risk unnecessarily, but the aneurysm—that near-death experience—really affected me. I was very, very lucky to survive it.

The doctor was cutting my neck open to put a line into my jugular to try to get blood into me fast enough to save me. And I said, “You gotta hurry. You’re losing me right now.”

You have to know, I’m not only unmystical, I’m anti-mystical. But as that was going on—as I was dying, really—a black pit opened up underneath me, sucking me down into it. And my dead father appeared, as if to welcome me, and I wanted nothing to do with him. I mean, I was like, “I love you, Dad. But we have nothing to talk about right now.”

Then I found out that encountering dead relatives is very, very common with people who are dying. They don’t really have an explanation for it.

Whoa. And now you’re researching a book, called Pulse . Will it go into those near-death experiences or the forces that keep us alive? I think my book is going to be looking at all of those things but from an implacably rationalist, nonsentimental viewpoint.

The experience has given me a real awareness of mortality. All we have is now. Being here right now with my children: that’s what life is for me now. I don’t regret the past, and I don’t plan for the future. I’m just, here I am , you know?

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Hurricane tracker, severe weather, radar & maps, news & features, winter center, news / weather news, 30 years later, 'perfect storm' remains a haunting weather event.

To this day, the story of the storm and the ship that vanished in it occupies a unique place in the American psyche. Little was ever found, save for a few items that turned up days later in a place known as the "Graveyard of the Atlantic."

By Zachary Rosenthal , AccuWeather staff writer

Updated Oct 29, 2021 12:48 PM PDT

Thirty years ago, a trio of atmospheric factors came together to form a storm so uniquely dangerous and powerful that its mesmerizing development could only be described in one way: perfect.

That's how Bob Case, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Boston, categorized the storm at the time. Case's use of the term perfect would go on to serve as inspiration for author Sebastian Junger, who wrote a critically acclaimed 1997 novel about the storm, detailing the tragic fate of the Andrea Gail , a commercial fishing vessel from Gloucester, Massachusetts, that was lost at sea with six crew members on board following a fishing trip in the northern Atlantic.

Three years after the book's publication, the storm was immortalized on the big screen in a movie of the same name. George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg and Diane Lane led a cast that turned the film into a box office smash hit and cemented the storm's legacy in the pop-culture consciousness.

All of this was predicated by what turned out to be an extraordinary meteorological setup.

The Perfect Storm began with a strong disturbance that passed through New England on Oct. 27, 1991. A high-pressure system built over southeast Canada, allowing a low-pressure system that tailed the front to intensify rapidly. This process was enhanced when what remained of Hurricane Grace, approaching from the south, passed through the area and provided ample tropical energy to create an intense storm.

“These circumstances alone could have created a strong storm,” Case said in an interview with The Associated Press back in 2000 around when the movie was released. "But then, like throwing gasoline on a fire, a dying Hurricane Grace delivered immeasurable tropical energy to create the Perfect Storm."

As Hurricane Grace weakened and the circulation that would become the Perfect Storm continued to strengthen, Grace got pulled into the developing Perfect Storm.

"The capture of Grace into the Perfect Storm led to further strengthening due to the temperature contrast between the warm moist unstable air within Grace’s circulation and the colder circulation within the developing storm," said AccuWeather Hurricane Expert Dan Kottlowski.

With the Perfect Storm dropping to a pressure of 28.70 inches (972 mb) and a strong high-pressure system to the north, an intense pressure gradient formed, kicking up strong winds from the Carolina coast northward, which caused massive waves.

"It was an unprecedented set of circumstances,” Case, who died in 2008, said of the Perfect Storm.

According to the United States Coast Guard's investigation into what happened to the Andrea Gail , the doomed vessel sent its last transmission at around 6 p.m. on Oct. 28, 1991, about 162 mi (261 km) east of Sable Island, located about 180 miles offshore of Halifax, Nova Scotia. The captain, Billy Tyne, gave a final weather report to Linda Greenlaw, captain of a fellow swordfishing boat, the  Hannah Boden , noting that he and his crew were experiencing winds of more than 90 miles per hour and 30-foot-tall waves.

The 'Perfect Storm' as seen on satellite Oct. 31, 1991, before fully developing. (NOAA)

Some of the waves that slammed into the Andrea Gail were at least 39 feet high, approaching the height of a typical four-story building. In fact, Canadian weather buoys in the area reported peak wave heights in excess of 60 feet tall, with wind gusts approaching major hurricane force, according to the Coast Guard's investigation .

