The Perfect Storm

Group: Heloísa, Lívia and Mariana Level: 6

Gloucester, 1991

• The “Perfect Storm” happened at the end of October 1991 in the Atlantic Ocean. Bobby, a fisherman, and Chris, his girlfriend, lived in Gloucester, and they were having problems with money, so Bobby started to work at a ship called Andrea Gail. In August 1991, there was a bad hurricane, named Bob, further up the coast, and Chris thought Bobby was there, until he came back safely.

Preparing to Leave

• This chapter describes the swordfishs, a profitable merchandise, as dangerous fishes to catch and how Andrea Gail catches them. Bobby and Bugsy, another fisherman, fought because an argument. After that, Billy, the captain, called Adam Randall to go with Andrea Gail in her trip because this needs one more man on the crew, but he did not accept it because he had a bad feeling about the ship. So, Billy thought of Sully, and he agreed to go on it.

Saying Goodbye

• Sully and Murph bought almost 4,000 dolars of food for the trip. Nobody wanted to go on the trip because Grand Banks were dangerous as this time of year and a lot of them had bad feelings about what might happen to them. Because all of them needed the money, they said goodbye to their wifes, families and girlfriends and went to the Andrea Gail.

The Grand Banks• The Andrea Gail was built in Panama City, Florida, in 1978,

and some changes had been made on her, and some equipment had been added. She was checked by inspectors in 1990 and they did not find any problem. The Tail of the Banks was reached by captain Billy Tyne and his crew on September 27th. In the morning the boat was hit by a 30-foot wave and almost turned upside-down, so when Billy talked to the captain of the ship Mary T, Albert Johnston, he felt there was something wrong with the Andrea Gail. In addition to that, they had not catched enough fish, so they decided to go to Flemish Cap. Billy, the captain, despite the risks involved, went to this travel because he loved his job and he always used to find fish, he had good luck and strategys.

First Warnings

• Billy asked for more fuel to Linda Greenlaw, Hannah Boden’s capitain and she gave it to him. At Flemish Cap the Andrea Gail fished a lot and made a lot of money. Everybody was happy and they decided to come back. Meanwhile they heard the weather forecast and there was a very strong storm coming soon, but Billy was not concerned, even when a new forecast fax arrived.

Into the Storm

• Because of the weather forecast all ships changed the direction, except Andrea Gail (nobody will never know why). They checked everything they needed and then, sat and waited the storm hit the boat. While that, in Boston in the U.S. National Weather Service, Bob Case, the chief meteorologist saw the storm getting stronger, like a “perfect storm”, wich happens once in a hundred years. In the ship, Billy talked by radio to the captain of Allison, Tommy Barrie, and told him that the weather was getting worse. At the same time, a yacht called Satori, with 3 people onboard, Ray, Karen and Sue was getting in troubles too.

What happened to the Andrea Gail

• Billy did not call Tommy as he had promised, so Tommy became concerned about it. Although Murph was very lucky in his travels, he felt even before the travel to start he was going to die. We can not know for sure how was the storm for Andrea Gail, we can only know how it was for others ships.

Rescuers in the Storm

• The yacht called Satori with Ray, Sue and Karen was getting in a serious troubles, but then Sue repeated a Mayday message for half an hour. After a while, a man heard the message and called the Tamaroa, a big rescue ship. First came a helicopter and then the ship arrived and both helped the three people, even Ray did not wanting it. Ray loved very much his yacht and did not want to leave it sink.

A Long Night fot Tamaroa

• A National Guard helicopter was looking out for a boat in the sea when crashed into the ocean and sunk. There was five people on it, but just four survived, Dave Ruvola, Graham Buschar, Jim Miolo and John Spillane, who were helped by Lawrence Brudnicki, Tamaroa’s capitain.

The Search for the Andrea Gail

• Chris Cotter, Bobby Shatford’s girlfriend, dreamed that she was on Andrea Gail calling Bobby and he did not hear, she found him dead. After she woke up, Susan Brown, wife of Bob Brown, talked to Chris and said that they could not get in touch with Andrea Gail. While that, Bob Brown was trying to talk to Billy Tyne and Linda of Hannah Boden, but he only talked with her, and she told him that she did not know anything about Andrea Gail. Considering that, he called the Coast Guard, which was trying hard to get in touch with the missing ship. A huge search began, but nobody found it. They just found drums that had an “AG” painted on the sides.

About the Author – Sebastian Junger

• He is a writer and a traveler. He has worked as a journalist in many countries. Sebastian was born on January 17th, 1962, in Belmont – Massachusetts. In 1991, he was living in Gloucester (small town on the coast of Massachusetts) and he saw everything destroyed by a terrible storm. He heard that a ship called Andrea Gail had disappeared completely. Two years later, Sebastian decided to write a book about that. He had help of many people that knew the fishermen. The Perfect Storm was published in U.S in 1997 and it became an international best seller. He and his friends created The Perfect Storm Foundation, that helps the children of the town. A film was made based on that story in 2000.