The Hungry Ocean: A Swordboat Captain's Journey

by Linda Greenlaw

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 "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 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

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Adventure, Biography, Biography Memoir, Nature, Autobiography

265 pages, Paperback

First published May 12, 1999

About the author

Linda Greenlaw's three bestselling books about life as a commercial fisherman -- THE HUNGRY OCEAN (1999), THE LOBSTER CHRONICLES (2002) and ALL FISHERMEN ARE LIARS (2004) -- have climbed as high as #2 on the New York Times bestseller list. She is the winner of the U.S. Maritime Literature Award in 2003, and the New England Book Award for nonfiction in 2004. Time Magazine called her 2005 RECIPES FROM A VERY SMALL ISLAND, co-authored with her mother Martha Greenlaw, a "must-have cookbook".

Before becoming a writer, Linda Greenlaw was the captain of a sword boat, the career that earned her a prominent role in Sebastian Junger's THE PERFECT STORM and a portrayal in the subsequent film. She has been featured on Good Morning America, Today, CBS Sunday Morning, The Martha Stewart Show, and National Public Radio. She now lives on Isle au Haut, Maine, where she captains a lobster boat.

When Linda Greenlaw confessed a desire to write fiction, readers responded with an enthusiastic "Please do!" At last, she satisfies their hunger with SLIPKNOT, a sharp-witted, compulsively readable mystery, the first in a series featuring marine investigator Jane Bunker. As she proved in THE HUNGRY OCEAN, no one knows the sea like Linda Greenlaw. And as she proved in THE LOBSTER CHRONICLES, no one has a better way with the telling details of Maine village life. SLIPKNOT delivers everything readers want: a great setting, wonderful characters, an authentic and original detective -- and a story that will keep them on the edge of their seats. (from the author's website)

Series:
* Jane Bunker Mystery

Reviews

[Will Byrnes · Rating 3 out of 5]

In The Perfect Storm, Sebastian Junger offered Greenlaw a shout-out, describing her as “one of the best sea captains, period, on the East Coast.” The Hungry Ocean is Greenlaw’s story. She offers a reasonable share of personal history, tells of the social up and down sides to spending so much of her life on the water, communicates effectively her love of the sea, but most of all, this book give us detailed descriptions of what it is to work as a fisherman. There is a sometimes painful level of detail in her telling, with work-specific jargon enough to fill a small dictionary. I enjoyed her descriptions of her crew members past and present. She succeeds in communicating much of the danger involved in this life-threatening career, from the elements, inadequate crewmen, competing captains and an unforgiving market. Next to the term “hard work” in any dictionary there should be an illustration of a fisherman, and maybe a shot of Linda. It sounds exhausting.


Linda Greenlaw - from the Boston Globe

I was surprised that she seemed to have little appreciation for the effects of over-fishing on the sea’s ability to continue offering up an adequate supply of fish.

This is not a great read. Junger is in no danger of literary competition here. But Greenlaw succeeds in her mission of letting the rest of us know what it takes to put on the table the fish we eat. In that regard, the hold is full and she is steaming home to port.


=============================EXTRA STUFF

Greenlaw's personal, FB and Twitter pages

[Petra X · Rating 4 out of 5]

I know a bit about long-lining and swordfishing, and I sailed the Atlantic with some friends in a small yacht some time ago, so this book has always interested me. And now I've read it.

It's very technical, but I liked that.

Review to come.

[Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best feminist book (previously said "novel" in error) ever. Linda doesn't talk about doing a man's job, she has always just gone out and done it. Her monologue on why she is a fisherman and not a fisherwoman sums exactly why I think most feminists are not worth listening to.

"... and shook my head at his use of the word fisherwoman. I hate the term, and can never understand why people think I would be offended by being called a fisherman. I have often been confused by terms such as "male nurse," wondering if that would be someone who only cares for male patients. Fisherwoman isn't even a word. It is not in the dictionary. A fisherman is described as "one whose employment is to catch fish." That describes me to a tee. Generally, when the conversation reaches the point at which the person with whom I am speaking asks what I do for aliving, I assume he or she has already determined that I am female, leaving fisherman appropriately descriptive of my occupation. Fisherwoman would at best be redundant."

