‘Perfect Storm’ fam: Horror never ends
The “horror” of losing a loved one at sea never ends, said a Florida grandmother who said she still mourns for her son-in-law swept away in 1991’s “Perfect Storm.”
“I never stop thinking about Murph,” said Jerilynn Amrhein, 73, of Cortez, Fla. “His death is not in the past for me.”
Her daughter’s husband, Dale “Murph” Murphy, was one of the six crew members who died aboard the Gloucester swordfishing boat Andrea Gail during that historic October storm.
The fishing boat’s last reported position was 180 miles northeast of Sable Island, southeast of Halifax, Nova Scotia, on Oct. 28. The disaster was made into a book by Sebastian Junger and a movie by the same name.
Amrhein told the Herald last night the details of how the men likely died in the towering waves was difficult to read. “It hits home. We don’t know the fright they felt,” she said of the crew. “This story of the missing fishermen is bringing it all back for me.
“People just need to hang in there and hope and pray. But it’s hard. It’s hell,” Amrhein said. “We went through hard times and we were scared.”
Amrhein, who spoke as she juggled a rambunctious 10-month-old new puppy, said her grandson — Dale R. Murphy Jr. — brings her constant joy. “He was 3 years old at the time of his father’s death, but they portrayed him as 7 in the movie,” she said. “Murph left me the ‘Joy of Cooking’ book and I recently gave it to his son.”
She said Murph would leave her kitchen dusted in flour after cooking a fish dinner of grouper.
“He loved to cook,” she added. “He cooked for the men on the boat. He told me before he left that he’d get the cookbook back when he returned.” Her son-in-law was portrayed in the movie by John C. Reilly.
Amrhein said the tightknit fishing community has helped her through the dark hours — including members of the extended Andrea Gail clan. “We still spend holidays together and we look out for each other,” she said. “We also give each other needed information. My husband’s boat broke down and he called the fish house so they could let me know he was OK.
“It’s a good feeling to know you can depend on and look to another fishing family.”
The “Perfect Storm” changed her life and the lives of all the loved ones of the Andrea Gail crew — Captain Frank William “Billy” Tyne Jr., 37, Michael “Bugsy” Moran, 36, Alfred Pierre, 32, Robert F. “Bobby” Shatford, 30, David “Sully” Sullivan, 28, and 30-year-old Murph.
‘People just need to hang in there and hope ... But it’s hard. It’s hell.’ — JERILYNN AMRHEIN above, mother-in-law of ‘Perfect Storm’ victim