# The Hungry Ocean: A Swordboat Captain's Journey - Hardcover

by **Linda Greenlaw** (Author)

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

### Author Biography

Linda Greenlaw has been a deep-sea fisherman for 18 years, becoming the first and only female swordfish captain in the Grand Banks Fleet. This career earned her a prominent role in Sebastian Junger's runaway bestseller, The Perfect Storm and a protrayal in the subsequent film. She was raised in Maine and graduated from Colby College. Greenlaw now lives on Isle au Haut, Maine, where she captains a lobster boat.

**Number of Pages:** 288

**Dimensions:** 0.98 x 8.66 x 5.72 IN

**Illustrated:** Yes

**Publication Date:** January 17, 2008

**Award:** Alex Awards (2000)

**Accelerated Reader:**

**Quiz Name:** Hungry Ocean: A Swordboat Captain's Journey

**Interest Level:** Upper Grades, 9-12

**Reading Level:** 7.3

**Point Value:** 13

## Details

- **Price:** 26.0 USD
- **Vendor:** Books by splitShops
- **Type:** Books
- **Tags:** Books by splitShops, Shopify Collective

## Variants

| Variant | Price | Available |
|---------|-------|-----------|
| Default Title | 26.00 USD | In stock |

## Images

- The Hungry Ocean: A Swordboat Captain's Journey - Hardcover
- The Hungry Ocean: A Swordboat Captain's Journey - Hardcover

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