[Debbie Zapata · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks to GR friend Ladiibbug for sending me this book!

The Hungry Ocean is another glimpse into the world of swordfishing, and was just as entertaining as the last Greenlaw book I read, All Fishermen Are Liars, although I have to admit that there was sometimes a little too much technical information for me. The detailed passages about compass headings and specialized equipment were relevant, but I do tend to fall prey to schools of brain farts when I try to read such things.

The main thread of this book is one trip Greenlaw made with her boat the Hannah Boden. Mixed in with the daily activities of this trip are memories of previous journeys, childhood escapades, and explanations of why Greenlaw became a fisherman.

I enjoyed the story, and just have one little nit to pick. When the crew are ready to begin hauling in the lines to discover exactly what they have caught, Greenlaw explains that there are no work gloves sized for women, so she uses garden gloves to handle the lines, and is constantly wearing out the right hand glove.

But what does she do with the right hand glove when she fetches herself another pair? Put it in a bin to take back to shore for the trash or for recycling, perhaps? No, she just dumps it into the ocean. Somehow that rankled, especially after her boasting a chapter or so earlier about how fishermen are great conservationists. How can you claim to be a conservationist if you are throwing garbage into the ocean, messing up the environment of the very fish you claim to care so much for? This puzzles me.

[ChrissiesPurpleLibrary · Rating 5 out of 5]

LINDA LINDA LINDA!!! Linda Greenlaw is literally one of the most fascinating and inspiring people I’ve read about. I am so impressed by her grit, humility and determination. As a one of the best sword bait captain’s on the East coast Linda garnered respect and triumph in a male dominated and dangerous profession.

I related to this so much as being a tradesman earlier in my career. Being a woman in a dominated and often sexist field to hold your own and be respected without compromising dignity or my femininity. I have so much respect for this!

No doubt this isn’t for everyone and Fisherman are known to be quite crass but Linda truly held her own in her own way. Amazing to read!



Content/Trigger warnings: Language, racial slurs, bigotry, death, drowning etc

[Chana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well-written, fascinating and disturbing. Would you like to hear some of it?

"As the boat came to a stop, I nodded to Carl, who leaned over the rail and grabbed the leader just below the snap. Standing up straight, Carl leaned into the rail with the tops of his legs nd hauled the leader, hand over hand, twisting his upper body to pull with his back and shoulders. Kenny and Ringo appeared at either side of Carl, each with a 16-foot-long-gaff. The gaff poles were 2-inch-diameter oak dowels, and each had a large shiny hook secured to one end. The gaffers were poised and staring into the water, looking for the fish that we all anticipated. Carl gave a long steady pull with his right hand, and the fish came into view a few feet below the surface. It was a sword. it was big. And it was alive. My pulse quickened. Swordfish are the most magnificent of all ocean creatures. A streamlined and muscular missile with a bayonet, the swordfish is strong, swift, and agile.
The fish circled, swimming under the boat as they often do. Carl held the leader, no longer pulling; he waited. When the fish swam out from under us, Carl pulled in another fathom of leader. A dorsal fin cut the surface; then hell broke loose as the fish slashed wildly with its 3-foot-long sword. The fish's bill and back were lit up in blue and purple, and its sides flashed in silver and pink. With two short jerks, Kenny and Ringo sunk their gaff hooks into the head of the fish and pulled it toward the door in the rail. The fish thrashed, and the water flew. Grabbing a 24-inch steel meat hook, I reached through the door and placed the hook into one of the fish's eye sockets. Peter came from the stern with a second meat hook, and placed it in the eye socket with mine. Ringo grabbed the bill to prevent it from slashing as we all pulled together to drag the fish onto the deck."

