The Perfect Storm Essay

Example 1 – A Report on the movie

The Perfect Storm Purpose: To watch a popular Hollywood natural disaster movie and review and summarize the scientific merit to it in a report, for my report chose The Perfect Storm A movie that is based on the actual storm in late October 1991 later called The Perfect Storm” (Viets 2000). Also to comment on how realistic the movies’ storyline, effects and scientific merit when compared to the real-life disaster which it is trying to recreate.

Introduction In late October in 1991 a nor\’easter enveloped a fully formed hurricane known as Hurricane Grace causing huge waves, gale-force winds and heavy rain to fall. This storm wreaked havoc along the Eastern Coast of the United States and Parts Of Canada (Drag 2000).

Plot Summary

The movie is based upon a book, which is based on a true story about a ragtag group of fishermen on the ship “Andrea Gail”, who on their previous fishing expeditions have come more than a few pounds short of their bosses expectations This when the Captain of the “Andre Gail” Frank W. guilty” Tyner. decides that he will turn his fortunes around this next trip to see no matter what. Shortly after they port after their last extended trip to sea they set sail again trying vainly to find that big score that has eluded them for so long.

With no luck at their usual fishing grounds, they decide to sail to the Flemish Cap. Here they are rewarded tor their gamble with two discoveries, a giant score of fish and a broken icemaker. This means their newly-acquired score Of fish Will goes bad it not brought to port as soon as possible.

While this is happening. there is a developing storm over on the East coast, and already a threat of a developed hurricane, Hurricane Grace, which looked to be moving in their direction. This is when they are faced with a decision to either wait for the storm out, or risk the sail hough it and get their fish ro port before it rots Ultimately the crew chooses to try to sail through the storm not knowing how extreme it was going to be in pursuit Of a big paycheck, ending in the ships and crews demise. Why did this event occur?

On October 28 1991, a cold front which had developed and moved off the Northeastern coast of the united states met with an extratropical which was located a few hundred miles East off the coast of Nova Scotia Canada While all this was happening over top of Fastem Canada there was extremely strong upper air support for. causing the extratropical low to rapidly deepen and become the main weather feature of the Western Atlantic coastline. This became the noreaster which was to soon envelop the already fully developed Hurricane Grace (Oblack n. _)

Hurricane Grace had already developed due to a prior subtropical storm and had begun to move East due to a strong Western flow created from the same extratropical low which was becoming the nor\’easter over on the East coast of the United States and Canada (Mcleod 2009). Once Hurricane Grace moved far enough Fast and collided with the nor\’easter, it was absorbed and became What is now known as “The Halloween Nor’easter” The Perfect Storm” and lasted for nearly three days.

These kinds of meteorological circumstances that led to this “Perfect Storm” only statistically come around every 50-100 years according to meteorologist gob Case (Oblack Oddly enough, in the very middle of this three-pronged storm, a second hurricane actually formed at the very heart of the nor’easter making the storm rage further out of control at its peak.

This hurricane was never named for the confusion the current storm was already causing as it had absorbed a hurricane, then out of its remains created a new one (McLeod 2009).

Global Significance The film portrayed the storm in the same arm where the actual storm hit The movie was actually filmed in Gloucester Massachusetts, where the original Story originated from (Tucker 21>00). The Atlantic coastal area is known for hurricanes. and has seasons where these hurricanes usually form due to the weather conditions brought on by these seasons (McGuinness 2005).

The most damage caused by the storm was along the coast of the United States, near Massachusetts and New Jersey, The total damage to coastal towns and surrounding area was about 200 million dollars (McLeod 2C09). Several Areas long the coast were deemed disaster areas by then-President George Bush. Film Errors In the movie, we are shown events on the boat that happened after the storm ripped off its antenna; this of course was the ships only contact with anyone else In fact we are shown one of the crew members try in vain to reattach the antenna back to the ship while the storm raged on.

