I've fished commercially since '97. For most of that time I was either Engineer or Mate. Spent a lot of time on boats right similar to the Andrea Gail, including some time on the Hanna Boden when she was in the lobster/Jonah crab fleet. If I were to make a guess as to what did the Andrea Gail in, I'd be likely so suspect her fuel, not the barrels, but her tanks, specifically her fuel vents which were on deck. Typical fuel vents on boats like that have a u shaped pipe coming up from the deck usually right up under the gunwales as far outboard as practical. On the open end of the pipe there is a bell fitting which functions as a check valve, a form of float valve really, that if the fitting gets submerged the ball floats up in the housing and mates with a ring in the top of the bell, which seals most to all of the seawater from getting in and contaminating the fuel. Now I'm not sure which tanks they were drawing from at the time (no-one is) but I would bet significant money it would have been her saddle tanks as they were fairly close to her LCG and LCB while in a loaded state, with her lazarette tanks likely having been used earlier in the trip and topped off with the fuel from the barrels to avoid getting her too far out of trim at any time. Now back to those vents, a goodly few of the boats I've been on have had issues with their vents, fills or some times both; they are all just pipes welded to the deck which also forms the top of the fuel tank, and it is precisely that weld which caused four out of the seven fuel contamination issues I've had to deal with. There is often dissimilar metals between the pipe and the deck and whatever rod was used to weld it in place, its a hotspot for corrosive problems, and is pretty good for letting seawater into the fuel, and diesels do not like trying to burn seawater. Now if the aluminum ball in the bell housing for the tank vent is also shot; and I've only ever encountered a few what weren't you can get a surprising amount of seawater into your tanks. Ideally you would re-weld the fill pipe and slop some paint on it, and you also typically know what tank is know for leaking the worst and which one leaks the least, when you are expecting foul weather the in the next day or so, you align the fuel system so that the main is drawing from the best tank and you also probably go and change the filters on the racors and while you're down there also drain the bowls all around for the racors on the main and any generators you have aboard to make sure that there is as little chance of water getting to the engines and stalling them out as possible. Now for my theory, there is lots of stuff that is lashed all over the deck of a working boat like that and some of it is quite heavy. It wouldn't take much of a knock to snap off a vent or a fill that was already not in the best of shape, and with no record of her vents being repaired for her midships tanks in the previous 5 or so years there is very little reason to assume they were in good shape and a fair bit to recommend that they were in fact at least partially corroded at or around their junction with the deck plates. It is also very likely that something lashed to the deck or gunwales would come totally or partially adrift in the weather they were steaming through. Letting fairly small but continuous amounts of water into the tank, until it got to the point that the fuel/water separators and racor bowls could no longer keep the fuel to the engine clean enough for it to continue running. This would naturally cause it to stall out and necessitate the realignment of the fuel system to draw on a different tank and to have the fuel lines downstream of the racors or at the very very barest minimum downstream of the engine mounted fuel pump to need to be purged. Not an evolution they would have had time for. Now the best they could hope for is to have enough steerage way left to lay the boat onto the port tack and have heave to after a fashion, with the raised "wave wall" what you call her raised bulkhead on the port side offering some shelter to the deck. It's her most stable option at that point however it does mean that she will have been drifting beam to the seas, which you don't have to be to nautically inclined to figure is probably not ideal, but without power it would be the best option. Unfortunately before there was any chance of regaining powered, it is entirely probable that she took a coamer that knocked her down and she down flooded from there, likely going down in less than 3 minutes from that point. Main points of water ingress likely being through the fish hold hatch and through the wheel house door, as I am fairly certain at that point in time she was fitted with a partition door there instead of a true water tight door. But that's just my take on it. Two boats I've been on that had particularly bad fuel problems were the old Genesis and the old William Bowe. Genesis had the issue that her tanks were just flat out dirty as the day is long from years of bad ownership. you had to change the racors on an almost daily basis in good weather to keep the engine and generator going. On the Bowe it was a pure crap show, there was not only dirt and gunk in the tanks but algae and seawater a well, with known deck leaks on all 4 of her fuel tanks that would let water in. The Bowe also had a lot of other problems as well, not the least of which was centered around her generators. The #1 produced somewhat questionable voltage and the frequency was a bit wonky varying between 58 and 62 hz for not particular reason, which on its own not great, but the kicker was that the #2 gen would randomly kick off line. There being no mechanical backup for the steering pumps, and they not starting back up on their own after a loss of electrical power meant that they would have to be manually reset. I'd like to say that such issues are unique to those vessels but that would be a lie. As the fleet ages such problems only become more and more common, don't forget that most of the US boats that were around when the Andrea Gail was built are still fishing. It's a problem that needs to be addressed however I'll not be the one holding my breath for it to happen.
