The Perfect Storm: The Zero-Moment Point Summary & Analysis

In a breaking wave, it’s possible for a ship to be “pitch-poled”—for the bow to be caught in the wave’s crest and the entire boat flipped end over end. Or, a boat can be simply driven under by waves, water pouring into the cabin and making it impossible for the crew to escape. Pitch-poling is the “better” possibility, because air is trapped in the hold and keeps the boat afloat, giving the crew a chance to escape. By late evening on October 28th, either of these things could have befallen the Andrea Gail. In either case, if the crew is still alive, they’re probably just trying to survive the night.

Ernie Hazard remembers surviving a late November storm on the Fair Wind. He felt the boat flipping over and then found himself upside down in an air pocket. He dove into the pilothouse in search of light, found the space flooded, and realized that his only options were to swim or die. He simply had to make a choice. He doesn’t understand why, but he chose to swim, popping out a window and making his way to a life raft.

No matter whether the Andrea Gail pitch-poles or founders, she reaches what’s called the “zero-moment point”—a position from which she can’t recover. Reaching this “point of no return” happens very quickly; there wouldn’t even be time for crew members to grab a life vest before the boat would be inundated with water and the electrical system would short out.

If the boat got inundated with water, the men aboard the Andrea Gail probably weren’t as fortunate as Ernie Hazard. They would have had, at most, a minute’s worth of air in their lungs, and by that point, their brains would have triggered an involuntary last breath underwater. Most people are still conscious at this point. About 10 percent of people die without any water in their lungs—the muscles around the larynx contract at the touch of water, and the person suffocates. In 90 percent of people, however, water floods the lungs, and oxygen no longer makes it to the blood. The suffering only lasts for a minute or two; soon, the drowning person is unconscious. His metabolic rate will slow down as his central nervous system makes a final attempt to keep him alive, but each man’s brain activity will get slower and slower until, within 15 to 20 minutes, it stops entirely, and he dies.