FV Andrea Gail was an American commercial fishing vessel that was lost at sea with all six crewmembers during the Perfect Storm of 1991. The vessel and her six-man crew had been fishing the North Atlantic Ocean out of Gloucester, Massachusetts. Her last reported position was northeast of Sable Island 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, and a 2000 film adaptation of the same name.

FV Andrea Gail

Andrea Gail was a commercial fishing vessel constructed in Panama City, Florida, in 1978, and owned by Robert Brown.

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

On November 6, 1991, Andrea Gails emergency position-indicating radio beacon (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. 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.
  • An unsuccessful search for the wreck of Andrea Gail somewhere along the continental shelf near Sable Island, was the subject of an episode of The Sea Hunters with Clive Cussler.

References

Further reading

  • U.S. Investigation into the Disappearance of the Andrea Gail, U.S. Coast Guard
  • Lost at sea report , City of Gloucester Government
  • Andrea Gail MFV on the wrecksite
  • Image of the pilot house
  • Image of the refrigerated storage area
  • Andrea Gail history