FV Andrea Gail was an American commercial fishing vessel that was lost at sea with all hands during the Perfect Storm of 1991. The vessel and her six-man crew had been fishing the North

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

out of

Gloucester, Massachusetts Gloucester ( ) is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It sits on Cape Ann and is a part of North Shore (Massachusetts), Massachusetts's North Shore. The population was 29,729 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. Census. ...

. Her last reported position was northeast of

Sable Island Sable Island (, literally "island of sand") is a small, remote island off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada. Sable Island is located in the North Atlantic Ocean, about southeast of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Halifax, and about southeast of the clo ...

on October 28, 1991. The story of ''Andrea Gail'' and her crew was the basis of the 1997 book '' The Perfect Storm'' by

Sebastian Junger Sebastian Junger (born January 17, 1962) is an American journalist, author and filmmaker who has reported in-the-field on Dirty,_dangerous_and_demeaning, dirty, dangerous and demanding occupations and the experience of Light_infantry#United_Sta ...

, and a 2000 film adaptation of the same name.

FV ''Andrea Gail''

''Andrea Gail'' was a commercial fishing vessel constructed in

Panama City, Florida Panama City is a city in and the county seat of Bay County, Florida, United States. Located along U.S. Route 98 in Florida, U.S. Highway 98 (US 98), it is the largest city between Tallahassee, Florida, Tallahassee and Pensacola, Florida, Pe ...

, in 1978, and owned by Robert Brown. Her home port was

. She sailed from Gloucester, where she would offload her catch and reload food and stores for her next run. ''Andrea Gail'' began her final voyage departing from Gloucester Harbor on September 20, 1991, bound for the

Grand Banks of Newfoundland The Grand Banks of Newfoundland are a series of underwater plateaus south-east of the island of Newfoundland on the North American continental shelf. The Grand Banks are one of the world's richest fishing grounds, supporting Atlantic cod, swordf ...

off the coast of eastern Canada. After poor fishing, Captain Frank W. "Billy" Tyne Jr. headed east to the Flemish Cap, where he believed they would have better luck. Despite weather reports warning of dangerous conditions, Tyne set course for home on October 26–27. The ship's ice machine was malfunctioning and would not have been able to maintain the catch for much longer.

Disappearance

The last reported transmission from ''Andrea Gail'' was at about 6:00 pm on October 28, 1991. Tyne radioed Linda Greenlaw, captain of the F/V ''Hannah Boden'', owned by the same company, and gave his coordinates as , or about east of

. He also gave a weather report indicating seas and wind gusts up to . Tyne's final recorded words were, "She's comin' on, boys, and she's comin' on strong."Junger reported that the storm created waves in excess of in height, but ocean buoy monitors recorded a peak wave height of . However, data from a series of weather buoys in the general vicinity of the vessel's last known location recorded peak wave action exceeding in height from October 28 through 30, 1991. A buoy off the coast of

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

reported a wave height of , the highest ever recorded in the province's offshore waters.

Search

On October 30, 1991, the vessel was reported overdue. An extensive air and land search was launched by the 106th Rescue Wing from the New York Air National Guard,

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and Admiralty law, law enforcement military branch, service branch of the armed forces of the United States. It is one of the country's eight Uniformed services ...

and Canadian Coast Guard forces. The search eventually covered over . On November 6, 1991, ''Andrea Gail''s

emergency position-indicating radio beacon An emergency position-indicating radiobeacon (EPIRB) is a type of emergency locator beacon for commercial and recreational boats; it is a portable, battery-powered radio transmitter used in emergencies to locate boaters in distress and in nee ...

(EPIRB) was discovered washed up on the shore of Sable Island in Nova Scotia. The EPIRB was designed to automatically send out a distress signal upon contact with sea water, but the Canadian Coast Guard personnel who found the beacon "did not conclusively verify whether the control switch was in the on or off position". Authorities called off the search for the missing vessel on November 9, 1991, due to the low probability of crew survival. All six of the crew were lost at sea.

In the media

*The story of ''Andrea Gail'' and her crew inspired

's 1997 book, '' The Perfect Storm'', and a 2000 film of the same name. The sister ship of ''Andrea Gail'', FV ''Lady Grace'', was used during the filming of the movie. *A model of ''Andrea Gail'' built by Paul Gran is on display at the Cape Ann Museum in Gloucester, Massachusetts.

References

External links

Andrea Gail MFV on the wrecksite

Image of the pilot house

Image of the refrigerated storage area

{{1991 shipwrecks Shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean Fishing ships of the United States Maritime incidents in 1991 1978 ships 1991 Perfect Storm Marblehead, Massachusetts Ships lost with all hands Missing ships Sable Island Ships built in Panama City, Florida