Essays.club - Get Free Essays and Term Papers
Search

Summary of a Perfect Storm

Autor:   •  December 5, 2017  •  2,695 Words (11 Pages)  •  694 Views

Page 1 of 11

...

going through during the same storm. Mainly the author used descriptions from the Eishin Maru, a Japanese longliner that was two hundred miles to their southwest. When the Eishin Maru was hit with its first wave, the author described it says "It blows out a portside window with the sound of a shotgun going off". At this point, we start to learn the mindset of the crew members which is quite dismal, to say the least. By the time we learn that the sea near Sable Island is known as the "Graveyard of the Atlantic", it is then that the author inadvertently begins to imply the outcome of all aboard the Andrea Gail, which is death.

Chapter Seven: The "Zero-Moment Point" is the point where the ship can no longer be corrected, which at this point is where the Andrea Gail is thought to be. The author describes their choices: "The only outcome is whether they sink or they float". It’s pretty cut and dry at this point that Billy is starting to lose hope whether or not he can actually save the ship and everyone on it. As we spiral closer to the inevitable conclusion of the ships grim fate, the author begins to describe drowning. He goes into such detail that it makes you almost gasp for air as you continue to read; it’s as if he has had and experience with it himself. He states that "A drowning person is said to be undergoing voluntary apnea", which is the personal choice not to breathe. As he continues to break down the idea of drowning in the utmost elaborate way possible, he shares a story with us about a man by the name of James Lowson. James was on a steamship that hit a typhoon and he began to drown. His life vest brought him back up the surface just before he lost consciousness. James later stated he felt "preternatural calm", which is thought to be what people feel that are staring death in the

Graham 5

face. The author then states that James’ touch with death was "As close as one is going to get to the last moments of the Andrea Gail". It is at this point that we learn the fate of the crew of the Andrea Gail; as much as they fought to try and save the ship and their lives, they were dead.

Chapter Eight: The reason that this storm, in particular, was so deadly is because Hurricane Grace had combined with another storm that started around the Sable Islands. When two storms of that magnitude intertwine, meteorologist call it the "Perfect Storm". As we learn more about how and why this storm was so catastrophic, we are told a story about another ship, the Satori. This ship was also in the middle of the storm at the time as the Andrea Gail. The crew of the Satori is in the same mindset as the crew aboard the Andrea Gail; they feel as if they have lost all hope of surviving the storm. They begin to call a mayday which is a distress call to any ships within two miles and luckily their call is picked up by the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard then sends a jet called the Falcon to watch over the Satori and around the same time they send out the Tamaroa, a large ship manned by the Coast Guard, to rescue crew members of the Satori. It would take up to twelve hours for this rescue ship to arrive at the location of the Satori, but the Falcon relays the message to the Satori that help is on the way. When the Tamaroa finally arrives and begins to extract the crew members, The captain of the Satori makes the decision that he is going to stay, but is denied that because the Coast Guard calls a "manifestly unsafe voyage". This is when everyone aboard the ship has no choice but to be removed due to the conditions of the weather. The crew is finally extracted by a helicopter, and a man named Dave Moore. Dave was a rescue swimmer that dove into the water to help the crew of the Satori gets into the rescue basket. Once all of the crewmembers were on the helicopter, it headed back to the Air Station Cape Cod. It is at this point that the crew of the Satori can finally relax and got the calming feeling of safety.

Graham 6

We then learn that the Guardsmen receive word of a downed helicopter and the author writes "A rescue helicopter has just ditched fifty miles offshore and now five National Guardsmen are in the water, swimming".

Chapter Nine: The families of the Andrea Gail learn the news of what has happened and as expected, they are all shaken up about it. The Coast Guard sends the same helicopter that saved the members of the Satori, back out to investigate the last location of the Andrea Gail. As it heads out, it becomes apparent that it needs to refuel so the Coast Guard deploys a C-130 to do a midflight refuel. After several unsuccessful attempts to refuel due to the weather conditions, it becomes apparent that they were going to run out of fuel. Before they ditch the helicopter Ruvola, the helicopters pilot, calls the Tamaroa and relays the message that they would need to be rescued. The five crewmembers ditched out of the helicopter and were fighting for their lives in the middle of the storm. Spillane, one of the Guardsmen on the helicopter, was injured from hitting the water at a high velocity and he loses all of his memory. He spots a life raft and begins to swim towards it. After making it to the raft his memory slowly starts to come back and he spots flashing lights in the distance. He makes the decision to swim to the lights knowing it was the vest of the other Guardsmen. After arriving at the flashing lights, he realizes that it is Mioli and Ruvola, two other crewmembers of the helicopter. The Tamaroa had already saved Buschor at this point and proceeds to bring the other three on the ship, all except for Rick Smith. Rick was said to be the most experienced of the men on the helicopter and they expect him to be able to survive close to a week at sea. Nine days later, after searching day and night the Coast Guard suspended their search for Rick. Many ideas were being tossed around as to what might have happened, one of them being: "He must have hit the water so hard that he was knocked unconscious and drowned".

Chapter Ten: Although the crew members of the Andrea Gail were thought to be

Graham 7

dead, the author makes us feel as if they are not. He makes us feel that they will be alive forever in the hearts and the minds of every reader and their loved ones. At their funeral, they had people that did not know them showing up to pay their respects and that goes to show just how a small community can come together in moments like these. What makes the idea even worse, is the fact that no one is positive that they are dead, it was just a thought because they could not be found. That makes it

...

Download:   txt (13.4 Kb)   pdf (101.8 Kb)   docx (15.5 Kb)  
Continue for 10 more pages »
Only available on Essays.club