Another theory,based on a similar long liners sinking,is that the Andrea Gail stuffed her bow several times with such force that the hull compressed and her sides split.Kinda like stepping on a beer can that’s standing up .As the beer can compresses the sides split open.She was a steel hull and all that energy pushing on the bow has no place to go and she can’t displace all that energy by flexing.That energy has to go somewhere so it may have forced its way out the sides by splitting the sides of the hull.Ive been fishing commercially for Tuna for 38 seasons and have been caught it some extremely nautical conditions,where I could feel the entire boat flexing and torquing under the strain and they were fiberglass hulls that flexed.
I was on a 210 ft supply boat coming back from iceland when that storm came together. It was the worst storm I have ever been in. We had 42 containers on our back deck and it was the scarriest 24 hours of my life working offshore. We heard maydays from several vessels but in 80-90 ft seas there was nothing we could do even if we were closer to them.
Must be a truly haunting experience hearing multiple mayday calls like that, especially without any meaningful way to respond and the possibility of joining them.
The scariest part was when the sun went down the waves seemed to get bigger with each passing hour. We wore our survival suits 24 hours until the storm was over.
I grew up in New Jersey, right on the water. I remember that storm, and, how bad the flooding from the surge was. Half my town was uner 4 feet of water.
Across the Bay from you. Lewes. Lived there (a kid) during the '62 Storm. "The Great Storm" really was a great storm. I was 7 years old and lived on 2nd Street and the water level came up to our backyard.@@TheRealBelisariusCawl
They didnt steam into a hurricane- did you watch the video? They steamed into a storm fuelled by a low that turned into a '100 year storm'... Try harder before taking the p1ss my bru, have some respect.
@@SchmozzleGTO An overloaded fishing vessel shouldnt steam into either, what are you talking about exactly? Sounds like you have some personal issues to work out and you are just here venting. Why dont YOU show some respect and go rake your zen garden instead of snapping at people for no good reason?
@@engste678yes and if you want FACTS (or the admission that there are few facts) then read the official reports. Certainly don't rely on this highly speculative YT video.
There is an equally fascinating book "Hungry Ocean" from Linda Greenlaw, the captain of Andrea Gail's sister ship Hannah Boden at the time of the storm
True. The book was way much better than the movie. To be honest, I got way, way annoyed at the whiny actress's portrayal of Cap. Linda Greenlaw.@@engste678
I feel like I'd be that guy. I can't stomach the idea of the hunting/ fishing trades for myself personally. But then again, I don't like killing spiders so long as their outside and not crawling on me... so killing a swordfish on an industrial level would be too much for me. I probably am lucky I live in this time period...
fun fact: I lived in Gloucester during 99-00. When they were filming The perfect Storm. The Crow's nest pictured at 9:43 is not the real bar. That was a set built for the movie; at the end of the pier.
I'm on the West Coast. Fuel tanks above the waterline are shunned; and I've never seen fuel drums loaded on the bow. It sounds like they needed a bigger boat to long line that area.
@@wallacejeffery5786 if your running inside waters you can get away with a lot. These guys were equivalently out past Kodiak, well outside their boats operating envelope. As for icing the load, it seems to me that they were cutting the delivery date close.
I lived right in the ocean in 1991 with my gf, when you opened the sliding glass door to the deck, the deck butted right up against the seawall, when the waves started crashing up on the deck it was beautiful, high tide was still hours away, then the waves started crashing up over the roof, dark green ocean water running down the windows, it was awesome, my gf kept saying we gotta go but I loved it, then a wave brought a boulder and smashed through the sliding glass door, by the time we left both sides street were flooded, i backed the car across the street, we had front row seats to waves ripping the house apart, washing it out to sea, in the morning the only thing left was the foundation and us in the car. 1991 Marshfield, Mass. The perfect storm.