An all-out search for the crew and the Andrea Gail involving U.S. and Canadian militaries began Oct. 31, after the ship's owner, Robert Brown, reported it overdue from the fishing expedition the day prior.

The search effort covered about 109,000 square miles and covered areas from the Grand Banks off Newfoundland, where the ship had been fishing, to Cape Cod, according to the Coast Guard report. The search effort was suspended late on the evening of Nov. 9 due to the "low probability of crew survival." 

On Nov. 6, just days before the search was called off, a fishing net, a propane cylinder and an Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon were found by members of Canada's air rescue operations on the southwest corner of Sable Island, a small slice of land in the northwest Atlantic about 185 miles south of Halifax. The island is known by the ominous nickname " Graveyard of the Atlantic ." The items recovered by the air rescue crew were believed to belong to the Andrea Gail . 

Meanwhile, on Nov. 8, the Hannah Boden spotted a white full barrel with the initials A.G. on the side. But the barrels weren't retrieved, and a positive identification wasn't able to be made, according to the report. No distress calls were ever reported or received from the Andrea Gail.

Around the same time that the Andrea Gail was first reported missing, the Coast Guard cutter Tamaroa , a World War II-era ship, was sent out into the Perfect Storm on several daring rescue missions. On Oct. 30, the Coast Guard first saved the three-person crew of a 32-foot sailboat called the Satori , which was on its way from New Hampshire to Bermuda before it became overwhelmed by the raging seas, south of Nantucket Island, Massachusetts.

After rescuing the Satori crew, the Tamaroa had to alter its course and head four hours toward Long Island to help rescue the crew of a New York Air National Guard helicopter that had to ditch its mission due to a failed refueling attempt about ninety miles south of Montauk, New York. 

Four out of the five crewmen were rescued, but the body of pararescueman Rick Smith was never recovered. During the dangerous rescue mission, water swept over the deck of the Tamaroa , with the ship's engine crew working hard to keep the ship running.

The Perfect Storm did eventually become a full-fledged hurricane by early November 1991, but it was never officially named by the National Hurricane Center, as the NHC feared naming the storm would have been confusing as with much of the Northeast was already recovering from the previous extratropical system. If named, the storm would have been known as Henri, a moniker that was later used in 2003, 2019, 2015, and in 2021 .

All told, buoys recorded waves of 101 feet, with swells and waves causing considerable damage to coastal areas along the East Coast of the United States, according to Kottlowski.

A large lobster boat and tangled lobster traps are seen wrecked along the shore in Rockport, Mass., Nov. 2, 1991, victims of the high winds and seas that struck the New England coast. Coastal homes and boats along the New England coast were destroyed in the storm. (AP Photo/Jon Chase)

The Perfect Storm caused significant damage up and down the East Coast, despite never making landfall in the United States. Extreme waves alongside high tides damaged properties from North Carolina to Maine, with a pier destroyed as far south as Florida and high waves in Puerto Rico sweeping a man out to sea.

The home of former President George H.W. Bush in Kennebunkport, Maine, suffered significant damage as the storm blew out windows, flooded the property and caused structural damage, according to the National Park Service .

The atmospheric components came together to form a uniquely historic storm three decades ago, but is it unlikely that such a storm ever takes shape again? Kottlowski doesn't think so.

" Given that water temperatures are even warmer than what they were back in 1991, it would not be surprising if a similar setup like what happened in 1991 [happens] again within the next few years," said Kottlowski.

In fact, almost 30 years exactly after the Perfect Storm, a similar storm was being tracked by AccuWeather meteorologists during the final week of October 2021. An early-season nor'easter that thrashed parts of the mid-Atlantic and New England had the potential to develop into a tropical or subtropical system several hundred miles off the Atlantic coast.

The Fisherman's Memorial Statue overlooks the harbor in Gloucester, Mass. (AP Photo/Lisa Poole, File)

Thirty years on, as a result of the remarkable confluence of weather conditions and the ensuing book and blockbuster movie, the storm occupies a unique space in the American psyche. And all these years later, the tragedy echoes most, perhaps, in the coastal fishing town from where the Andrea Gail set sail on its fatal voyage.

