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 Robbert 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. I remember fishing along side of him when fishing with my dad back in the sixties. We had a ninety foot dragger and my dad said he was nuts to be out there with that small boat! I guess that is how he got the nickname Suicide Brown!
Little did I know that ten years ten years after the tragedy, the movie people came to my wharf and wanted to rent it for a week to do the part of the boat and crew unloading their trip of swordfish. We welcomed them. They brought in a hundred fake swordfish, but let me tell you! They looked so real damned real! We got to meet the entire cast. It was great, and we even got paid .
Looking back at the aftermath of the Perfect Storm, I am grateful that Captain Linda Greenlaw, and her crew got to Nova Scotia to avoid the brunt of the storm, while the Captain, Crew, and the F/V Andrea Gail could not get out of the path of this monster storm.
As a former fisherman, I can relate to this tragic misfortune, while again, my heart goes out to those loved ones left behind.
Thank you, Sam Parisi