"...we landed another sword, a small marker of about 110 pounds that was quite frisky but was quickly overcome by Carl's tenacity and Kenny's sharp gaff to the back of its head. Once on deck, the fish flopped on its side, raising head and tail into the air and slapping both down over and over, flogging the deck soundly. The flops got fewer and less vigorous, the up-and-down motion working like a pump, pushing the life from the fish, from torrent to trickle in a matter of minutes. The colors left the fish in the same way that a Polaroid picture develops, but in reverse. Sharp flashing silver lines and vivid colors yielded to fuzzy borders of blended shades of blues and purples that gave way to mottled patches of grays, blacks, and whites as the last of life dribbled from the defeated fish."

I must have been born without the hunting gene as I don't find this exciting or pleasurable. I can understand fishing and hunting for food, even for money. But the number of fish taken, by each boat and there are many out there, seems terrible excessive to me. The operating ethic, which certainly makes sense from an economic standpoint, is you don't come in until your fish hold is full and that means many, many thousands of pounds of fish. Captain Linda Greenlaw says, regarding the idea of overfishing and ocean depletion, that "in seventeen years of swordfishing, I have seen no evidence of depletion." Really? I thought there was evidence of overfishing, could I be wrong? She says, "If a problem with overfishing does develop, it is not the American fisherman who should be punished, but perhaps the fishermen from countries that currently have no regulations in place and continually exceed their allowable catch quota." Well politics are certainly going to play a part in which countries and fishermen and which fish are going to be allowed and in what quotas. But OK, even if I can accept the numbers in which these fish are being caught, can I accept the killing and the pleasure taken in that killing? Afraid not. You can call me a liberal, tree-hugging, animal-loving hippie if you want. Maybe you are right in some small way. In my heart I was rooting for the fish and totally LOVED THE FISH THAT GOT AWAY from 3 strong, experienced and determined fishermen, and then did a victory lap around the boat giving them all the evil eye. Captain Greenlaw is still bitter about that fish, told it F you at the time and every time she thinks about it gives the fish that got away another F you.

I do admire how hard the fishermen work, it sounds like brutally hard work.

Anyway, no matter where you stand on commercial fishing, swordfish, or any related topics, this is a very informative and interesting read.

[Art Tirrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

A woman to be admired

Linda Greenlaw captained an American sword boat. By itself, this is an accomplishment worthy of respect. More than that, she became one of the most successful captains in the fleet. And as "The Hungry Ocean" attests, she is also an accomplished writer with a fine eye for detail. I don't say things like this often, but this is a woman who "walks the walk", AND "talks the talk." A woman to be admired.

Forced by international law to fish a thousand miles from their home ports, Americans who go after swordfish need to be tough, self-reliant and resourceful. In their business, things like surface water temperature, thermoclines, currents, and the corners formed by the Gulf Stream currents as they meander, can mean the difference between a morning boatful of worthless sharks and two tons of prime swordfish. Each night, thirty miles of carefully positioned line carrying thousands of baited hooks set to just the right depth are set adrift in the warm waters of the stream - only to be hauled back aboard the next morning, foot by foot, hopefully including a good number of fish.

How did Linda Greenlaw come to captain one of these vessels? As she details life aboard a sword boat, she also describes scenes from her childhood and young adult years - little things that eventually let the reader feel as if we know this woman and wish we were friends.

It's the story of one trip aboard her sword boat that carries the read, however, and in her description of these events she is at her best as a writer. In rich detail, life on the fishing grounds is shown; crew problems, mechanical troubles, the potential pitfalls and snarls. There is no time off. The crew works round the clock for as long as three weeks with hardly a moment to rest.

That's the business of working a sword boat, and it is a fascinating picture indeed. I'd recommend this one to everyone who loves the water.

Reviewer Meg Westley on Art Tirrell's novel The Secret Ever Keeps:
"Quite simply the best underwater scenes I've ever read."