Other events that occurred in the movie after the antenna was lost like the decision to turn the boat around in the middle of the storm and try to sail back out the way they came in, or the rogue wave that capsized the boat sinking the ship for good are completely fictional.

There are no true records of any of these Quents happening as the antenna was lost during the storm, there were no survivors and the ship was never found, Therefore, these events are not fact-based and purely in the movie for the purpose of Hollywood flair (Mcgahee 2W8). Could this disaster of been avoided?

The noreaster that absorbed Hurricane Grace that ultimately sunk the ship of Andrea Gail was something that was brought on purely fate and weather conditions that could not have been avoided. Bur the actual sinking of the Andrea Gail was something that could have easily been avoided.

The crew members decided to put themselves in danger by attempting to sail through the storm. They may not have been fully aware of dangerous the storm would become, but a single rational thought going through the captain’s head would have saved all of the lives on board. They decided to hold money to a higher standard than each of their lives.

Effects and damage In seven different states in the United States, the damage was recorded to be over 200 million dollars. This damage came from the flooding of business and homes inland, mainly due to the flooding of the rivers Hudson, Hackensack, and Passaic rivers (Mcgahee 2008b Along the coastline nearly everything was completely destroyed due to strong winds which reached speeds of over 80 kilometres per hour Which knocked over power lines, destroyed seaside homes while huge waves crashing on the shore did further damage to the properties (Oblack 2000).

During the three-day span, while the “Perfect Storm” raged on, power outages swept along the coast and partially inland due to the strong v,önds which blew over power lines and caused general disruption even here the storm touched (Mtgahee 2008). There were twelve confirmed deaths, six of which came from Andrea Gail which was lost in the storm Which the movie is based around (McLeod 2009).

There was recorded wind speed and wave height recorded for the area, it was measured by buoys ott the coast of Massachusetts including a wave that reached as high as 101 feet in height recorded by a buoy south of Nova Scotia Canada (McGuinness 2005).

In the movie, What finally ended Andrea Gail\’s quest back to safety was a rogue wave, although this was unverified there were rogue waves observed during the real storm as high as ICO feet.

These waves are the result of two waves crashing together from different directions, or if waves interact with the currents such as the Gulf Stream which experts believed to cause most of the rogue waves observed during the 1991 nor’easter (Viers 2000). Summary The movie The Perfect Storm did a fairly good job in capturing the essence of the Halloween Nor’easter of 1991.

The special effects and sound were all very realistic as well as the details of the actual storm, which terrorized the East coast of the United States and Canada for three days. The creation of the storm was well documented in the movie and followed nearly the exact same timeframe.

The film went further into recreating realism by actually rebuilding the Andrea Gail in the very same town of Which it was originally from, Gloucester Massachusetts, which the movie was also filmed in (Tucker 2000). Overall the mo. ie followed facts and kept the entire production of the disaster extremely similar to the real Perfect Storm of 1991.

 

Example 2 – Book Report

Book Report on the Perfect Storm gkeeper6 Book Report on The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger The fishing port of Gloucester, Massachusetts, just north of Boston, is one of the oldest fishing ports in the United States and can trace its history to around 1623. Since that time, around ten thousand men have lost their lives fishing the Atlantic Ocean.

Not only did the fishing port feel the full brunt of the storm but that fateful day in October 1991 was to add another six men to that tally when the fishing boat Andrea Gail was caught in the full fury of the storm out n the fishing grounds, heading back to port with a hold full of swordtislm The Perfect Storm is the story of that fateful trip of October 1991 when the Andrea Gail headed out to sea for one last shot at a major haul of swordfish before the worsening storms of winter stopped the fleet for several months.

The setting of The Perfect Storm is in 1991 on the coast of, and out on the Atlantic Ocean. It takes place in the fishing port of Gloucester, Massachusetts and out on the Atlantic Ocean up and down the coast of New England and Canada. It is impossible to pinpoint the absolute location of all the different routes taken by Andrea Gail written about in the book. The relative location of the setting is off the coast of New England and southeast Canada.

