The Hungry Ocean: A Swordboat Captain's Journey

by Linda Greenlaw

Book Overview

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...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0786864516
• ISBN13: 9780786864515
• Release Date: May 1999
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.7" x 8.7"
• Age Range: 18 to 17 years
• Grade Range: Postsecondary to Grade 12

Customer Reviews

this is commercial fishing and these are the fisherman

I'm a longline fisherman in Italy. The book is very interesting and well written (my english is not so good but it was a pleasure to read it). As a commercial fisherman fishing the mediterranean, thousand miles from the north atlantic banks, after readed this book I could tell you that commercial fishing is the same in every part of the world, the same the people and the same the hard work. Read this book, it's a really good one.

What A Book....Could Not Put It Down

Linda is a great author and writer. This is a riveting book. Very well written. I highly suggest this book !!!! Very funny too!!

A remarkable Captain/fisherman/woman?.

There are some people who seem to have a level of talent that is apparent in everything they do; there is nothing that resembles a veneer about them. Captain Greenlaw is an educated woman, when she is on her boat she is a leader and the best fisherman plying her trade. So when she sits down to tell her story, it is no surprise that she can write well. I would not wager this is the last book we will have from her. I certainly hope there are more.I found her writing to emulate the way she runs her boat, organized, meticulous, and without unnecessary baggage. And when she related childhood memories, or shared dialogue, she related it as well or better than Authors with many books to their name. Individuals who are excellent at what they do are often said to appear to do their task effortlessly. The book certainly was not an easy task for her, but there is a vast difference between being simplistic and relating a portion of a life. Embellishment is best left for ghostwritten memoirs and autobiographies. There is nothing done to complicate her life's work, why should her story diverge from that path?The closest I have come to a swordfish is with a fork, and it had long since been reduced from the massive creatures these can be, to a sliver of these fish she hunts. She and her crew define risk taking. They don't occasionally face lethal risk or even frequently risk their lives they constantly make this wager. And they do so not knowing whether they will make a dime for a month at sea in conditions that most could tolerate for about an hour presuming the water was calm, and seconds presuming 70 knot winds and the seas that follow them.The Captain and her crew are all remarkable people, their carousing when on land for the 48 hours they have, to me, is not only mild, but tame when you consider they lived through one more trip, and are to take one more. Getting drunk for 1 or 2 days out of 30, and being dry for the balance does not make any of these crew "booze soaked" as some have suggested. If this were so Captain Greenlaw would not put her life in their hands, or they in each other's.This book, and the movie for those who have seen it, dramatically change perceptions about many things we take for granted. The next time you sit down to a dinner of fish, how can it not be an event knowing that the capture of your dinner required the risking of life. Captain don't misunderstand, I'll eat more to drive the price up, not less!Thanks for sharing your amazing story.

The Hungry Ocean will eat your soul!

In the words of the only woman Swordboat captain plying the Grand Banks fishing fields, you get a glimpse into the life of a modernday Ahab. It takes a special kind of person to sign up for a month of crowded quarters & hardy hygiene; mind-boggling hours of either endless maintenance or baiting & trolling. With a poet's eye for the beauty of her surroundings & her vessel & a fine sense of humor when it comes to her mischievous crew, Linda Greenlaw's memories, aspirations & impeccable courage & skill make this book a grand read. By the way, this is the life & times of the captain of the sister ship "Andrea Gail" about which Sebastian Junger wrote in "The Perfect Storm", soon to be released as a motion picture.

Grand Banks or bust!

I was very eager to read Linda Greenlaw's book "The Hungry Ocean" after reading "The Perfect Storm". After reading it I have to say I was impressed with Capt Greenlaw's description of a 30 day sword fishing trip to the Grand Banks. Some may find her descriptions tedious and drawn out but I believe they aptly describes 30 days at sea.Capt Greenlaw attempts to give the reader a basic understanding of the fishing industry. This is sometimes drawn out a tad to in depth but this is a minor complaint. If you are looking for heart stopping action read Junger's "Perfect Storm", but if you want to know what 30 days at sea setting and pulling back fishing nets is like, read "The Hungry Ocean".