The Hungry Ocean: A Swordboat Captain's Journey [Hardcover]

Linda Greenlaw (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 12, 1999

The term fisherwoman does not exactly roll trippingly off the tongue, and Linda Greenlaw, the world's only female swordfish boat captain, isn't flattered when people insist on calling her one. "I am a woman. I am a fisherman... I am not a fisherwoman, fisherlady, or fishergirl. If anything else, I am a thirty-seven-year-old tomboy. It's a word I have never outgrown." Greenlaw also happens to be one of the most successful fishermen in the Grand Banks commercial fleet, though until the publication of Sebastian Junger's The Perfect Storm, "nobody cared." Greenlaw's boat, the Hannah Boden, was the sister ship to the doomed Andrea Gail, which disappeared in the mother of all storms in 1991 and became the focus of Junger's book. The Hungry Ocean, Greenlaw's account of a monthlong swordfishing trip over 1,000 nautical miles out to sea, tells the story of what happens when things go right--proving, in the process, that every successful voyage is a study in narrowly averted disaster.There is the weather, the constant danger of mechanical failure, the perils of controlling five sleep-, women-, and booze-deprived young fishermen in close quarters, not to mention the threat of a bad fishing run: "If we don't catch fish, we don't get paid, period. In short, there is no labor union." Greenlaw's straightforward, uncluttered prose underscores the qualities that make her a good captain, regardless of gender: fairness, physical and mental endurance, obsessive attention to detail. But, ultimately, Greenlaw proves that the love of fishing--in all of its grueling, isolating, suspenseful glory--is a matter of the heart and blood, not the mind. "I knew that the ocean had stories to tell me, all I needed to do was listen." --Svenja Soldovieri

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The term fisherwoman does not exactly roll trippingly off the tongue, and Linda Greenlaw, the world's only female swordfish boat captain, isn't flattered when people insist on calling her one. "I am a woman. I am a fisherman... I am not a fisherwoman, fisherlady, or fishergirl. If anything else, I am a thirty-seven-year-old tomboy. It's a word I have never outgrown." Greenlaw also happens to be one of the most successful fishermen in the Grand Banks commercial fleet, though until the publication of Sebastian Junger's The Perfect Storm, "nobody cared." Greenlaw's boat, the Hannah Boden, was the sister ship to the doomed Andrea Gail, which disappeared in the mother of all storms in 1991 and became the focus of Junger's book. The Hungry Ocean, Greenlaw's account of a monthlong swordfishing trip over 1,000 nautical miles out to sea, tells the story of what happens when things go right--proving, in the process, that every successful voyage is a study in narrowly averted disaster.

There is the weather, the constant danger of mechanical failure, the perils of controlling five sleep-, women-, and booze-deprived young fishermen in close quarters, not to mention the threat of a bad fishing run: "If we don't catch fish, we don't get paid, period. In short, there is no labor union." Greenlaw's straightforward, uncluttered prose underscores the qualities that make her a good captain, regardless of gender: fairness, physical and mental endurance, obsessive attention to detail. But, ultimately, Greenlaw proves that the love of fishing--in all of its grueling, isolating, suspenseful glory--is a matter of the heart and blood, not the mind. "I knew that the ocean had stories to tell me, all I needed to do was listen." --Svenja Soldovieri

From Publishers Weekly

She's smart, hard-working and good at what she does, though sometimes she wishes she had a life. Greenlaw is captain of the Hannah Boden, sister ship to the Andrea Gail, the sword-fishing boat whose disappearance was described with agonizing verisimilitude in Sebastian Junger's bestseller, The Perfect Storm. Greenlaw tells a comparatively quotidian tale, "the true story of a real, and typical, sword-fishing trip, from leaving the dock to returning." Not trying to compete with Junger's operatic tale of death on the high seas, Greenlaw deals with stormy personalities rather than with bad weather. She rounds out the story with her gimlet-eyed description of a captain's biggest headache after nature itself: the crew. Racism, drug use, baffling illnesses: these are all elements of a 30-day journey for six people crammed aboard a 100-ft. boat designed less for human comfort than to carry the 50,000 pounds or more of fish it will eventually take on. But Greenlaw picks her sailors carefully and, through her own example, inspires a fierce loyalty among the menAsuch as the one who extracted his own abscessed tooth rather than return to shore ("In my experience," she notes, "very few men are willing to pull their own teeth"). Greenlaw's narrative should foster an abiding respect in anyone who has tossed a swordfish steak on the grill, and it is certain to induce jaw-dropping admiration among personnel managers everywhere. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion; 1st edition (May 12, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786864516
• ISBN-13: 978-0786864515
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (224 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #342,871 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #51 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Regional Canada