The city of Gloucester has had an important relationship with the sea since the city's founding in the 17th century. A vital fishing and shipbuilding center, Gloucester is home to the nation's oldest fishing seaport , fresh seafood and picturesque lighthouses.

City officials have taken steps to make sure crew members of the Andrea Gail will never be forgotten. Their names -- Michael Moran, Dale Murphy, Alfred Pierre, Robert Shatford, David Sullivan, Frank "Billy" Tyne Jr. -- were inscribed at the base of an eight-foot-tall fisherman's memorial that overlooks Gloucester Harbor along with those of hundreds of other anglers who have lost their lives out on the high seas.

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1991 'Perfect Storm': How the deadly system that inspired a blockbuster hit took shape

It may be listed in the historical records as an unnamed hurricane, but the 1991 storm that sank a boat off the Eastern Seaboard is better known as the "perfect storm."

Six Gloucester, Massachusetts, fishermen died as a result of the Halloween storm sinking the Andrea Gail. The tale of the storm and the doomed fishing vessel were depicted in the book and subsequent movie, "The Perfect Storm."

The storm had similarities to Superstorm Sandy, which raked the East Coast in 2012, AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Jack Boston said.

"The 'perfect storm' was like Sandy in that it involved the merging of Hurricane Grace's remnants from the tropics and a strong storm system over the Canadian Maritimes," Boston said.

Sandy was similar in that it was a hurricane that came north from the tropics, then started to transform into an extratropical low before it slammed into the Jersey coast, he said.

The center of the Perfect Storm of 1991 never reached the coast, but the strong winds did produce severe coastal flooding along the New England to New Jersey coastlines, though it was not as devastating as Sandy.

"Wave heights with the 'perfect storm' reached as high as 100 feet with winds as high as 70 mph at the peak of the storm," Boston said. "Sandy's winds and waves were even higher."

Some of the waves that capsized the Andrea Gail were 39 feet high.

The names of the six fisherman who lost their lives aboard the Andrea Gail are memorialized on the Gloucester Fisherman's Memorial in Massachusetts. (Instagram photo/matty_pullen)

Sandy brought along the storm surge expected of a tropical system as it made landfall, according to AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Dave Dombek.

"With the perfect storm, you just had the pounding of the coast for three days in a row or more with a strong, powerful onshore flow," Dombek said. "It pounded the coast, but it didn't have the storm surge, like with Sandy."

The Halloween storm caused $168 million damage and killed six other people, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) said.

The storm moved over warm Gulf Stream waters and turned tropical, reaching hurricane strength on Nov. 1, 1991, yet it remained unnamed.

Naming it as a hurricane would have caused confusion to the public, media and emergency officials, since most of the damage was caused while it was extratropical, the National Hurricane Center said at the time.

"Whether you called it something tropical and had it named or whether you didn't, the impacts were still the same," said Dombek.

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Follow the Podcast

• Published: April 8, 2019
• Movies , Narration

130: The Perfect Storm

• The Perfect Storm (2000) – IMDb
• The Perfect Storm (2000) – Plot Summary – IMDb
• Perfect storm hits North Atlantic – HISTORY
• 7 Things You Never Knew About The Perfect Storm – IFC
• Andrea Gail – Wikipedia
• The Perfect Storm (film) – Wikipedia
• The Perfect Storm (book) – Wikipedia
• 1991 Perfect Storm – Wikipedia
• 44°00’00.0″N 56°40’00.0″W – Google Maps
• The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea: Sebastian Junger: 9780393337013: Amazon.com: Books
• ‘The Perfect Storm’: Shipwreck Story No One Survived to Tell
• 15 Things You Might Not Know About ‘The Perfect Storm’ | Mental Floss
• Andrea Gail: What Really Happened To The Doomed Vessel In The Perfect Storm?
• The Andrea Gail
• What really happened to the Andrea Gail? | Local News | gloucestertimes.com
• 25 years ago, the crew of the Andrea Gail was lost in the ‘perfect storm’ | Boston.com
• 20 years later, crew seeks to rescue Perfect Storm ship with permanent home – The Boston Globe
• Sinking of ‘Perfect Storm’ Ship Delayed Because of Bad Weather | The Weather Channel
• THE BOATING REPORT; In the Real Storm, the Skipper, the Crew and the Boat All Survived – The New York Times
• ‘Perfect Storm’ Coast Guard cutter sunk for artificial reef
• The Perfect Storm, 20 years later « Coast Guard Compass
• The Perfect Storm (2000) corrections
• Perfect Storm: 20 years after | Local News | gloucestertimes.com
• Warner Bros. Wins Lawsuit over “The Perfect Storm”
• North Atlantic Swordfish | NOAA Fisheries
• Atlantic Highly Migratory Species Fishery Compliance Guides | NOAA Fisheries
• U.S. Coast Guard Investigation into the Andrea Gail
• The Grand Banks and the Flemish Cap
• ‘Perfect storm’ makes it way into dictionary » Local News » GloucesterTimes.com, Gloucester, MA
• Katharine the great white shark swimming off Grand Banks | CBC News
• The Wreck of the Andrea Gail: Three Days of a Perfect Storm – Gillian Houghton – Google Books