Let me guess, our tax dollars built you a new home? Our gubmint is such a wreck. It would be nice if homes were restricted to about a quarter mile inland so us people in the rest of the country dont have to keep building new homes every few years. Idiocy.
@@nunyabizness9216I don’t know wtf you’re on about. Insurance would cover rebuilding costs of a home, not tax dollars. Always some dumbass on youtube talking out of their ass. 😂
And the thought never crossed your mind the whole time you were watching the pretty waves destroy everything you have to maybe get some of it and put it in the car. Oh wait, you’re living on seafront and have a fat bank account. You do not need to worry about it.
I saw the movie in the theater when it came out and I wasn't expecting much but I was very pleasantly surprised and really enjoyed the movie, the story and the acting. I actually shed a few tears towards the end and that's not something I do often without good reason.
Having seen more than l care to of bad weather at sea, especially on big sailboats, which are generally better able to handle extreme conditions than western rigged long liners, like the "Andrea Gale," the end of this film reawakened PTSD from earlier experiences. No thanks.
Took my Motorcycle to Nova Scotia on the Scotia Prince, a 470-foot-long ferry that would take passengers, vehicles and cargo from Portland Maine to Yarmouth Nova Scotia. Kind of like a mini cruise ship with food, gambling and cabins. Made the trip around 5 or 6 times in my life but during one of the first few we went through a pretty bad Nor'easter . Every so often you could hear the explosion of the Bow crashing into a huge wave and then view out the cabin window would be obscured by water and then clear. Scared the hell out of me. Can't imagine being in something like that storm in a little vessel like the Andrea Gale. RIP Boys
Definitely my favourite maritime channel. I bet that guy that looked into the swordfish's eye, and gave the game away will remember that sword fish for the rest of his life.
Fellow fisherman. My fathers boat, the Carla Ann (family boat) nearly sank for the same reason. Fuel Drums loaded on board. Full of fuel for an extended trip. The extra weight proved seriously dangerous. My father said he would never do it again.
I've been waiting forever for someone to do a good telling of this particular story. And it's YOU of all people, love it! Finally man, thank you! Love your videos brother.
There was an incredible documentary about this I saw in the mid 90s. Really chilling. It had interviews with a woman on another boat who was there t monitor what the Japanese were catching. I can recall her saying the last communication she had with the Andre Gail was the captain saying I've rhe radio ' she's coming on, and she's coming on strong" about the storm. Iirc it was a weather presenter who first called it the perfect storm.
God bless all the fishermen who risk their lives on the sea. RIP to the crew of the Andrea Gail & all others who have lost their lives at sea. Fair winds & following seas shipmates. 🙏♥️🙏♥️🙏♥️ 🫡 🇺🇸
i spent that storm deckhanding a 40 ft launch boat in NY harbor. even as protected as the harbor was, it was HORRIBLE. 15 ft chop on the leeward side of tankers, 50 plus mph steady wind, gusts that wanted to blow you right off the deck. 12 hours of that had me beaten down. the idea of facing that unprotected in the open ocean of the north atlantic in a 66 ft boat is the stuff of nightmares
this is one of my absolute favorite movies. perfect cast, perfect soundtrack, the perfect storm. And for a year 2000 movie it has friggin great cgi. This is my Titanic. Not gonna lie, when the Andrea Gail sinks at the end and Marky Mark is there alone in the ocean, in the storm, i always tear up a bit lol
This is an interesting idea, the fuel and water leading to the loss, but the ship was sunk after an extended voyage, where a lot of that extra fuel and water would have been used. The crew knew they were sailing into bad weather and probably would have transferred fuel to the main tanks to lower the center of gravity and reduce free surface effect from partially filled tanks. They might have even dumped the extra fresh water to increase freeboard and increase stability. This was a crew of experienced sailors.
The fuel in those drums was likely long gone by the time of the storm. What sank boat was not free surface, but as the USCG so elegantly describes it, "free communication" better characterized as more water entering the hull than the bilge pumps, aka "dewatering devices" can handle. That the free communication was likely the result of a loss of stability is immaterial. The end result was loss of sufficient buoyancy to stay afloat, better known as sinking.