The port in Gloucester, Massachusetts is just north of Boston. The place the book is neither urban nor rural really. The fishing port could be called urban but most of the story takes place out in the open ocean which really is neither The weather described in this story is one of the most horrible storms to ever hit that part of the continent, It is described as a Force 12 gale with over 100 ft. swells. The culture of this place basically revolves 100 percent around the fishing industry.

Most are Caucasian and speak English and seemed to have replaced religion with drinking. It has just a normal northern coastal climate. The characters in this story can do absolutely nothing to modify the environment in which they are living They are trying to get The last bit of swordfish back to port and get caught in a storm and there is not anything anybody can do when they get caught in that horrible of a storm. The environment influences the characters quite a bit.

Everybody in that community does something that involves the fish industry or supplying alcohol for the fishermen. The lifestyles of the people are basically fish for a month out on the open sea, come home for a week, get a drunk as you can, give your wife and family all the money made and nor spent on alcohol, and then leave to fish for another month or two. The main characters in the story are all crew members of the same fishing skipper so they act just as one would expect crew members o act towards one another.

The availability of food and water is very good. The story takes place on the coast so obviously, there is a lot of water and the entire story is based around fishing to supply the food industry with swordtislm Fishing for swordfish is very profitable so all of these crew members are well to do. The characters are involved in travel for work. They travel up and down the coast in pursuit of swordfish. Therefore the goods that are being sold and traded are the swordfish.

These swordfish are coming from the Atlantic Ocean to be sent to be served in seafood restaurants. The cause for the MCP. movement is the need for a job and money and food. The physical region described in this stone would basically be the coastal region.

The pan played by this region is basically the location of a job and food. This book a fantastic book which was turned into a Hollywood film Which is also extremely good. It describes the lengths people Will go to for a job and the pure talent of writing such a tale my Junger.

 

Example 3

Compare & Contrast: The Perfect Storm & The Wreck Of the Hesperus I\’m sure you all have read these two writings, or at least heard of them. These stories sound like they would be very alike because they are both about ocean storms, and somewhat tragedy.

These stories may seem like they have a lot in common, but they don’t. I’m going to compare these subjects in the two writings, the two captains’ attitudes, the theme, and the time period between these two, In the two writings, both of the captains thought that they could brave out the form and will survive.

Although, in the writing The Wreck of the Hesperus, the captain says that they can brave it out but they end up freezing to death and losing his daughter and all of his crew member & The captain would say things like, “I pray thee, put into yonder port, for I fear a hurricane.”

This basically means he hopes he gets through the storm. In the writing The Perfect Storm, they enter the CVV and the captain enters the storm and they get rescued, however, the captain does not want to leave his ship because he knows if he leaves it he’ll never see it again.

This is a good subject because they are so the same, but very different Another subject I would like to talk about is what these two writings are based on. This is more of a contrast.

The Wreck of the Hesperus is a fictional story based on just an imaginary storm and a horrible tragedy. Of the captain losing his daughter. In The Perfect Storm, it is based on a storm that happened in North America in October of 1991 Although it is based on a true story some of the information is a little bit changed.

For one, everyone survives. The final subject that I would like to talk about is the time period between these two writings, The Wreck of the Hesperus was written in 1839, and the way the author wrote it is very different because of the way they talk. using words such as. “thee”, ‘Tis”. “Woe”. and “Hither”. using those types of words makes it seem like a classic because it is old and the author uses very immense words, words that you don’t hear now.

The Perfect Storm was more modern instead of using “Chee” the author used the” it sounded like it wasn’t so from the past It was also easier to understand because it was more modern and there wasn’t a bunch of funky words. These two writings are wonderful to read, yet they are not the same.

There are many more comparisons between these two. At the end sparked either tragedy or happiness. These are beautiful writings about ocean storms. Compare & Contrast of the Perfect Storm & the Wreck of the Hesperus By 143ans.

 

Example 4

1.What kind of person do you think the author is?

