The Perfect Storm

Junger begins the third chapter by explaining how technology—better gear, spotter planes, long-line fishing—led to conservation. The better technology allowed for more and more fish to be caught, which caused a decline in the fish population. Huge Russian factory ships caused America to extend its international waters, but only so American ships could fish. By 1990, though, an international conservation commission implemented a quota, which meant that the Andrea Gail needed to fish faster to fill her holds.

Albert Johnston, after unloading at New Bedford, has his ship back out by mid-October. He has been fishing since before he could drive. In 1983, a friend of Johnston’s rode through a particularly rough storm and was driven backward sixty miles. The Tiffany Vance almost went down, as did the Rush.

In the present, the Andrea Gail is not fishing well. Junger describes the living conditions aboard the boat, and the boat itself. He describes how a ship can sink, the conditions that cause it, and he describes the “eyeball engineering” (81) that Bob Brown, owner, undertook in the late 80s. He also describes Brown’s work ethic—tough as nails, and unafraid to send his ships out in any weather. In 1980, Brown’s ship, Sea Fever, lost a man due to unpredictable conditions.