@@frankmiller95 How would water enter a watertight hull on a boat going into the weather? A 75-foot swordboat would easily weather 30-foot seas (the AG was slammed during fishing on the Banks by a 30-footer that broadsided her and put her on her side and yet with only 20,000lbs of fish in the hold she recovered with no damage). Barring some catastrophic engine failure (unlikely) she was almost certainly pitch-poled like we see in the film.
@@pc_buildyb0i935 "Watertight" is a relative term. Any vessel without positive stability will only retain its watertight integrity for a very short time, as in seconds, minutes at most, after it has capsized. On the other hand, a "modern" monohull sailboat will generally recover to an upright condition after a knockdown, or even a 360. lf its hull retains sufficient watertight integrity for bilge pumps and other dewatering devices to stay ahead of the inevitable leaks, it will stay will afloat. Since a vessel without positive stability will not recover after exceeding its GM, it will sink, sooner rather than later.
The things some people have to perform and endure just so we can buy our groceries conveniently is truly incredible. The next time you buy a slab of swordfish, say a prayer for the men who have perished trying to get that piece of fish to you.
@@waterlinestories you are most welcome. I really appreciate the high quality of the research and the skill of how it is presented. I also think it is marvellous how you present all the measurement conversions from miles to kilometres and so on. It means that for some of us, we don’t have to multitask and try to make the calculations on our own! I always get excited about new episodes and I always really enjoy the high quality presentation. Keep up the excellent work, 👏🏻 🥇☝🏻
I just finished the book today the perfect storm feeling really bad for Billy tyne and his crew not just Andrea Gail also terrie lie got dissappear too poor souls lost their life , one para rescue jumper die too
Your presentation and story telling here is fantastic. Ignore the idiots in the comments who think they know better but clearly have done no research or have any knowledge on what they speak. Excellent work as usual.
I wonder if it really makes a difference if you just made a non bait more sober title like the sinking of xyz, some of the clickbait titles dont even have the name of the ship and I also wonder whether they are actually detrimental for example for non subscriber specifically searching for an incident by name... @@waterlinestories
I was an actor in the movie 8 Seconds the life and death story of Lane Frost a young Champion Rodeo Bull Rider that died in the arena after the bull he just rode turned around and gored him. Luke Perry, Steven Baldwin, Cynthia Gery and many other good actors were in this 1994 hit. The director had made Rocky movies, Karate Kid and many other block busters. I was from Texas and knew of Bull riding and Rodeos so I was hired to be a Rodeo Clown, bar fighter, EMT and just being one of the bull riders too. The way the studio portrayed the family dynamic was terrible. They made his father look like a cold hearted azz that didn't love or care about his son. Which was the complete opposite of the truth. Hollywood got the basics wrong and made the family seem like they didn't love each other when they did completely. Just because they say "based" on a true story. Very little of the story is actually true. This goes for all movies that were based on a real person or event. It's heartbreaking to see how Hollywood can just make things up to make the movie seem more than it really was. Lane had a great story to tell without lying about so many things in his life. Sorry this is so ling. 30 years and several movies later it still stings.
"The sea's getting colder." That is one hell of an understatement. It will drop to just a few degrees over freezing (from somewhere in the 60s F during summer). In the area off Cape Cod at least. (which isn't too far from the area discussed here) My father lives on Cape Cod year round. One year I went and jumped into Nantucket sound in Jan. or Feb. Lets just say I'll never do that again. Holy hell that was cold. I have never felt anything like that before in my life.
That story about the fish looking up at Koskogot to me. I don’t like killing anything. I rescue spiders out of my house. It’s probably a girl thing lol
No, it's not a girl thing. I've been a fireman for a long time at 1st it dosnt get to you, but over time, too much death near you gets to you. It would be nice to never see pain or death again in my life...
i was on the water that night passing threw the area were the Andera was .that night the storm came threw and just grew and grew ,the captain never turn in ,and i the second engineer made none stop rounds , the captain and i talked some ,he told me then that he knew some boats were in trouble , our ship was 297 feet with 3000 horse power and plow threw the sea ,the waves where 50 to 70 feet and even bigger ones .