Disclaimer: Dan LeFebvre and/or Based on a True Story may earn commissions from qualifying purchases through our links on this page.

Did you enjoy this episode? Help support the next one!

Note: This transcript is automatically generated. There will be mistakes, so please don’t use them for quotes. It is provided for reference use to find things better in the audio.

Our story today opens with that text we’re so familiar with on this podcast, “This film is based on a true story.”

After this, we see some text on screen to give us context. We’re in Gloucester, Massachusetts in the fall of 1991. There’re a few different cuts to give us a sense of the place.

It starts with a ship with the name  Midnight Sun  on the side moving through a harbor. Then there’s some men dumping out fish, letting us know these are fishing ships. Finally, we see it’s night time and there’s a bad storm outside the window. As a massive wave starts to swell, we see Diane Lane’s character, Christina Cotter, inside waking up from what appears to be a bad dream.

She yells, “Bobby! No!” before waking up in a cold sweat.

She gets up and looks out the window. The storm that was there just moments ago isn’t there anymore. It must’ve been in her dream. Instead, she’s looking out over calm, dark waters.

As far as I can tell, this was made up for the movie. That’s not to say sailors or their significant others wouldn’t have premonitions about what’s to come—quite the opposite, there’s a long history of that sort of thing happening. Although, such premonitions didn’t always guarantee a tragedy.

And what we see happening here for Christina wasn’t something that happened prior to the  Andrea Gail  setting off.

Speaking of the  Andrea Gail , back in the movie we get introduced to her crew as they arrive home from a long trip. Even though their haul wasn’t the big payday they’d hoped it’d be, there’s still a big party at a small bar for the crew.

Then, George Clooney’s character, Captain Billy Tyne, informs the crew he’s made the decision they’re going back out before the season is over. Two days.

That timeline is sped up a bit for the movie.

In truth, the  Andrea Gail  arrived back in port at Gloucester in early September of 1991 after leaving the month before. That’s how these trips went—they’d be out to sea for weeks at a time. When they get back home, just like we see in the movie, the long time at sea transitions into a party at home that can last for days on end.

And why not? For the crew that left a month prior, if things went well, they might arrive back home with a catch of up to $250,000 worth of swordfish. That sort of a payday coupled with the mere surviving the high seas yet again is a cause to celebrate.

It was on September 20 th  that the  Andrea Gail  set out for another trip. Although, according to the official Coast Guard report it was on the 21 st  when they left. Regardless, the ship was packed with supplies for up to 50 days at sea.

And while the movie makes it seem like the reason for their going back was because of a bad haul, I couldn’t find anything in my research to indicate that was the reason. Their previous haul had been sold for over a little under $150,000 for about a month and a half out at sea.

After the ship’s owner, Bob Brown, took out money for things like fuel, equipment, etc. the rest was divvied up according to seniority. Checks ranged from $20,000 for Captain Billy Tyne down to about $4,500 for the new crew members, Bobby Shatford and Doug Kosco.

Instead, it’d seem that they were going back out because…well, that’s what fishers do.

Different regions have different timelines for when they’re opened or closed for commercial fishing, but the movie is correct in stating that leaving in late September was getting late into the fishing season for the  Andrea Gail . Moreover, as the temperatures dropped into October, the weather would become more and more of an issue.

Oh, and the movie never mentions this, but Billy Tyne wasn’t the captain of the  Andrea Gail  for long. In fact, the trip just before heading out at the end of September was his first as the skipper. So, he’d only been captain for about three months by the time they left Gloucester for the last time.

