The Perfect Storm - second source information
Uploaded by deepsoul01 on Sep 18, 2002
Junger mentions in the foreword that he wanted to write a fictional account of the last moments of the six crew members aboard the Andrea Gail and the events leading up to it. He uses secondary sources because very few primary sources exist, as the crew of the Andrea Gail are not alive. The purpose of using the secondary source information is to effectively make the last moments of the Andrea Gail crew seem more real to the reader who is reading it. Second source information is reliant on someone else’s information or account on something. The sources of information that he has included are weather charts, radio contact/conversation, interviews, research, historical precedents, factual information, statistics, shipping logs, anecdotes and survival stories.
Weather charts are a secondary source used by Junger to effectively show the highs and lows of pressure in the atmosphere. This allows the reader to follow on with the weather pattern progress throughout the text. On page 123 and 132 Junger has used weather charts to note the movement of Hurricane Grace, how strong the winds are and how much sea it is pulling. By using weather charts it makes the last moments of the Andrea Gail seem more real as it explain how powerful the winds are so the reader can imagine what it was like and compare what the Andrea Gail may have had to deal with.
Junger also uses radio contact/conversation as a secondary source in this text. It is used for various reasons such as distress calls or check up’s between ships. For example on page 119 there is a radio conversation between Linda Greenlaw and Billy Tyne. They check up on each other, talk about the storm and decide to talk later about supplies. Junger has effectively used radio contact/conversation as communication between boats and also so the reader can understand the events that lead the last days of the Andrea Gail. This makes the last moments of the crew members on the Andrea Gail seem real as it portrays how carefree they were and their normal routine on board since when Billy got off the phone to Linda he appointed Murphy with his position and he had dinner downstairs. On page 134 it shows the last communication Billy Tyne had, which was with Tommy Barrie. Tommy wanted to know how much fishing gear he should bring and what the conditions were. At...