Are we just going to ignore that John C Riley survived so that he could spend time with his stepbrother and document their time together? Boats & hoes ⛵️
I still remember watching it on the news when the Andrea Gail went missing, the fleet pulled together looked for survivors for a couple of weeks, even the Coast Guard looked for well over a week until they found items from her. It was also the quietest movie theater I ever sat in when the movie cam out.
Wow - another absolutely fascinating WaterlineStories video - it reminds me of when my folks and I went on a Whale-Watching Boat Trip off the coast of Boston,MA (fortunately the seas were still and the weather was perfect) but the North Atlantic can change on a dime. Thank you again for bringing us these world-class productions my friend. Subscribing to your channel is one of the best things I've done this year.
@@waterlinestories I'm well, hope you are too?! I've been listening to your older vidoes with my eyes closed drinking in your awesome accent. Thank you 😉😉
More likely. The violent rocking of the boat caused the fuel to splash around in the fuel tanks. The engines sucked some air and stalled. With no propulsion, they ended up sideways and got hit broadside from a large wave and capsized
I'd more suspect that seawater contamination would be more likely since the fuel pickups are at the bottom of the tank, but either way the results would be the same. Engine dies, boat goes broadside, gets knocked down and down floods, sinks right quickly especially if the fish hold hatch lets go...
I was to report for duty (helicopter maintenance school) at Ft. Eustice, Virginia on Oct 30, '91. I drove from Vestavia Hills, Alabama on the 29th. When I reached South Carolina, the rain started. The rain was very heavy through North Carolina, there was no moon. There were several wrecks on the interstate and the traffic was very congested at times. It was one of the most nerve-wracking trips I have ever made. I think it was almost a15 hour-long drive, and it was normally about 10-12-hour drive. I didn't know about the deadly nature of the storm until I read the book, The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger.
You'll notice in the photos that the Andrea Gale had a stern ramp. Having one indicates she was originally built with the capability of being rigged as a stern trawler. Thus rigged she would have had net reels, nets, gallows frames, winches and more lifting righing aloft. All of this equipment would weigh significantly more than longline gear for swordfish and would have been accounted for by her designer. The barrel theory is doubtful as that wayer and fuel would hae been consumed by the time of the storm. I worked on trawlers in the North Atlantic and Bering Sea for forty five years with 30 as captain and while i can imagine how the Andrea Gale sank the fact is no one knows.
The Andrea Gail did not have a stern ramp. The FV Lady Grace, which was used to portray the AG in the movie, does. The AG, originally "Miss Penny" was designed and purpose-built as a longliner. She most likely was pitch-poled by the 100-foot seas in the area, if she didn't sink earlier in the storm.
My sub was stuck on the surface waiting for permission to go to Nova Scotia and a Nor Easter popped up out of nowhere. I was stationed as Look Out and the waves were pounding me and the Officer of the Deck. We got beat up for 3 hours before the XO called it and brought us down. I had never seen waves so big as in the North Atlantic. They would tower over us and each time a big wave hit it would go completely black. I had bruises on my entire back like someone kept hitting me with a sledge hammer.
I've heard that the waves in the roaring 40s circling Antarctica are ridiculous and relentless all year round, thanks to the Coriolis Effect and not having any landmass to slow it down. 10m waves are regular for that latitude apparently.
I thought I knew everything there was to know about the sinking of the Andrea Gail but you have some excellent nuggets included that I was unaware of. Thanks
If they were at the end of the trip you generally always burn your tanks down and then would transfer all the fuel from the drums down into the hull as soon as you can. No captain with any experience would leave all that weight on the bow longer than they had to, especially knowing there is weather coming
Most of the Andrea Gail's plastic drums that were recovered were empty, so this tracks. Tyne was an experienced mariner and would know better than to leave any weight high up.
It was a clickbait title- he said at the end that nobody knows, so why use a title like that? I agree with you,though- whatever vehicle it is, extra fuel (or water) should always be properly stowed/stored as soon as there’s room.
Very happy to see that you did this because the movie was so vapid. The story about the cook is beautiful and tragically poetic. Is he a writer? Who would hear that powerful small piece but for this video?
