[Paddlewise] Andrea Gail - Perfect Storm

"In the movie "Perfect Storm," I was surprised to see the
Andrea Gail
rigged with apparent trawler booms when it was fishing as a
longliner.
Yes, you can attach a longline reel/drum to any boat, but
why carry the
useless (and dangerous, in this movie) trawler booms? "
Darrell Lee

Darrell, good morning and good question

I'm not sure about the Andrea Gail, but many of the trawlers
in New England are rigged so that they can fish in several
fisheries, for example scalloping and shrimping.  Many were
old shrimp boats converted in the 1970's and 1980's to drag
for scallops on the Grand Banks.

There has been a lot of controversy over the years as these
boats developed.  The first Gulf shrimpers were built along
the Gulf coast, many by the fishermen themselves along the
banks of bayous or creek sides in the south.  No plans, no
naval architect or engineer.  Just an owner with a welding
machine and a couple helpers that were either kin folks or
local friends.

Each boat added the individuals personal thoughts and
desires .... i.e. "I want to build a boat 15' longer than my
neighbor Boudreaux".

None of these boats were 'inspected vessels' ... as they got
closer to 100' (the magic measurement where they would have
to be inspected), they started moving they houses forward
and upward.  A command deck was added topside to give them
more crew space below.  The basic hulls never changed.

When used as a longliner, and they still had the outriggers
... they would mount stablizers which were drug from them to
attempt to keep the boats from rolling so badly.

Under no means were these boats stable ... all the extra
weight topside was not compensated for.  In addition ...
when these boats arrived in New England ... even more steel
was added to close in parts of the deck areas because of the
severe weather.

One series of these boats was built by a ship yard in St.
Augustine, Florida, that became quite popular as scallopers
during the 1970's.  Called the St. Augustine Trawler, these
boats were built 'en masse' by a Texas businessman with the
idea of taking over the New England scallop market.  When
this operation went bankrupt ... many of the boats were sold
at auction to the local fishermen.  There are still quite a
few working in New England, especially around Glouchester,
New Bedford - Fairhaven, Fall River, and Newport.

Capt. Donald R. Reid

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