Andrea Gail

History
Name	Andrea Gail (Final Name) Miss Penny (Original Name)
Port of registry	Gloucester, MA
Builder	Eastern Marina Inc. , Panama City, Florida
Completed	1978
Out of service	October 28,1991
Homeport	Marblehead, MA
Fate	Sank while sailing through the 1991 Halloween Nor'easter (AKA the "Perfect Storm")
Status	Lost at sea
General characteristics
Type	Fishing Vessel
Tonnage	93 tons
Length	72 foot(22 m)
Speed	15 Knots
Notes	Her sister ships are the Lady Grace and Hannah Boden.

The fishing vessel Andrea Gail was a 72 foot (22 m) commercial fishing vessel that was constructed in Panama City, Florida in 1978. She was originally named Miss Penny and was lost at sea during the "Perfect Storm" of 1991.

Her home port was Marblehead, Massachusetts. She sailed also from Gloucester, Massachusetts where she would offload her catch and reload food, fuel and stores for her next run.

Events

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

The ship began her 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 in height, and these waves doomed the Andrea Gail and her crew of six somewhere along the continental shelf near Sable Island Chaunceys.

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 are 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.

U.S. Coast Guard photos of the pilot house and the refrigerated storage area, taken on board the Andrea Gail a year before she was lost, survive.

The U.S. Coast Guard Investigation into the Circumstances Surrounding the Disappearance of the Andrea Gail provides all available information on her loss.

As of 2009, the Andrea Gail and its crew rest at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean for 17 years.

Media

The story of the Andrea Gail and her crew inspired Sebastian Junger's 1997 book, The Perfect Storm, and the 2000 motion picture film The Perfect Storm, distributed by Warner Brothers. The Andrea Gail's near sister ship, Lady Grace, was used during the filming of the movie.

References

• Junger, Sebastian. The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea. HarperCollins, 1997.

External links

• Andrea Gail MFV on the wrecksite