25 years ago, the crew of the Andrea Gail was lost in the ‘perfect storm’

bostonGlobe ^ | October 29, 2016 | Meagan McGinnes

[originalbuckeye]

Agree. I used to live in Boston. Gloucester is a gorgeous town, with traffic at a crawl on summer weekends. But other times of the year it is a pleasure to visit. The life is tough. But it’s in their blood. I always tear up when thinking about the fishermen and the hymn Eternal Father, Strong to Save makes me cry. Bless all those in peril on the sea.

[broken_arrow1]

THAT’s IT!

[Ann Archy]

NEVER name another ship “ANDRIA”....bad KARMA!!

[Engedi]

Went to Maine few years ago and stopped at Portland LIght Head at Cape Elizabeth. We bought a picture of the only known photo taken the day of the Perfect Storm; photo is the storm crashing against the rocks and the lighthouse.

It is just tragically beautiful.

[Psalm 73]

"The movie was okay."

Just barely.
But oddly enough, the Discovery Channel movie was excellent, more factual, better graphics and better acting. (Probably with a tenth of the big-screen budget).

[EnquiringMind]

The BEST, scariest book I’ve ever read. The chapter where the boat encountered the monster wave, and then the description of how a soul dies from drowning, is absolutely numbing.

[IronJack]

I thought the movie was a little over-dramatized. But that's what movies do, so I'm willing to forgive. And yeah, they played fast and loose with some of the facts. But it was a good story about man's hubris and greed colliding with a power so far beyond his that it could -- and did -- snuff him out and never break a sweat.

As a sidenote, I recall reading that the Kestrel, the private vessel that Karen Allen was aboard, later beached in I believe Maryland, completely intact. The owner said that he had put a cup of coffee on the table and when he went to pick up the beached boat, the coffee was still sitting there. He was right when he said it could weather the storm!

[Daffynition]

Classic. Good stuff. ;)

[lonerepubinma]

Only known photo of the storm ? I can show you plenty, Had 4 FEET of ocean water run through my house. I live south of Boston.

[Engedi]

Should of clarified, only known photo of storm at the lighthouse.

[Theophilus]

Agree. His book “War” about OP Restrepo in Afghanistan was great too.

[daniel1212]

But as alluded to, with the new regs only a small % of the population would be going down to the sea in ships, to do business in great waters.  Agriculture,  forestry,  fishing [213 in this industry out of a labor force of 16,000] and  hunting,  and  mining  account  for  one  percent  of  total  employment  in  Gloucester. (2005-2009: http://gloucester-ma.gov/DocumentCenter/Home/View/1014) Gloucester Harbor has lost 53 percent of its fishing fleet since the 1980s.  "By the mid-1990s Gloucester, Massachusetts, had only about 400 working fishermen, down from 2,000 in the 1950s. Between 1830 and 1900, the 'golden age of the Gloucester schooner,' 3,800 Gloucester fishermen and 670 Gloucester boats were lost to the ocean; Kurlansky estimates that 10,000 Gloucester fishermen may have perished at sea since the early 1600s." - https://www.thenation.com/article/hooked-bottomless-appetites-and-overfished-seas/

"....only 14 percent of the seafood Americans eat comes from U.S. waters. A whopping 86 percent is imported, half of which is from aquaculture (farmed fish), mostly out of Asia. But U.S. laws don’t apply to other countries’ fish populations or fishing industries" ["all-you-can-eat-antibiotics?"]. - http://www.nshoremag.com/August-2012/Corporate-Decision-Hits-Home-Gloucesters-Fishermen/

The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God. (Psalms 9:17)

[originalbuckeye]

Thank you for the info. Sobering statistics.