Although that doesn’t mean he’d only been on her for three months. He’d spent some time on board as a crewmember for roughly a year or so before taking over as captain.

Back in the movie, before they head out to sea, we get to know some of the crew a bit more.

We already saw Christina Cotter. She’s played by Diane Lane in the movie. Her boyfriend, Bobby Shatford, is played by Mark Wahlberg.

Then there’s Dale Murphy, or Murph as the rest of the crew calls him. In the movie he’s played by John C. Reilly. The movie shows Murph as being divorced but having a great relationship with his son. At least, it seems that way from the few minutes we get to see the two interacting with each other in the movie.

Finally, the last crew member we see the movie focus on here is the Captain, Billy Tyne. He’s played by George Clooney. While she’s not a part of the  Andrea Gail  crew, we also get introduced to Linda Greenlaw. She’s played by Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio in the movie. According to their conversation here we can sort of get a sense that there’s something between Billy and Linda.

Then, after she leaves, Billy looks at a photograph of two girls. Not to get too far ahead of our story, but later in the movie we find out those are his two daughters who live with Billy’s ex, Jodi.

Those names are all real and, for the most part, so are the relationships we see. Bobby Shatford and Christina Cotter, for example. The same for Dale Murphy and his ex-wife, whose name we find out through dialog is Debra. She’s played by Merle Kennedy in the movie.

As for Murph’s son, he’s played by Hayden Tank and, yes, he’s also based on the real Dale Murphy, Jr.

Probably the biggest change here that we see is with Captain Billy Tyne and what looks like some sort of a relationship between he and Linda Greenlaw. While they’re both based on real people, the two captains didn’t have any sort of a romantic relationship.

Back in the movie, after waving goodbye to their loved ones on the dock, we see the  Andrea Gail  set out for another trip to the Grand Banks.

That’s true. By that, I mean that’s where the  Andrea Gail  was heading when she left Gloucester Harbor on September 20 th , 1991.

For a bit of geographical context, the Grand Banks are located off the eastern coast of Newfoundland, Canada. Because of the way the currents mix the cold waters of the Labrador Current with warmer waters of the Gulf Stream, the Grand Banks are some of the richest fishing waters in the world.

That is, until they were fished so heavily over the centuries that officials decided to close off most of the area to fishing. Of course, we don’t hear about that in the movie, but that’s because it didn’t happen until the mid-1990s—so after the timeline of the movie.

Oh, and since I mentioned the movie, it’s worth pointing out that anything after the moment where we see the  Andrea Gail  going out to sea…well, we just don’t know what happened after that.

As we learned in the introduction to this episode, unfortunately this story isn’t a happy one. And because there were no survivors, there was no one to tell the tale of exactly what happened.

So, that probably gives you an idea for how accurate the movie is after this point.

Although, with that said, it’s not like the movie just made  everything  up after this. After all, there’s a lot we can glean from the activities of others who survived through the storm.

Speaking of the storm, we start to see it forming through a meteorologist named Todd Gross out of Channel 9 in Boston. He’s played by Christopher McDonald in the movie. Not to get too far ahead of our story, but a little later is when we see Todd Gross pointing out the three storms combining into one, and he calls it the perfect storm.

That’s true, although Todd Gross was really a meteorologist out of WHDH, Channel 7 in Boston, and not WFTV, Channel 9, when he coined the term, “the perfect storm” referring to the nor’easter in 1991.

16 years later, in 2007, Merriam-Webster added the phrase to the dictionary. Thanks in no small part to Sebastian Junger’s book and the movie of the same name, of course.

At the time, the storm was simply known as The No-Name Storm, though.

The basic idea for how the movie depicts the storm coming together is pretty accurate. It started with a cold front on the eastern United States. This developed into a nor’easter that merged with Hurricane Grace, which was coming up from the south.

The cold air coming from the north and the warm air coming from the south exploded into a storm that meteorologists say only happens once every 100 years or so. That’s why many considered it to be the storm of the century.

Back in the movie, the storm hasn’t hit the  Andrea Gail  yet, so the waters are calm, but there’s a sequence of events we see happen that leads the crew to believe they have bad luck. The first happens when we see them catch something massive—but it’s not a swordfish, it’s a great white shark!

Then, a little later, there’s an accident while they’re putting out the lines. Murph’s hand gets hooked and he’s pulled out to sea. But the others don’t notice right away because they’re distracted by helping Sully clean up some lights that spilled on deck. By the time they notice, Murph almost drowns before they manage to save him.