I think Junger is very, very interested in the topic of the book. He showed great knowledge when it came to setting the boats, and the terminology. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was into a few extreme sports. Sebastian Junger weaves a compelling narrative. He tells of the lives of sword fishermen and their families.

He describes the training and ordeals of sea rescuers. He explains the meteorology of ocean storms, their origins, how they are compounded, and their terrifying fury and destruction. And, most harrowing, he recreates the likely scenario of the last hours and minutes of a swordfish boat lost to the storm. He must have done great research to write this novel, and make it so interesting to read.

2.Would you change the ending of the story in any way?

Well, we all know that this is nearly impossible since the lives of those men, were not only lost in the novel, but also in real life, but still, I would have liked to see them come out of it. It was weird reading this book, and know that these men were going to die. The whole time I just wanted to scream to them, ?hello, do you know what you are getting yourselves into!? Things happen, and I imagine that the success of the book would not have been possible to buy the few lives that could have been spared.

With all non-fiction novels, for one reason or another, we like to hear about things that really happed, gross, mean, or violent, or even deadly things. Something in us is turned on, and we thrive for the bad stuff. I guess I just have a lot of compassion for the families of these men, I really, really wish that they have had lived through that, and came out with lots of cool stories.

3.Are there any parts of this work that were confusing to you?

It took many times of me asking my step-father what side of the boat in which, what’s this, whites that. I was constantly going to either my stepfather or my uncle since they both fish a lot, what was what in the novel. At one point I had to break away my book from my uncle’s hands. I didn’t grow up around here, so I don’t know where some of the places were, or the weather conditions or the terminology for a lot of things were, I just had to place it all together.

I guess it’s because I do not fish, and I have only been on my boat around 3 times, and that was only to go tubing in the bay. I got through it though.

4. If there is a film version of the story?..

I was the only person in the southern region district that did not see this movie, but from what I heard, and things that I saw on TV, I think that the stories were very much the same. I know that I was watching a show on how they made the movie, and they said that the director took the utmost time and showed great respect for the story. The movie was filmed in, Gloucester, and a ship from Barnegat Light was used in the filming of the movie. The families of the victims were there and help with the making and the characters of the novels.

5.Do any incidents, ideas, or actions in this work remind you of your own life?

I just think that is odd that our community had all the theatres showing this movie, on 2 screens for the whole summer. Our whole town could have been the setting of this book. IT could have been one of our boats or our men that died in that storm. It could be my stepfather one-day. Who knows? The thing is that this novel has so much truth in it and paints our town and I am sure other towns along the eastern seaboard.

Who is to say when the next storm of the century or “perfect storm” is going to hit, maybe the next time it will hit us. It’s scary for me to think about that, I mean, last year was the first time I had to deal with a hurricane and any sort of weird shore weather. So the whole novel cleared up a lot of things and made me learn a little more about a lifestyle that I did not know about.

 

Example 5 – Heroism in The Perfect Storm

The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger was an account of an immense storm and its destructive path through the North Atlantic. In late October of 1991, many a crew of several different fishing ships left their port for their final haul. Little did they know that they would soon cross paths with one of the greatest storms ever recorded. This particular storm would create huge swells, high winds, and hard rain.

The system was said to be a “perfect storm” because all of the elements were just right to create the worst imaginable storm ever seen, a hundred-year event, (191) claimed some meteorologists. Such a storm left little room for rescue if one’s boat got into trouble. But there were those daring rescues from the Coast Guard during the storm that saved the lives of many and cost the life of one.

These men risked their lives for the safety of others? thus, they have earned the title of “hero.” The pararescue jumpers and pilots, our heroes in The Perfect Storm, had a responsibility to the well being of everyone at sea. When a distress call was made, it was their duty to answer it to the best of their ability.

It seems to the best of their ability meant to do the job until they died trying. These men had undergone extensive training in their fields to prepare for such situations as the perfect storm presented them. The PJ’s had undergone a highly selective process that many Navy SEALS could not complete. And the pilots of the helicopters and jets showed tremendous skill as they navigated through the rough turbulence of the storm.