[Eric_W · Rating 5 out of 5]

Greenlaw is a fisherman — not fisherwoman, as she carefully explains. “ ‘I hate the term, and can never understand why people think I would be offended to be called a fisherman . . . . Fisherwoman isn’t even a word. A fisherman is defined as “one whose employment is to catch fish”. . . . People, women in particular, are generally disappointed when they learn that I have not suffered unduly from being the only woman in what they perceive to be a man’s world. I might be thick-skinned — or just too damn busy to worry about what others might think of me.’ ”
And busy is an understatement. Sebastian Junger made Linda famous in The Perfect Storm — a wonderful book — when he described her simply as the best swordfisherman, period. This book resulted after friends persuaded her to write of her own experiences — the Andrea Gail, lost in the huge storm described in Junger’s book, was the Hannah Boden’s sister ship. Greenlaw writes in fascinating detail of what a trip is like as captain of the Hannah Boden. It’s mind-numbing fatigue, once they reach the fishing grounds, with the crew lucky to catch a couple hours of sleep at night during the fishing. The lines are huge, miles and miles of hooks with chemical light sticks that are attached because they seem to attract fish, with thousands of hooks that have to be baited individually by hand.
The pay can be good — if the catch is great. But there’s no guarantee. Each member of the crew works on shares after expenses. No benefits, no union, but lots of hazard.

[Clare O'Beara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this memoir from a swordboat captain who describes herself as a fisherman. The conditions and workload vary from delightful to overwhelming; near the end of the trip her crew is almost ready to mutiny to get back to harbour - but not quite, because they are all there to catch fish. While Greenlaw is rare in being a female captain she says it drives her to work harder, and she appears to get the respect she has earned.

Greenlaw tells us there are plenty of swordfish and her industry and fleet are highly regulated. She blames other nations for unregulated catches. That may be so, but when you read of boats staying out for a month at a time, setting out forty miles of baited hooks each night and using lights and cod liver oil as added baits, radar to find shoals and swapping information around the fleet as to water temperature, it does seem as though the giant swordfish are at risk. After all, people thought the whales, basking shark, cod and herring were so plentiful right up until the populations collapsed. Not alone that but a vast amount of (expensive) fishing gear is described as being cut loose and discarded as well as smaller items like gloves. We don't even hear about other items like food wrappers. It's all plastic and it all causes harm to the ocean creatures. Twenty percent of plastic found at sea is fishing gear.

Read this for a good and gritty look at the life, with occasional strong language and graphic detail.

[David LaBombard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Keeps you engaged and enthralled with the wonderful stories of the ocean. Lots of nostalgia for me and my New England upbringing. If you love the ocean and strong leaders with good tales to tell, read this!

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unfortunately for this book, it ended up being one of those books that I would not read for a couple of weeks at a time, then I'd pick up and read 20-30 pages one day, then read 5 pages over the course of a week. This meant that I ended up forgetting the thoughtful, plain-english definitions that were provided at the beginning of the book for the names of the various fishing equipment used on the boat and had to go off of context clues.
Despite my own inconsistent reading, I quite liked this book. It was written with such impressive precision; I truly don't understand how someone takes good enough notes to remember that the surface level water temperature increased by 0.5 degrees as the boat reached 107 miles from the port on the 13th day of the trip (an untrue example because I've already forgotten most of the details of this book). It was also written in a style I think I prefer: concise but still artistic.
Thanks to Dad for recommending this book when he saw my mom was using it as a piece of decor in our dining room. I know exactly why he loved it.

[Suzanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one grand lady who redefines the definition of that term. Fiercely loyal, courageous, yet feminine, she is not confined to societal expectations of what feminity is. If anyone has spent time in the open ocean on a boat, her achievements are even more impressive.
She wrote a fun book basically because of the attention she received from the novel and film, "The Perfect Storm". Everyone wondered "who is this woman" "Is she for real?" She is indeed.