Then, a little later in the movie, the ship gets hit by a rogue wave. It’s not enough to sink the ship but combined with the other events is enough to make them think there’s something going on.

Of course, as I mentioned earlier, there’s no way to know for sure if any of this happened. However, these are all things that are possible.

For example, while great white sharks typically live in warmer waters like near California or South Africa, they have been spotted as far north as the Grand Banks. And on top of that, we also know it’s common for longliners to catch sharks. Although it’s usually makos—a smaller, but still an extremely dangerous shark to find on your line.

As for the accident with Dale Murphy getting his hand hooked…according to the great book that the movie is based on, that’s something Murph’s son dreamed about after the loss of his father. This jumps forward in time to after the  Andrea Gail  was lost.

But, Dale, Jr. was only three years old at the time when he told his mom that he saw dad in his room. He went on to explain to his mom, Debra, that his dad said that he got caught by a hook on his shirt. He couldn’t get the hook off and he was dragged under…and that’s how he died.

I can’t even imagine what that must’ve been like to hear that from your three-year-old son after such a horrible tragedy.

Oh, and I mentioned the term longliners. That’s a nickname for boats going after swordfish because their fishing lines can be up to 40 miles in length. We actually hear John C. Reilly’s version of Murph mention this in the movie.

Heading back to the movie’s timeline, after the  Andrea Gail  doesn’t have much luck in the Grand Banks, Captain Tyne decides to go even further out.

They’re going for somewhere called the Flemish Cap. He radios this to Captain Linda Greenlaw of the  Hannah Boden .

And that is true. One of the reasons why Billy and Linda communicated more than other captains was simply because both Billy and Linda’s boats were owned by the same company.

We know that Billy decided to take his ship to the Flemish Cap in hopes of filling their holds with swordfish. And, it’d seem that worked.

In the movie, the decision for heading home is because their ice machine is broken. The logic the movie puts forward is that if they don’t head home right away then all the fish they’ve caught will go bad—it’ll be for nothing.

And while it is true that a lack of ice would make the fish go bad, we don’t know if that happened on the  Andrea Gail  quite yet. By that, what I mean is that Captain Tyne did mention their ice machine was malfunctioning, but we don’t know for sure exactly how bad it was.

Did it not work at all? Was it just not working up to 100%? We don’t really know.

But, with a hold full of fish that meant a good payday and after being at sea for over a month, many have speculated Captain Tyne and his men decided they probably just wanted to make a mad dash for home—storm or no storm.

Although it’s worth pointing out that one of the key factors in the lawsuit from Billy Tyne’s family against the movie’s producers was how they portrayed him recklessly driving the ship into the storm just to save the catch.

The movie doesn’t give us any sort of timing on this, but we know it was on October 27 th , 1991 that the  Andrea Gail  left the Flemish Cap and made their way back home. The reason we know this isn’t because of the communication we saw in the movie, though.

It’s because at about 3:15 PM on the 27 th , Captain Tyne radioed the Canadian Coast Guard and said:

This is the American fishing vessel Andrea Gail, WYC 6681. We’re at 44.25 north, 49.05 west, bound for New England. All our fishing gear is stowed.

In response, the Coast Guard gave the  Andrea Gail  the go-ahead to proceed into Canadian waters on their journey home. Around this time, too, Captain Tyne got informed about a hurricane coming off Bermuda and a cold front coming down off Canada, along with a storm circling over the Great Lakes.

After this, there was another call between Linda and Billy. On this call they talk a little about the weather and agree to chat the following day.

Going back to the movie, the next day we see the weather getting really bad. We see another boat, the  Mistral,  with three people on board. There’s Edie Bailey, Melissa Brown, and the captain of the 32-foot sailboat, Alexander McAnally.

Despite Alexander’s insistence they ride out the storm, things get so bad that Melissa calls, “Mayday!”

This ship isn’t real. I mean, it is. But the name was changed. So were all the people’s names.

The real ship was the  Satori , and it was a 32-foot sailboat skippered by a man named Ray Leonard. The two women on the boat with him were Karen Stimson and Susan Bylander. Just like the movie shows, the three were headed to Bermuda when they were caught in the storm.

