On Sept. 20, 1991, the Andrea Gail left port in Gloucester, Mass. for the Grand Banks of Newfoundland. The plan was to fill the hold with swordfish and return within a month or so, but that depended on the crew’s luck. Once the ship arrived at the Grand Banks, the crew found that they weren’t having much of that.
Like most fishermen, the six-man crew of the Andrea Gail would have preferred a quick voyage. They wanted to get their fish, return to port, and go back to their families with a decent amount of money in their pockets. Every day they spent fishing without a catch meant another lonely day out in the cold waters of the Atlantic.
The Captain, Frank “Billy” Tyne, decided that to get home as soon as possible, they’d first have to travel farther away. The Andrea Gail set its course east toward Flemish Cap, another fishing ground where Tyne hoped they’d make a nice haul. It was especially important for the ship to fill its hold quickly, since the ice machine had broken down, meaning that anything they did catch would be spoiled by the time they got back to port if they stayed at sea for too long.
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