These men were, indeed, the best of the best. To be the best at what one does not necessarily create a hero for the times. Peak physical shape and sharpness of mind were essential qualities for these heroes in the story. However, there was a little more to their character than what met the eye.

These men had all the brute force in the world topped off with a touch of humanity. Humanity allowed them to put themselves in the shoes of the people trapped in the storm. They could then see the gravity of the situation and the importance of their role in their safety. But then again, many readers knew of the danger the crews were in and felt sorry and scared for them at the same time.

But you wouldn’t catch them out there in the middle of the storm, like a PJ or a pilot, risking their neck for people they did not know. So there had to be another element inside these men in order to separate them from the rest of mankind. They had what some may call, a hint of insanity.

They were not insane to take on the task; rather, they had to have a lack of care for their own safety in order to ensure the safety of others. Not many people would be willing to dive into such waters and risk their own lives such as Dave Moore did for the Satori.

The perfect storm provided a perfect opportunity for heroes to submerge. Many ships crews were saved because of the humanity and heroism of these rescue teams. But for some ships, like the Andrea Gail, they were caught in the middle of an unforgiving storm and did not have a chance at being rescued.

The men and women who risked their own safety in order to save someone else’s life have deserved the title of “hero.” Thanks to the heroism of the PJ’s and pilots of the Coast Guard, many people lived to tell their story about their experience on the high seas during those fateful October days.

 

Example 6

The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger is a fascinating book that should stay in the curriculum. The book provides a highly detailed account of a storm that places readers in the center of the storm. Though the descriptions of fishing procedures and equipment are often confusing, they are a vital part of the plot. Without these details, readers would not be able to picture the dangers of the storm the way Junger wanted them to.

The book is riveting but never melodramatic. There is just enough tension in the conflict between man and nature to keep readers on the edge of their seats. Junger never tries to saturate his readers with so much emotion that they roll their eyes in disgust. He makes the fear and desperation realistic and believable. Often it is so genuine that it is hard to put the book down.

Junger achieves a delicate balance between the factual and fictional elements of the story. The front cover immediately lets readers know that The Perfect Storm is a true story. Junger’s characters are extremely well developed. It becomes unimportant whether or not Junger may have exaggerated a little about a character’s experiences.

Readers sympathize with Christina Cotter and fear for Bobby Shatford. The thoughts and emotions of every character are stunningly real.

The book does not neglect to include the women who fish. Linda Greenlaw is the captain of the Hannah Boden. The boat brings in the most fish on the coast. There is also Karen Stimpson, known to be one of the most experienced sailors around. Sue Bylander is also a sailor and works with Stimpson as a graphic designer in-between fishing seasons.

None of the three women are depicted as weak or hysterical during the storm. On the contrary, it is Ray Leonard, the captain on the ship with Stimpson and Bylander, that falls apart during the crisis. Greenlaw, Stimpson, and Bylander are strong and capable of taking care of themselves.

The book is littered with explanations about fishing. I admit that I frequently got lost in these passages but it was worth it. This knowledge is an integral element of the story. When a component of the boat malfunctions, readers know the significance of this to the sailors.

Without this, the book would have provided a message that only other sailors can understand. Junger, by supplying this information, wants to make sure that all readers can fully grasp the danger and suspense of the book.

Unlike most books that are based on a true story, The Perfect Storm is neither dull nor corny. There are no cliche moments in the book that would make one’s skin crawl. The fact that it is a true story only serves to make it even more powerful.

This book is a classic page-turner though this is not a book I would read again. Battling the “Halloween Gale” vicariously through the character’s lives once is enough to last me a lifetime.

The Perfect Storm has the potential to teach high school students many of the values that seem to have been lost over the years. Courage, teamwork, and respect for nature are all important themes in the book. The characters in the book have all learned something about themselves because of this storm.

Students, after reading about these experiences, may learn to value the important things in life, and not the Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger merchandise that seems to be ubiquitous in the hallways.