There are some conflicting stories between the three on exactly what happened. For example, some reported 30-foot waves while others reported 15-foot waves…but, in the end the Coast Guard received a Mayday call from the  Satori  and sent out crews to rescue them.

Back in the movie, we see the  Andrea Gail  starting to get pounded by the storm now. The camera focuses on the radio antenna on the ship as one of the waves knocks it down. It’s not completely broken, but it causes some delays when Linda tries to reach Captain Tyne.

Finally, she’s able to get through and they chat for a little while. When Billy gives Linda his coordinates, he says they’re at 44° north, 56.4° west. Linda looks at the map and we can see that’s right, smack dab in the middle of the convergence of the two storms. She tells Billy to get out of there!

But, it’s too late. The antenna breaks off more, and the radio is reduced to static. There’s no more communication with the  Andrea Gail .

After this, Linda immediately gets on the radio with the Coast Guard to repeat the location for the  Andrea Gail  and issue a Mayday for them.

That didn’t happen.

It is true that Linda and Billy talked on October 28 th , 1991. Their chat happened at about 6:00 PM, and although neither knew it at the time it’d end up being the last time anyone heard from the  Andrea Gail .

The movie gives the correct coordinates of 44° north, 56.4° west. Those were the coordinates that Captain Tyne gave to Linda on that last call. That’s roughly 700 miles or about 1,100 kilometers to the east of Gloucester, Massachusetts.

Except it’s not really on a path back to Gloucester. It’s closer to Nova Scotia, making some believe perhaps Billy decided to make a dash for closer land.

In the radio call, Billy gave a weather report. He mentioned they were facing winds up to 80 knots. That’s over 90 mph, or about 150 km/h. The waves were up to 30 feet tall, or over 9 meters.

However, the part where the movie shows Linda calling the Coast Guard was incorrect. She didn’t because there wasn’t a reason to. Sure, there was a bad storm, but they’d faced bad storms before. In fact, Linda would later recall that Billy told her, “The weather sucks. You probably won’t be fishing tomorrow night.”

Despite the storm, there wasn’t anything in that final conversation to make Linda believe it might be their final conversation.

The final words ever heard from the  Andrea Gail  was when Billy Tyne said, “She’s comin’ on boys, and she’s comin’ on strong.”

Going back to the movie, we see the Coast Guard responding to multiple Mayday calls. One comes from the  Mistral . After a harrowing rescue that sees the chopper pilots have to rescue the three people on board the ship from the water, they’re on their way back when they get the word about the  Andrea Gail .

They decide to drop off the people they rescued on a nearby Coast Guard ship, the  Tamaroa , and head to try to save the  Andrea Gail . But, they don’t make it. Despite trying to refuel, it doesn’t go as they’d hoped and the pararescue jumpers are forced to ditch the helicopter and issue their own Mayday.

For the most part, all that happened…but not in the way the movie shows.

We already learned about some of the differences. For example, the  Mistral  was really the  Satori.  However, the  Tamaroa  was the real name of the Coast Guard ship. And, yes, there were also helicopters and even refueling airplanes involved in the rescue.

It seems impossible to believe they could refuel in mid-air in the middle of hurricane-level winds, but that can happen.

Of course, we don’t see it happen in the movie. The refueling attempt is unsuccessful. And for that part of the story, there’s some truth in that.

By that, what I mean is that there wasn’t a refueling operation that happened for the chopper rescuing the  Satori.

What really happened was the rescue for the  Satori  crew involved the  Tamaroa  cutter ship, a helicopter, a Falcon jet, and even a large freighter called the  Gold Bond Conveyor .

Oh, and this happened during the day and not the nighttime like we see in the movie. Two hours after arriving on the scene and beginning the rescue operation, all three people from the  Satori  were safely aboard the helicopter.

Another couple hours later, and they were safe back at the Cape Cod Air Station.

At no time did that chopper get a call for the  Andrea Gail  because, well, as we learned earlier, there was no Mayday for her. With that said, though, as soon as the chopper arrived back at Cape Cod with the survivors of the  Satori , they got a call. It was a rescue helicopter that had been forced to ditch.

So, it wasn’t  that  helicopter forced to ditch due to low fuel, but rather another one. Although, that doesn’t make the rescue of the men in the water any less remarkable.

Back in the movie, we see George Clooney’s version of Captain Tyne decide to turn around. They’ve been battling the storm this whole time and nearly lost some of their men over the side, but finally it seems to be too much.

