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Big-wave
dangers Perfect
inspiration

Scary moments in high surf
lead to the creation
of 'Perfect Storm'

By Tim Ryan
Star-Bulletin

THERE are righteous risks and unintelligible risks, says Sebastian Junger, author of the best-selling book "The Perfect Storm" about to be released June 30 as a movie starring George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg.

"Risk of itself can be life-giving, but unintelligent risk is just stupid; the trick is to know which is which," says Junger (pronounced "younger"), 38, in a telephone interview from New York City.

Junger always has been fascinated by the idea of meeting danger and surviving it. He once built a lean-to in the woods to see if he could survive in the wild. He took a job scaling 100-foot trees with a chain saw because "it's exhausting, dirty work, and something scary and that can kill you." It almost did.

Junger gashed his leg badly with a chainsaw while cutting trees. While recovering, he decided to write a book about dangerous occupations. One chapter was to focus on a fishing boat from Gloucester, Mass., that went down in mammoth waves during a 1991 storm, killing all six men aboard.

That chapter ultimately became "The Perfect Storm." Junger's interest in the specifics of storms and big waves and how people drown came largely from a 1994 experience, surfing on a bone-chilling January day off Cape Cod.

"I had just bought a winter wet suit and the sun was out and it wasn't that cold, maybe the water was 33 degrees," he said.

The waves were "big, clean, powerful swells" up to 10 feet, crashing violently on shallow sandbars. An enormous set on the horizon caught Junger by surprise. "You could almost see it forming in Portugal," he said.

The first wave crashed a few yards ahead."I couldn't believe the violence; my leash snapped immediately."

The wave drove him into the sandy bottom before he made it to the surface, breathless, as the second monster wave was on him. The third wave hit Junger so hard he went limp and was again driven to the bottom, the cold water a huge weight robbing him of air.

"I had this feeling of darkness closing in like a narrowing telescope. I realized I was drowning.

"I thought, 'Surfing would be a stupid way to lose your life.' I was just out playing; I really screwed up."

The last, less-powerful wave allowed Junger to swim 200 yards to shore, where he crawled to safety.

"The Perfect Storm" tells a story of the fishermen's lives leading up to the departure of the 72-foot swordfishing boat Andrea Gail and her crew of six, as well as those of others who survived 100-mph winds and 90-foot waves. The book, published in May 1997, has sold more than 2.5 million copies, paperback rights sold for $1.2 million, and Junger made another $500,000 on film rights.

"I wondered how men act on a sinking ship? Do they hold each other? Do they pass around the whiskey? Do they cry?" he said.

Junger said he worked from published material, radio dialogues, eyewitness accounts, Coast Guard records and experiences of people who have survived similar events. He emphasized the book is accurate because "it came from them."

Surviving family members were friendly but guarded in talking to Junger.

"I was very self-conscious and felt a bit exploitive, especially when talking to Ethel (Shatford) about her son drowning," Junger said.

Shatford was a bartender at the Crow's Nest, a Gloucester bar. Junger spent countless hours talking to fishermen there.

Junger as a youth loved books about Native Americans. He created physical challenges for himself that included train-hopping and cold-weather swimming. After graduating from Wesleyan University in 1984 with a degree in cultural anthropology, he traveled around the country writing, but was unable to land a writing job. He waited tables and tended bar.

So Junger decided to go to Bosnia and Croatia to pretend he was a reporter. Before leaving, he wrote a book proposal about the "perfect storm." Four months later, while in Bosnia, Junger got a fax from his agent that his proposal had been sold. He would receive a $35,000 advance.

"It was a vindication for spending all that time in my 20s scribbling away," he said.

Junger was obsessed about unlocking the story.

"I loved the idea about all these convergences of factors that killed the men on this boat," Junger said.

Fishing, like firefighting and police work, is an intelligent risk because it's an important service, Junger said. "It's doing something that counts and is important. Dying surfing or dirt biking, or skydiving is a waste, very stupid."

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