Andrea Gail and The Perfect Storm

he fishing vessel Andrea Gail was a commercial fishing vessel lost at sea during the “Perfect Storm” of 1991.

Background

The Andrea Gail was a 72 foot (22 m) commercial fishing vessel that was constructed in Panama City, FL in 1978, originally named the “Miss Penny”.

The vessel was homeported out of Marblehead, MA but typically sailed from Gloucester, MA where it would offload its catch and reload food, fuel and stores for its next run.

Events

Andrea Gail began its final voyage departing from Gloucester on September 20, 1991 bound for the Grand Banks. After poor results fishing in the Grand Banks, Captain Billy Tyne apparently decided to try fishing near the Flemish Cap.

The ship began its return voyage on October 26, 1991. The last reported transmission from Andrea Gail was at about 6:00 p.m. on the evening of October 28, 1991. Captain Tyne reported his coordinates as 44° north, 56.4° west, or about 180 miles (330 km) northeast of Sable Island. He also gave a weather report indicating 30 foot (9 m) seas and wind gusts up to 80 knots (150 km/h). His final recorded words were, “She’s comin’ on boys, and she’s comin’ on strong!” The storm created waves reported to exceed 100 feet, and these waves doomed the Andrea Gail and its crew of six somewhere along the continental shelf near Sable Island.

No further messages were heard from the vessel and no other ships reported hearing a distress call. On October 30, 1991, the vessel was reported overdue. An extensive air and sea search was launched by the 106th Rescue Wing from the New York Air National Guard, United States Coast Guard and Canadian Coast Guard forces. The search would eventually cover over 116,000 square nautical miles (400,000 km²).

On November 8, 1991, Andrea Gail’s emergency position-indicating radio beacon (EPIRB) was discovered washed up on the shore of Sable Island. 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 indicated that it had not been properly armed, rendering it useless. That same day, authorities called off the search for the missing vessel.

Losses

All six crewmembers were missing at sea, presumed dead. They were: Captain Billy Tyne, Robert “Bobby” Shatford, Dale “Murph” Murphy, David “Sully” Sullivan, Michael “Bugsy” Moran, and Alfred Pierre. The ship and crew were never found. A few fuel drums, a fuel tank, the EPIRB, an empty life raft, and some other flotsam were the only wreckage ever found.

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