It’s not easy, but they’re barely able to turn the ship around. It’s a moment of celebration! Soon after this, the rain stops. The seas calm down. Is the storm over?

Or…is this just the eye of the storm? The storm starts back up again before long, and the  Andrea Gail  is going right back to being battered and beaten by the waves.

Then, Mark Wahlberg’s version of Bobby Shatford looks out the bridge and just says, “No.”

He has a look of disbelief. In front of them is a wall of water. This is the moment that made it onto the cover of the movie as we see the  Andrea Gail  trying to make it over the top of the wave before it crests.

And they almost do!

But, the wave crests and pushes the ship back for a bit before flipping it over on its belly. The wave crashes down on top, leaving the  Andrea Gail  overturned and flooding water.

It’s only a matter of time now. The only one we see make it off the  Andrea Gail  is Bobby. He’s in the bridge with Billy and even though he gets out, we see Billy decide to stay with the ship as she slips beneath the surface.

All of that is made up.

The truth is we just don’t know what caused the final demise for the  Andrea Gail . We don’t know if Bobby made it out before she sank. We don’t know if anyone did.

We don’t even know for sure how big the waves were out there. According to Sebastian Junger’s book that the movie is based on, there were some waves over 100 feet high. That’s over 30 meters, and could certainly be enough to flip over the 72-foot—or 22 meter—long  Andrea Gail.

But then, according to data reported from the buoys, the wave heights peaked out around 39 feet, or about 12 meters. Could that be enough to flip over a 72-foot ship? Maybe. Depends on the angle it hits at. Did that happen? Maybe. We just don’t know.

With that said, I’d recommend checking out Junger’s book for some great insights into what might’ve happened.

The movie comes to a close as we see a helicopter flying over calm waters. They’re searching the area. We can hear a news anchor’s audio in the background explain that it’s been a week of around-the-clock flights, but as of this hour the Coast Guard has officially suspended the search for pararescue jumper Millard Jones.

We didn’t really mention him, but when we saw the chopper team get rescued by the  Tamaroa  we heard them calling back out for Jonesy. Sadly, that happened…but not to Millard Jones. The real pararescue jumper who died that night was named Rick Smith.

And just like the movie says, the Coast Guard had round-the-clock flights searching for Rick Smith for over a week. Nine days to be precise.

Back in the movie, the news anchor’s audio continues as the camera cuts from the rescue choppers back to the bar from the beginning of the movie. It’s the Crow’s Nest, and unlike the happy place it was in the beginning of the movie, now it’s almost entirely deserted.

According to the news channel in the movie, they’re permanently suspending the search for the  Andrea Gail , too, after searching 116,000 square miles of ocean.

For the most part, that’s true. I say that because technically the search for the  Andrea Gail  was called off at about 11:00 PM while the movie shows this scene at the bar being during the day…but, we also don’t see what day it is.

Two weeks after the  Andrea Gail  disappeared, the Coast Guard searched over 116,000 square miles of ocean. All six men on board were presumed dead:

• Captain Frank William “Billy” Tyne.
• Michael “Bugsy” Moran.
• Dale “Murph” Murphy.
• Alfred Pierre.
• Robert “Bobby” Shatford.
• David “Sully” Sullivan.

When it’s a tragedy like being lost at sea…there has to be a moment where you realize the end is near. There’s nothing you can do to stop it from coming.

During our final moments, what thoughts cross our minds? A lot of people think that your life flashes before your eyes. You think of loved ones. You wish you could have a second chance at life.

But what of those who have that second chance?

We haven’t talked much about Doug Kosco, but he’s played by Joseph Reitman in the movie. We see him returning with the rest of the  Andrea Gail  crew at the very beginning of the movie. But he doesn’t go back out with them.

Then, at the end of the movie, there’re only a couple patrons at the bar watching the news…one of them is Joseph Reitman’s character, Doug Kosco.

The movie doesn’t mention much about this, but the real Doug Kosco was almost on board the  Andrea Gail  that trip. About six hours before they were set to cast off, Doug had a bad feeling about it and walked off.

When he found out about the fate of the  Andrea Gail , Doug slipped into a depression that lasted for months.

Unless you’ve had a brush with death, it’s impossible to fathom. There are no words to describe it. If nothing else, though, I hope you don’t need to have a brush with death to hold your loved ones a little tighter tonight.

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