[Erin Sullivan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Listening to this book was a bit of an experience. It's read by the author, and it's very clear that she is not a professional voice actress. But nevertheless it was a very interesting read. It reminds me and my mother of the Discovery Channel show Deadliest Catch. My one complaint is that she ends the book without telling you how much money she made on that fishing trip. We go through all that, follow them on their journey, become part of the crew pretty much, and she doesn't even let us know about the money? What the heck Linda!

[J-Rock · Rating 5 out of 5]

Intensely readable, yet enough technical/inside material about the industry to be challenging.

[Karyl · Rating 4 out of 5]

I live in New England now, and we were up in Falmouth, Massachusetts, up on Cape Cod, when my daughter needed to visit a restroom. We made our way into the Falmouth library, and while waiting for her, I noticed a Books for Sale cubby nearby. I picked up Greenlaw's book The Lobster Chronicles: Life on a Very Small Island, and my husband became excited as he knew her from one of his favorite movies, The Perfect Storm. I thoroughly enjoyed it, which led me to this book.

It's rather obvious that this was written before The Lobster Chronicles. Her writing is a bit less polished and elementary in this book, but she still tells a vivid and engaging story. She covers an entire voyage out past the Grand Banks to seek out swordfish, and it becomes one of her best trips as captain. It's quite refreshing to read about her experienced crew, who know exactly what to do and when with very little direction or nagging from her. Most other memoirs of fishing have not had such a cohesive and able crew.

There are a few times when I found myself skimming, but that's mainly due to the fact that I have a hard time envisioning the set-up she describes for long-line fishing. But the stories she tells, from the reminiscing within the chapters to the "mug-ups" between them, are interesting and varied, and tend not to detract from the main plot.

I have to agree with Greenlaw when she says she doesn't want to be called a "fisherwoman," that she's a fisherman, which is defined as someone who makes their living by catching fish. I'm with her on that. I don't mind the use of the word "chairman" or "fisherman," as long as we all agree that they're gender neutral. "Fisherwoman" and "chairwoman" is just too unwieldy, in my opinion.

At any rate, while this book isn't nearly as polished as her later one, I still thoroughly enjoyed it and read it in a day. I'd highly recommend this to anyone interested in New England, fishing, or a strong woman who loves her job.

[Kathryn · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wouldn't recommend this to anybody. There were a couple parts in this book that made my skin crawl. And it had a lot of technical information about fishing, which I care nothing about. Linda Greenlaw talks and acts like a man. She seems to have divorced herself from her feelings about the living creatures that she is fishing. I understand the need for fishing, but I would like to think that they do it as humanely as possible. As this book made clear, they don't. And, in fact, she even describes an instance of actual torture. It made me sick. I wasn't impressed with this book, nor with the writer.

[Trux · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fast read from a unique perspective. It's a homey book by a working woman (yes, she's got a degree too, but nothing about this book seems "literary"). I reeeeeeally enjoyed it and am sure any Deadliest Catch fan would love it, too (different kind of fishing, but same kind of stories).

[Gregory Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

“The meek may inherit the earth, but they’ll never get my piece of the ocean.”

I really enjoyed this memoir, the author being a swordfish boat captain, known to the world as the captain of the twin boat to the one that disappeared in the 1991 catastrophe documented in Sebastian Junger’s The Perfect Storm. In the movie version, Linda Greenlaw’s character was played by Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, the counterpart to George Clooney’s character who played Captain Billy Tyne.

I found this book in a small bookstore in Boothbay Harbor, Maine, in a section for local authors and I was interested in the true story of a captain who worked in the setting so eloquently described in the book and movie. Happily, Greenlaw is a wonderful writer, who describes the experiences as a swordfish captain with clarity and eloquence. Very satisfying read that I knocked out in one day.

