Tag Archives: F/V Andrea Gail

‘We were never alone, the Coast Guard was always there with us’ — City celebrates Station Gloucester

As Gloucester 400+ committee members and speakers honored the long service of Coast Guard Station Gloucester during an Appreciation Day at the station Friday morning, rain and wind lashed the windows of the mess deck where the ceremony took place. As the squall intensified, the wind drove water under the outside door and onto the floor as if the small boat station on Harbor Loop were taking on water. Some said this symbolized the way Coast Guard Station Gloucester has been watching over Gloucester’s fishing fleet and boaters caught in storms since 1901. and station members appreciated being a part of America’s oldest seaport. Photos, >click to read< 11:52

Hundreds gather to remember those lost at sea

More than 200 people, many family and friends of fishermen who died at sea, listened to the stories of two men who each lost their brothers aboard the trawler Starbound over two decades ago, during the 2023 Fishermen’s Memorial Service along Stacy Boulevard on Saturday afternoon. They reminisced about fishermen who never returned in recent memory and those who died at sea during Gloucester’s 400-year history. Under increasingly cloudy skies against the backdrop of the Outer Harbor, those gathered around the the Man at the Wheel statute of the Fishermen’s Memorial listened to speakers paying tribute to the thousands of men whose names are on the cenotaph. 5 photos, >click to read< 14:15

The Story Behind ‘The Perfect Storm‘

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 F/V 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 (almost 150 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.” >click to read< 07:20

UPDATED: The mystery of the lost-and-found ‘Perfect Storm’ photo album – “Don’t come back to my bar.”

After three days missing, The Crow’s Nest, the Gloucester bar featured in the 2000 movie “The Perfect Storm”, has had its photo album honoring the film and those who died on the original Andrea Gail returned. “We are thrilled to have our photo album back! It was sent overnight from Georgia,”. An anonymous note accompanied the album. The photo album, which went missing from the neighborhood bar on Sunday, featured photos of not only the actors in the film, but the original crew aboard the vessel who died. >click to read< 09:41

Stolen photo album that documents ‘The Perfect Storm’ filming returned to owners – Maryanne Shatford and her husband, Gregg Sousa, have their memories on display at their Gloucester bar, the Crow’s Nest. Among their most prized possessions was a photo album with pictures of Hollywood stars George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg and the other actors in the film. “Don’t come back to my bar. But I’m glad we got it back,” Sousa said. >click to read<

Everything You Didn’t Know About Andrea Gail, The Fishing Vessel Lost In ‘The Perfect Storm’

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 would strike the coast with no name, afterward only gaining the title of the ‘perfect storm’ 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 of 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 is that the storm heading up the coast would take the lives of 13 people and causing millions of dollars in damage from Florida all the way up to Nova Scotia. photos, >click to read< 10:20

Sam Parisi: Remembering the F/V Andrea Gail, and the loved ones left behind

On October 28,10991, we lost six fishermen during the Perfect Storm aboard the F/V Andrea Gail. Captain Billy Tyne, David Sullivan, and Robert  Shatford of Gloucester, Dale Murphy and Michael Moran, both of Bradenton Beach, Florida, and Clifford Pierre of New York City. My heart goes out to those families, and loved ones, may they not be forgotten. I can still remember the boat and the owner Bob Brown, also called “Suicide” Brown. He was the first lobsterman to fish off the Canyons over a hundred miles from land with his forty five foot lobster boat. >click to read<  17:24

On This Day: November 4,1991, Gloucester Times first reported the Andrea Gail missing

The Coast Guard continued searching today for a fishing boat due back in Gloucester last Friday from a trip to the Grand Banks off Newfoundland, Canada. The 70-foot Andrea Gail was supposed to have returned to port by Saturday with its crew of six fishermen, according to Chief Petty Officer Alan Burd. Rest in Peace, Gentlemen, and you are not forgotten, >click to read, with additional links< 06:45

On This Day – November 4, 1991 – Swordfishing Boat Missing, Overdue

The Coast Guard continued searching today for a fishing boat due back in Gloucester last Friday from a trip to the Grand Banks off Newfoundland, Canada.  The 70-foot Andrea Gail was supposed to have returned to port by Saturday with its crew of six fishermen. Several Gloucester fishermen were said to be aboard the vessel, but Coast Guard officials were withholding crew members’ names this morning pending notification of their families. The vessel has not been heard from since Thursday when it was reported to be 180 miles east-northeast of Canada’s Sable Island.  The missing vessel was reported to be encountering 30-foot seas and 50 to 80-know winds kicked up by the northeaster that devastated coastal New England last week. click here to read the story 08:13

25 Years ago. Seaport says goodbye to men lost at sea

GLOUCESTER— This historic seaport, which has lost as many as 10,000 of its fishermen at sea over the centuries, bade a tearful farewell to three more at a crowded funeral yesterday. More than 1,000 people packed St. Ann’s Church for a Mass in the memory of four of the fishermen — three of them from Gloucester — presumed to have died when the fishing vessel Andrea Gail was lost off the coast of Canada during last month’s northeaster. “The sea was their domain. They knew it well,” said Rev. Richard Casey, of Gloucester natives Frank W. (Billy) Tyne, 37, David P. Sullivan, 29, and Robert Shatford, 30, who were among six aboard the ill-fated fishing vessel. Father Casey urged those in attendance to mourn not only the three, but the “other brave people who gave their lives for Gloucester and its fishing industry.” Read the story here 13:48

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

At the heart of Gloucester, America’s oldest seaport, visitors will find an eight-foot-tall bronze fisherman at the wheel of his ship. Engraved at the base of the Gloucester Fisherman’s Memorial are the names of more than 3,000 residents who were lost at sea and the following words: “They that go down to the sea in ships, 1623-1923.” Twenty-five years ago, one ship in particular gained national fame when it was lost during the “perfect storm” of 1991. The “storm with no name” claimed the lives of six fishermen and the captain and crew of the Andrea Gail, a disaster that was later chronicled in Sebastian Junger’s bestselling book and a film starring George Clooney. The storm left a trail of destruction from Nova Scotia to Florida, killing 13 people and causing close to $500 million in damage as it lashed the coast from Oct. 26 through Nov. 1 of that year. Read the story here 08:12

Albert Johnston IV recalls surviving “The Perfect Storm”

al Johnston III and son Tim Johnston perfect stormAlbert Johnston IV has devoted much of his life to saltwater fishing, both for sport and professionally. He has numerous stories to tell that span the globe, including fishing for swordfish in Mexico and chasing bluefin tuna near Canada, but one story Johnston will tell for the rest of his life is the story of when he was the captain of the fishing vessel the Mary T in the fall of 1991 and being at sea during “The Perfect Storm,” a nor’easter in the Atlantic Ocean. The Perfect Storm famously claimed another fishing vessel, the Andrea Gail, and its crew. How it started. Read the rest here 09:05

We Remember

In 1991, what became known as “The Perfect Storm” began forming hundreds of miles east of Nova Scotia; lost at sea during the storm were the six crew members of the Andrea Gail, a sword-fishing boat from Gloucester, Massachusetts. 16:52