More About the Author

Linda Greenlaw, America's only female swordfish boat captain, was featured in the book and film The Perfect Storm. She has written three New York Times bestselling nonfiction books about life as a commercial fisherman as well as a cookbook and two mysteries.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

49 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Hungry Ocean will eat your soul!, June 20, 2000

By 

Rebecca Brown "rebeccasreads" (Clallam Bay, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Hungry Ocean: A Swordboat Captain's Journey (Hardcover)

In the words of the only woman Swordboat captain plying the Grand Banks fishing fields, you get a glimpse into the life of a modernday Ahab. It takes a special kind of person to sign up for a month of crowded quarters & hardy hygiene; mind-boggling hours of either endless maintenance or baiting & trolling. With a poet's eye for the beauty of her surroundings & her vessel & a fine sense of humor when it comes to her mischievous crew, Linda Greenlaw's memories, aspirations & impeccable courage & skill make this book a grand read. By the way, this is the life & times of the captain of the sister ship "Andrea Gail" about which Sebastian Junger wrote in "The Perfect Storm", soon to be released as a motion picture.

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars How You See This Book Depends On Where You Stand, July 8, 2002

By 

John R. Linnell (New Gloucester, ME United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Hungry Ocean: A Swordboat Captain's Journey (Paperback)

I cannot believe I didn't review this book some time ago when I read it in hardcover soon after it was published. In scrolling through the reviews that are here, it is interesting to see the different perspectives people have. Some view the book as an informational book about sword fishing; others see it as an extension of the story told in The Perfect Storm (Linda Greenlaw was the Captain of the Andrea Gail's sister fishing boat, the Hanna Bowden); some see it as a metaphor about life as a woman in what is essentially a man's business; and some see it as proof that those who go to sea to fish are most responsible for the problems we have with fisheries and the ocean environment. Linda's oldest sister sees the book as a "book length personals ad" (Linda would like to get married). I bought the book thinking that I would be reading more about aspects of The Perfect Storm and instead found a compelling story from a woman who all her life wanted to be doing what she was doing and did it against great odds. Sebastian Junger referred to her as the best swordfish captain in the North Atlantic, or words to that effect, which is high praise for anyone and the zenith of such for a woman. In the book she tells you what it is like to put to sea to go swordfishing and she does it without any cleaning up of the life. She also shares her inner thoughts and makes the story very much a human tale. In the end, you will care about her very much. At least I did. She is brave, vulnerable, stubborn, funny and caring and she communicates those attributes quite well.

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A remarkable Captain/fisherman/woman., July 25, 2000

By 

taking a rest - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Hungry Ocean: A Swordboat Captain's Journey (Paperback)

There are some people who seem to have a level of talent that is apparent in everything they do; there is nothing that resembles a veneer about them. Captain Greenlaw is an educated woman, when she is on her boat she is a leader and the best fisherman plying her trade. So when she sits down to tell her story, it is no surprise that she can write well. I would not wager this is the last book we will have from her. I certainly hope there are more.

I found her writing to emulate the way she runs her boat, organized, meticulous, and without unnecessary baggage. And when she related childhood memories, or shared dialogue, she related it as well or better than Authors with many books to their name. Individuals who are excellent at what they do are often said to appear to do their task effortlessly. The book certainly was not an easy task for her, but there is a vast difference between being simplistic and relating a portion of a life. Embellishment is best left for ghostwritten memoirs and autobiographies. There is nothing done to complicate her life's work, why should her story diverge from that path?

The closest I have come to a swordfish is with a fork, and it had long since been reduced from the massive creatures these can be, to a sliver of these fish she hunts. She and her crew define risk taking. They don't occasionally face lethal risk or even frequently risk their lives they constantly make this wager. And they do so not knowing whether they will make a dime for a month at sea in conditions that most could tolerate for about an hour presuming the water was calm, and seconds presuming 70 knot winds and the seas that follow them.

The Captain and her crew are all remarkable people, their carousing when on land for the 48 hours they have, to me, is not only mild, but tame when you consider they lived through one more trip, and are to take one more. Getting drunk for 1 or 2 days out of 30, and being dry for the balance does not make any of these crew "booze soaked" as some have suggested. If this were so Captain Greenlaw would not put her life in their hands, or they in each other's.

This book, and the movie for those who have seen it, dramatically change perceptions about many things we take for granted. The next time you sit down to a dinner of fish, how can it not be an event knowing that the capture of your dinner required the risking of life. Captain don't misunderstand, I'll eat more to drive the price up, not less!

Thanks for sharing your amazing story.