‘The Perfect Storm’ remembered in Gloucester 30 years after it wreaked havoc all along East Coast

GLOUCESTER, Mass. — Thirty years ago this week, an extreme weather system slammed the East Coast.

“The Perfect Storm” became a best-selling book and an action-packed blockbuster movie seen around the world.

Both of those captured the power of the Perfect Storm and the human misery it brought to Gloucester.

Six fishermen never came home.

Bobby Shatford’s picture still hangs on the wall of the Crow’s Nest in Gloucester, a common hangout for local fishermen. It’s joined by photos of the other crew members of the Andrea Gail.

The Andrea Gail left Gloucester to catch swordfish off Newfoundland in late October 1991.

Mary Anne Shatford remembers the last time she saw her brother. He told her he loved her.

As a Gloucester native, Shatford is used to nor’easters, but the Perfect Storm still stands out, even though at first it didn’t seem like much. “I remember it was so calm. It was so eerie. It was the strangest feeling, and then you know, everything exploded that night.”

Her husband Gregg Sousa is the owner of the Crow’s Nest. “It was big waves rolling right into the road. I don’t think I’ve seen them any bigger than that,’ he recalled. “That one left a lot of damage.”

Then came the news the family dreaded. “Later on that day, someone came in and said they were looking for the Andrea Gail, said that to my mother. He didn’t know my brother was on the boat... and that’s when we were all in a panic because we still thought they could have been OK and just lost communication.”

Then Andrea Gail had become a victim of one of New England’s most infamous cases of extreme weather.

So why was this the Perfect Storm? It was essentially three separate systems that merged into one.

First, a cold front swept across the mid-Atlantic with high pressure behind it.

Hurricane Grace, a category 2 storm with winds up to 105 mph, was in the Caribbean.

Ahead of the cold front, an area of low pressure developed.

Winds circling counterclockwise around the low-pressure system, and clockwise around the area of high pressure created a strong force known as the pressure gradient force.

This force fueled the low-pressure system, causing it to eventually absorb the remnants of Grace and forming the Perfect Storm. This was a once in a hundred-year event, creating waves 100 feet tall and winds up to 70 mph.

“We’ve missed my brother. It will never get easier,” Shatford said.

Thirty years later, the human tragedy of the storm is still felt, and remembered, at the Crow’s Nest.

“We’ve had so many nice people come in and that’s touching to me. Everybody loses people they love, but we have people come in every day because they read the book, they saw the movie, they care about what happens to fishermen,” Shatford said.

Occupational safety officials with the federal government have determined that fishing is the most dangerous job. Over the years in Gloucester, more than 5,300 lives have been lost at sea.

“One thing the book and the movie did was call attention to what a tough job fishing is, and how the fish gets to your table,” said Shatford. “I don’t think people really understood before.”

The Perfect Storm stretched from October 26, 1991-November 1, 1991, wreaking havoc from Florida all the way up to Novia Scotia.

In all 13 people died, and it caused about a half-billion dollars of property damage.

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