[Doug Schaefer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a recommendation from our local library for the ocean themed summer reading program. It’s an interesting read, and it confirmed a lot of the stereotypes I had about offshore fisherman (drinking, fighting, salty language, etc) but also did a good job showing the loyalty and professionalism of this particular crew. It’s hard, dangerous work and Greenlaw did a great job describing what a typical voyage for her is like. She has a unique perspective as a female boat captain, and she does make mention of some of the challenges she faces as a result of her gender. But, what struck me after finishing the book is how little time she spent on that subject and how much she showed she was obsessed with fishing. A couple of times the technical details about course and equipment got a little boring, but I think that also helped show the importance of meticulous attention to detail and knowledge of gear and navigation when you’re that far off shore. Definitely worth the read.

[Mary Narkiewicz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well you certainly feel like you've entered the world of deep sea fishing boats and their crew.. I was saddened to read about some of the callous ways they treated the swordfish and the other types of sea creatures they caught such as sharks.. Very brutal and even sadistic.

When she speaks of the sea and how navigating a boat works, it's all interesting .. I love the anecdotes about the crew. I like that the men call her "Ma".. and she is a tough gal who really knows her stuff.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really interesting book about life as a modern day sea captain. While Linda Greenlaw writes with some very technical nautical language that I could not always follow, I also learned quite a bit about the intricacies of leading a sometimes difficult crew, managing a portion of the ocean among the fleet and the never ending stress of serving both the needs of a ship’s owner and the crew who work for you. The more I read, the more I liked this writer.

[Jodie Dagesse · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a very interesting book about a Captain of a Swordfishing trip, who just happened to be a woman. She was unbelievable at her job and well respected among her all male crew. It was mostly about one particular trip and I learned so much about how month long fishing expeditions go. She knew the crew of the Andrea Gale that perished in The Perfect Storm.

[Kathrin Passig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ein bisschen phrasenreich und die Erzählerin ist auch nicht die allersympathischste, aber hey, tausend detaillierte Auskünfte über Schwertfischfang. Und ohne auch nur ein einziges Abschweifungskapitel über Kultur und Geschichte! So geht es doch auch.

[alba · Rating 4 out of 5]

even though it took me forever to read and it was nonfiction (which i’m not usually a fan of), i loved this book! it was so interesting to learn about all the things that come with fishing and the story was so captivating

[Wade · Rating 4 out of 5]

i miss fishing

[Tomi · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am not interested enough in fishing to enjoy this book,

[Ashley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wish I liked the Linda Greenlaw portrayed here more than ended up liking her. The book is fair, but I don't fault her for that. At the time she wrote this, she was simply not a writer. And for someone who hasn't written much, this book is clear, practical, straightforward, unromantic (except for certain awkward moments, where such romanticism seemed forced). I admire her attitude and her toughness as a person, but I simply did not like this book, despite being a fiend for all literature nautical in nature. First, I simply could not get over the fact that her response to a seething, ugly racist on her crew was silence. Not just once, but several times. He verbally attacked a black man who was also on the crew--and who, it appears by the end of the book, is the most able crewman aboard. He calls him a nigger and a "porch monkey" and Linda has very little to say about this. She takes great care to let us know this young racist is a good kid and a good crewman. He'll settle down once we're fishing, she tells the reader. Huh? Just as I reluctantly buy into this, he makes a noose right in front of her and muses about lynching his fellow crewman. Again, there is no response. I was aghast. She's the captain. She has no problem later in the book ripping another crewman a new one because he mentioned over radio the fact that the boat had had a fantastic day of fishing (she didn't want other captain's to overhear the transmission and then try to encroach on her berth). In fact, she rips him, acidly, for a full day. However, she has nothing to say to Carl, who calls a fellow crewman a porch monkey, a nigger, and who mentions in her presence that he'd like to "lynch" him? Because she spends so much time talking about crew morale, about how important their states of collective mind are, I don't see any compelling reason why she handled this the way she did. And I found it very hard to get back on track after reading those scenes. No, a commercial boat is not going to be the f-ing Rainbow Coalition. Linda's silence in the fact of this crap was bad enough, but when she tried then to tell the reader that this young man was one of the best crewmen she'd ever worked with, I was done here.