I remember that storm. There were 30' to 35 ' breakers throwing boulders the size of small cars over the sea wall. Boats were blown hundreds of yards in land. The lobster traps were all over the beaches and the fishing fleets took a pounding.
I have always hoped a good maritime channel would cover the Andrea Gail. I have read about it but not seen anyone cover it yet on yt. Great job as always.
You need to get out more. I've eaten it, bought it in the store and seen it on the menu in restaurants. I used to buy my dog a piece of fish every friday, cook it and give it to her. She liked the swordfish.
It’s one of the last true bar rooms in town. Gloucester used to have a bar on every corner. Now there are less than 5 and that may be exaggerating a bit. I think there are 3 left.
In a room full of blind men who can truely see? They payed the price for a butt load of fish and cash. Because thats what you do. It payes the bills. No fish- No money. Maintnance and weather be damned. Its sad and tragic. My heart to the families and friends of the men and women who fish the big water.
Who says it was ever turned on in the first place. There were rumors that the Canadian CG who found it turned it off so they could have plausible deniability because they refused to send any search and rescue vessels during the storm.
My dad fished all his life in Florida. He had a 24ft' enclosed center console, which he taught me to drive when I was ten years old. And what color boueys meant, no wake zones, shallow water etc. He wasn't a commercial fisherman, just a very knowledgeable captain, and loved his boat, and being out on the water. I fish as a hobby, and it's true therapy being out there. I go out 3 days a week for bonefish, snook, permit, and barracudas, and other species. I only catch and release. I have a 13ft solo skiff, with my 10hp outboard, and my bow mounted, trolling motor. The bottom line, and God bless and rest their souls, of that crew. You can never outsmart, out think, or beat mother nature. As beautiful as our oceans are, they can turn, storms combine and it's too late. They had a choice, to turn back safely. Yes, and lose a lot of $$. However, they could've returned to that spot and probably, did it all over again. Safety is always 1st! They should've turned around, and came home safe. That was a tragedy. 🙏 🌊 ⚓
The Perfect Storm is my favorite movie ever made and the reason i love being on boat's as well as fishing regardless of how bad the weather may become I'll die happy doing what i love any day
This is an excellent video, one of your best. I would just say that a more accurate and probably more exciting title would be "This ship sailed into a perfect storm" or something similar,especially since we don't have more info on the boat's final moments.
We had seawater get into one of our tanks not far from off Hinchinbrook in Queensland that left both main engines and the generator dead. It was coming on dark with heavy seas so we had to switch tanks then drain all the fuel lines, filters and assorted fittings, all the while testing the diesel and dropping heaps into the bilges. Being side on to the swell had everybody getting seasick, this being aided by the 46 degree engine room temperature and the diesel in the bilges. Anyway whilst sweating and spewing profusely we managed to bleed one main engine to not only turn us into the swell but prevent us from dropping an anchor in an effort to not go into the cliffs that we were steadily approaching. We kept at it down below and bled the port engine then the generators. It was the harshest conditions I’ve ever worked in by far and as we had our children on this trip there was always that background pressure spurring us on to get the job done.
The A./G. At the time, was considered on the smaller side of boat's fishing sword in the areas they were. However, At those times and on The Grand banks, everything in this video was common practice. Pushing weather, boats & Men to their limits just was an accepted way of life. It was a really nice boat w/great crew on board from everything I have heard. Long lining for sword must have been pretty cool in those days. I remember the day of the storm. Knowing how it was on land I can NOT imagine just how vicious it was off shore. Measured waves in a few places were 90 ft.+
After more than a month at sea, it would be my guess all those extra barrels/drum of fuel and water(to use and make ice) would have been used up and empty. That was the whole point of having them , not to bring them back to port full of fuel and water . I venture by the time of their return trip they had little fuel* and water left. They had a ship full of fish and a bad storm. I don't think empty drums would have meant anything. * note- low fuel tanks might have been more of issue than full fuel tanks in a storm.. In older boats especially. The fuel has more room to "slosh" around in the tank stirring up all the sediment and crud in the tank and also mixing up any water in the fuel tank, which normally "sits" in a bottom layer. Other ships have had engine failure because of water/sediment contamination caused by rough seas.
