The tragic true story behind ‘The Perfect Storm’
In 2000, legendary director Wolfgang Peterson brought a gripping story of disaster on the high seas to the silver screen. The Perfect Storm starred George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, and John C Reilly as crew members of the Andrea Gail, a fishing boat based out of Gloucester, Massachusetts. After a fateful decision to travel beyond their usual patch to improve their haul, the boat finds itself caught in a tropical storm—and a big one at that.
The movie chronicles the attempts of Captain Billy Tyne (Clooney) to save his vessel from the waves, as well as external efforts to rescue the crew. Unfortunately, despite everyone’s best efforts, the power of nature is just too strong. Tyne chooses to go down with his ship as the rest of his crew perish after becoming trapped in their living quarters. The only person to escape the boat is Bobby Shatford (Wahlberg), but he, too, is eventually taken under. The Perfect Storm is a desperately sad film, well-made and well-acted. It becomes even harder to stomach when you learn that there really was an Andrea Gail, and it suffered a similar fate.
Peterson based his work on the 1997 book of the same name by Sebastian Junger. It semi-fictitiously recounts the events of the real-life storm that hit North America in the autumn of 1991. What began as a cyclone quickly grew in size and power, absorbing another storm named Hurricane Grace and reaching Category 1 status with wind speeds of 75mph at its peak. It caused damage worth $200million and killed 13 people, six of which were aboard the Andrea Gail.
Captain Tyne, real name Frank W Tyne Jr, really did sail further than usual in search of more fish. Like in the movie, he chose to head back when he did because the ship’s ice machine broke, which meant that their hefty catch was in danger of spoiling. The final message sent from the Andrea Gail, which was to another nearby fishing boat, was completely normal. This was on October 28th, the same day as the storm first developed.
The Gail fell completely off the map following this transmission. Two days later, it was reported overdue, sparking a massive search and rescue mission. Over the course of ten days, 186,000 miles of ocean were covered in an attempt to find any survivors. But it wasn’t to be.
None of the six men aboard the Andrea Gail were ever found. In fact, no remnants of the ship were ever located, bar some small pieces of wreckage and an emergency beacon. The search was eventually called off, and the crew were declared lost at sea.
The Perfect Storm struck a note with moviegoers in 2000, making over $328m at the box office, the eighth highest-grossing film of the year. Not everyone loved it, though. The families of Captain Tyne and senior crew member Dale Murphy brought a lawsuit against the movie makers, alleging that their fictionalised account of the events aboard the Andrea Gail had damaged their loved one’s reputations. In the end, the suits were thrown out on the grounds of free speech.