Of course, I finished the book (I always do) and found some interesting parts to distract me from this. But then we get to the part where a swordfish is stabbed, tied to the stern, and lit on fire, just to "change our luck." (Disturbingly, the very few negative reviews of this book I've read on Goodreads have only mentioned reviewers' disgust with the swordfish scene, not a peep about the creepy way Greenlaw ignored the vile attacks on her best crewman).

Again, I fully realize that the sea is not romantic, not to a commercial fisherman. It's the most difficult, dangerous job for a reason, and there is no luxury aboard of being able to examine your philosophies when you're in the midst of it. However, there was plenty of time for reflection by the time Greenlaw wrote this. To her credit, she included the ugliness of Carl's treatment of Peter, but she did not address it. It seemed to be included only to add color.

Gah. I hate that I don't like this book, because two authors I admire immensely--Sebastian Junger and Douglas Whynott--both praised this account. Sigh. This has been the summer of Hating Books Everyone Else Loves.

[Drebbles · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Hungry Ocean" written by Swordfish Captain Linda Greenlaw, details one of her 30 day swordfishing expeditions. Greenlaw describes the preparations she makes before leaving on the trip; the personalities of the men accompanying her on the trip; how she decides where they are going to do the actual fishing; the fishing itself and the equipment used; how she decides when the fishing trip is over; and finally, shows a receipt detailing the money spent on the trip and how much money each fisherman made. Interspersed with the details of this particular trip are chapters called "Mug-Up" with anecdotes of past fishing trips.

"The Hungry Ocean" is a fascinating read. Greenlaw doesn't dwell on the fact that she is a female working in a job dominated by men. She provides detailed explanations of what needs to be done on board to prepare for the fishing, although she sometimes lost me in describing some of the details. I wish pictures had been included of some of the equipment she used. Greenlaw also describes how she deals with the inevitable problems that come up when a number of sleep deprived people are working together in a cramped space for a long period of time.

One of the best parts of the book are the small details Greenlaw includes: how they cook and prepare food on a moving boat, eating off Pyrex pie plates to keep the food from falling off; the practical jokes they play on new fishermen to break the boredom; and the various superstitions fishermen have. For the most part, Greenlaw comes across as likable, but I couldn't help but feel sorry for the fish as she describes their struggle once captured. Still, I don't begrudge the fishermen; it's a tough and dangerous way to make a living.

"The Hungry Ocean" is a very compelling read.

[Ida]

Linda Greenlaw is the accomplished sword fishing boat captain mentioned in Sebastian Junger's "The Perfect Storm." This is an engaging account of her own about the life and work of deep sea fishing. Coming to the book knowing next to nothing about it, I was reeled right in (sorry, not sorry.) She does a good job balancing stories of human interaction and the characters she encountered with technical information about the work itself. So it's pretty informative but not dry (sorry, not sorry again.) Fascinating read.

[Kasey Jane · Rating 2 out of 5]

Back in 2004, I was a deckhand on a commercial fishing boat up in Bristol Bay. My experience was pretty different from the one that Greenlaw described -- we were gill netting close to shore, not long lining in international waters -- but it was still fun to reminisce.

I liked the technical details of the fishery, unlike a few reviewers apparently. I am confused why someone would read about a highly-technical field if they didn't want to be confronted with the details of that field? Oh right, because they saw a movie and they didn't have to learn anything to be entertained. Whatever.

My biggest beef with this book is the writing style: Greenlaw is pretty obviously a captain and not a writer. She may come into her own as a writer (and I hope that she does) but she wasn't there when this was written. She was at her best when she described the action of fishing, but the structure of the book felt a little clunky and unpolished.

Although my experience gill netting was pretty different from long lining for swordfish, one truth is universal. Saltwater bidets suck.