The Perfect Storm Characters

Sebastian Junger is the author of The Perfect Storm. He became interested in the storm after witnessing its damage firsthand and reading a newspaper report about the purported loss of the Andrea Gail.

Ethel Shatford is Bobby Shatford’s mother. She raised six children in Gloucester and has worked as the Crow’s Nest’s daytime bartender since 1980. She takes a motherly role toward the young fishermen and others who frequent the Crow’s Nest and don’t have homes or families of their own.

Bugsy Moran is a crew member on the Andrea Gail. He has long hair and a crazy reputation in Gloucester. He disappears along with the rest of the crew during the storm.

Adam Randall is a fisherman who backs out of the Andrea Gail’s final voyage at the last minute. Sully replaces him. Randall ends up dying in the mysterious sinking of the Terri Lei the following spring.

Sully is a crew member on the Andrea Gail. He replaces Adam Randall after Randall backs out of the Andrew Gail’s last voyage. He was a longtime friend of Bobby’s. He disappears along with the rest of the crew during the storm.

Charlie Reed is the former captain of the Andrea Gail. Like Billy Tyne, he genuinely loved being on the ocean.

Charlie Johnson is the captain of the swordfishing boat called the Seneca. He recalls feeling concerned when Billy Tyne reported to him that the Andrea Gail took a long time to recover from a rogue wave.

Tommy Barrie is the captain of the Allison. His wife, Kimberly, is interviewed on the news during the storm.

Bob Case is a meteorologist who works for the National Weather Service in Boston. He is credited by Junger with initially referring to the storm as “the perfect storm.”

Ray Leonard is the owner of the Satori who hires Stimpson and Bylander to crew the Satori during his trip to Bermuda. When the Satori goes down during the storm, Leonard is utterly distraught and practically has to be dragged aboard the rescue helicopter.

Graham Buschor is Dave Ruvola’s copilot on the H-60 Air National Guard helicopter which goes down after a botched refueling attempt during the storm. Apparently the least badly injured after the ditching, Buschor is the first of the pararescue crew to be recovered by the Tamaroa.

Jim Mioli is an Air National Guard flight engineer on the helicopter piloted by Dave Ruvola. After the helicopter’s planned ditching, Mioli manages to survive in the Atlantic despite becoming hypothermic and is finally rescued by the Tamaroa.

Dave Moore is a Coast Guard rescue swimmer who saves the lives of Karen Stimpson, Sue Bylander, and Ray Leonard from the sinking Satori.

Ernie Hazard is a machinist on Bob Brown’s Fair Wind who cut himself adrift when the boat began to sink and survived for two days on the open sea.

Mary Anne is Bobby Shatford’s sister and Ethel’s daughter. She’s been critical of his drinking but loves Bobby dearly.

Judith Reeves is a Canadian observer aboard the Eishin Maru who was asked to broadcast the Japanese-speaking crew’s mayday message.

Commander Brudnicki is the Commander of the Tamaroa who oversees the rescue of the pararescue crew of Ruvola, Buschor, Spillane, and Mioli from the Atlantic.

Jodi Tyne is Billy Tyne’s ex-wife, who’d divorced him over his obsession with fishing, knowing it would always dictate their lives and relationship.

Debra is Murph’s ex-wife and mother of his son, Dale, Jr.

Kimberly Barrie is Tommy Barrie’s wife. After being interviewed on the news during the storm, she is bombarded with calls from other worried wives.

Susan Brown is Bob Brown’s wife. She tells Chris Cotter when the Andrea Gail goes missing.

Marianne Smith is the widow of pararescue jumper Rick Smith, who was lost at sea during the storm.