The tragic true story of the destruction of Andrea Gale and his crew by a confluence of storms off the coast of Gloucester, Massachusetts, was first told in Sebastian Junger’s best-selling book.
And 15 years ago today, it became a hit movie starring George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, John C. Reilly, and Diane Lane. This evocative book tells the story of the “perfect storm” that raged in October 1991, sinking the Gloucester fishing vessel Andrea Gale and his six crew members off the coast of Nova Scotia.
In 2000, Warner Bros. adapted the book into a blockbuster film of the same name starring George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Diane Lane, Karen Allen, and Allen Payne.
First edition, later printing. Excellent condition: dense, bright, and free of extraneous, non-authoritative writing. Jünger’s ink input and drawings are leaked from the cover and can be seen on the copyright page.
Is the Perfect Storm Based on a True Story?
The film only claims to be “based on a real-life story” and differs from the book in many ways, including the fact that it fictionalizes the subject matter as a “story.” The events depicted in the film after the last radio contact with Andrea Gale are pure speculation, as the bodies of the boat and crew have never been found.
The film is based on the book by Sebastian Junger, which depicts real events that took place in October 1991. Although dramatic license was used in the film, and some critics claimed that Jünger did the same, the basic story is based on fact.
This superstorm occurred when the weakening Hurricane His Grace was absorbed into buildings in northern New England, and the new integrated system “bombed” (a sudden drop in air pressure).
This new, unnamed storm was more powerful than any of its “parent” storms, sending hurricane-force winds and waves up to 10 meters/32 feet high into the New England coast.
The offshore situation worsened further. Weather buoys off the Canadian coast recorded waves in excess of 30 meters/100 feet. The Andrea Gale fishing boat existed but was completely lost. An additional 30 people died in New England and Maritime Canada as a result of the storm system.
Could it happen again? It already has. When Hurricane Sandy was struck by a cold, temperate cyclone in 2012, the hurricane developed into another superstorm without losing strength.
It made full landfall in the New York/New Jersey area, causing extensive damage and considerable casualties and compounding the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy in the Caribbean. By the way, “superstorm” is not a word I coined.
The National Weather Service uses this term to describe large and potentially dangerous weather systems that do not meet existing definitions for other types of systems, such as hurricanes. It’s less common, but it still happens.
The Loss of Andrea Gail
The Gloucester Times reported that Andrea Gale’s last communication was with another ship called the Hannah Borden.
Linda Greenlaw, captain of the Hannah Borden, later recalled: He said, “The weather is terrible. I might not go fishing tomorrow night.” I remember him saying, “I might not go fishing tomorrow night.”
That was the last time we heard from the crew. Before the people at sea could say anything, the storm grew rapidly. After not hearing from the ship for three days, Bob Brown decided to report it missing to the Coast Guard.
“Usually I’m out for a month, depending on the conditions and the amount of fish I catch,” Brown told The Boston Globe after the storm, as reported by Boston.com. “But what worried me was that we hadn’t heard from each other for so long.”
On October 30th, when the ship was reported missing, people on land experienced a storm of their own. Wind gusts of seventy miles per hour blew across the ocean, and waves about 30 feet high crashed onto the shore.
The Boston Globe reported at the time that the wind was “tossing the boat around like a beach toy.” Houses were torn from their foundations by rising waters. When the storm passed, it had caused nearly $500 million in damage and claimed 13 lives.
Captain Linda Greenlaw Never Placed a Distress Call
Additionally, contrary to the movie’s plot, Captain Linda Greenlaw never placed a distress call on Andrea Gale’s behalf. According to her, she never indicated they were in trouble.
They never came back. She also said that since the film’s release, the film shows the crew consciously deciding to sail back through the hurricane despite being fully aware of the dangers.
She also said that, in reality, that didn’t happen. According to Linda, Andrea Gale had already been on her way home for three days when a storm suddenly hit, and everything that happened to the ship happened very quickly.
There are some other inconsistencies and deviations from the books and real events, but for the most part, Perfect Girlfriend Storm is a dramatized but mostly true depiction of one team’s battle with the ocean.
