Notes

soma= cell body of nueron, which has the nucleus and keeps the cell alive
Electro-Chemichal
The Perfect Storm
By: Sebastian Junger
Today we will talk about the dangers of long lining, how it affects families, and their communities. About Gloucester and what happened during this horrible time. We will talk about the Andrea Gail and one of the worst things to happen to the Air Force National Guard. How fishermen are bad with money and how meteorologists aren't always right. How fishing has the highest rate of deaths among any job.The families of fisherman extremely dislike not knowing when their girlfriends, boyfriends, husbands, wives, sons, daughters, mothers, or fathers are even still alive or when they might come home. There are many dangers when long lining, for example putting bait on a hook is one danger. It might slip into your hand and drag you into the water where you drown. They put 20,000 dollars worth of fishing gear into the water that can snap and be lost. They can fall out of the boat. In one instance, someone fell off the boat and when he grabbed the line to pull himself in, the hook went through his finger as he tried to climb out of the water. They dragged him in like a fish and he was then helicoptered off of the boat to a hospital.
The week starts out with the weather service forecasting a great week to go fishing and with that information the fleet starts packing up to go. Later in the week a man named Adam Randall and his dad check out the Andrea Gail. They have a horrible premonition about the boat. Some other sailors also had premonitions but ignored them out of greed. Not all fisherman are great with money, there are several cases of fisherman walking into bars with thousands of dollars in there pockets and spending half of it.
As the majority of the eastern fleet of fishing ships are out, the mother of all storms is being whirled up. The fleet is dealing with a slightly severe storm causing around 30 to 40 foot waves. Hurricane Grace was supposed to miss the fishing grounds, as they watch the wave height and wind speed grow they receive a fax. It tells them that Hurricane Grace has switched directions and is moving faster. At the jet stream, Hurricane Grace and the other storm mingle and come together. This happens to have a name and is called a bomb or nor’easter and can cause waves to be well over 100 feet and these are normal waves. Rogue waves can get up to 200 feet or more. Waves like these had never been recorded breaking records. The Andrea Gail is having an awful time, but so is the majority of the fleet. Only the most eastern of the ships were able to race home and escape this watery hell.
At 2:45 A.M. a ship reports hearing the Andrea Gail. No one else has heard from them for multiple hours. The spot the ship radioed from was outside of the fuel range of an H-3 (the standard coast guard helicopter) so instead they send an H-60 and a C-130 so that the helicopter can refuel mid flight. Before takeoff they decide on fueling spots, they will refuel twice there and twice back, they also bring two rescue swimmers, Rick Smith, and John Spillane, the pilots being Dave Ruvolvo, and Jim Mioli. They go to the spot that was sent in, they search for an hour or more but to no avail. They must return home because they can't see anything and can barely move. Whilst they're flying back and have already completed one refuel meaning they only have to do one more. While they’re heading home the C-130 doesn’t do the correct job and never asks for a weather report. This caused them to not know that they could avoid another massive rain front. This wall of rain causes them to be unable to refuel. After they encounter this beast of nature, they try thirty or more times to refuel. The crews tried so many times that a fuel line exploded. They never got the refuel meaning the crew had to ditch the helicopter. Jim never puts on a life vest because he had to get the helicopter crew prepared for the ditch. They all jump out except Dave, who's job is to stay in the helicopter and avoid the helicopter crew. Dave later finds Jim in the water. Jim was unresponsive due to hypothermia. As John Spillane hit the water he fractured multiple ribs, broke his arm, and ruptured a kidney. He later spots a strobe after thinking that he would die due to the pain. He spotted the strobe attached to Dave’s survival suit and he reunites with both Jim and Dave. The C-130 finally does its job and calls in the warship Tamaroa. The National Guard and Coast Guard are discussing what to send to help find the crew. They even considered an aircraft carrier, but decided against it because of what was already sent out. It takes a long time to find Spillane and the rest of the crew. Aboard the ship Tamaroa, the crew throws over nets and lines for them to grab. Spillane grabs it and is lifted up from that dreadful sea. This happens again with the other crew members that are present. The Tamaroa intercepts everyone except Rick Smith. In the proceeding two weeks the National Guard would send infrared helicopters and jets. After two weeks of searching they suspend the search. They declare Rick Smith deceased, along with the crew of the Andrea Gail in addition to many others.
This storm caused massive flooding costing over a billion dollars. So after this period of hell, many wives and husbands grieve. They walk up and down docks during this very heartfelt period of grieving. There were over 300 deaths at sea, including those of the Andrea Gail and Rick Smith. The only things found of the Andrea Gail were some of their fuel barrels that were marked with AG. They made a memorial in Gloucester and had a memorial service for all the lost men and women at sea.
We talked about the dangers of fishing, and long lining. How it affects families, friends, and the community. What happened in the fishing community Gloucester and the events of this fateful time. We talked about the Andrea
Gail and one of the worst things to happen to the Air National Guard. How fishermen are bad with money, and how meteorologist aren't always right. This story has no end. Like the legacy and memory of the Andrea Gail. Like the fishing community at Gloucester. Like all the men and women who have died fishing around the world.