The Hungry Ocean

May 10, 1999
She's smart, hard-working and good at what she does, though sometimes she wishes she had a life. Greenlaw is captain of the Hannah Boden, sister ship to the Andrea Gail, the sword-fishing boat whose disappearance was described with agonizing verisimilitude in Sebastian Junger's bestseller, The Perfect Storm. Greenlaw tells a comparatively quotidian tale, "the true story of a real, and typical, sword-fishing trip, from leaving the dock to returning." Not trying to compete with Junger's operatic tale of death on the high seas, Greenlaw deals with stormy personalities rather than with bad weather. She rounds out the story with her gimlet-eyed description of a captain's biggest headache after nature itself: the crew. Racism, drug use, baffling illnesses: these are all elements of a 30-day journey for six people crammed aboard a 100-ft. boat designed less for human comfort than to carry the 50,000 pounds or more of fish it will eventually take on. But Greenlaw picks her sailors carefully and, through her own example, inspires a fierce loyalty among the men--such as the one who extracted his own abscessed tooth rather than return to shore ("In my experience," she notes, "very few men are willing to pull their own teeth"). Greenlaw's narrative should foster an abiding respect in anyone who has tossed a swordfish steak on the grill, and it is certain to induce jaw-dropping admiration among personnel managers everywhere. Photos not seen by PW.

May 3, 1999
Greenlaw, captain of a commercial swordfishing boat, tells a new brand of salty tale. She is a woman who has succeeded in a codified and clannish man's vocation, and her take on life at sea is clear-eyed and fresh as she relates the day-to-day facts of a single voyage. Reading her diarylike entries, she sounds straightforward and real--without suffering the flatness of tone that often afflicts nonprofessional performers. She starts on sailing day, telling how her boat is prepared, then introduces her five-man crew as they arrive shipside--with telltale pounding hangovers. Then she gets into the dynamic of the job, what it means to spend 30 days in a 100-ft. space, working long hours. With the crew, naturally, come "crew problems": sickness, conflicts, insubordination. Here, Greenlaw shines, giving a wonderful sense of what she calls "the etiquette" of her work. Greenlaw proves that it doesn't take life-and-death conflict to make sea adventure compelling; what sets her world apart is spelled out in the details, as she succinctly depicts her singular way of life. Thanks to the intimacy afforded by the spoken-word medium, listeners will feel as if they're right alongside the captain on her journey. Based on the 1999 Little, Brown hardcover.

May 15, 1999
Greenlaw is the female skipper of a commercial swordfishing boat and was a primary source of technical detail for Sebastian Junger's best-selling The Perfect Storm (LJ 5/15/97). The Hungry Ocean details a 30-day swordfishing trip from Gloucester to the Grand Banks. Greenlaw describes her boat, equipment, and various electronic gear, including the "temperature bird" that is lowered to measure the temperature at the fishing depth, as well as her technique for finding just the right area to fish. The process of laying out the 40-mile longline, with radio beacons at intervals so that the expensive gear and the catch can be hauled aboard, is also discussed in great detail. Greenlaw also tells of life aboard for her crew, including personality conflicts that invariably subside when the tired and busy crew is occupied with the grueling haul-back of the catch. After all their hard work, there is the gut-wrenching suspense of not knowing what the market price of the catch will be. An exciting and detailed look inside the commercial fishing industry, sure to be popular in public libraries.--John Kenny, San Francisco P.L.

Copyright 1999 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2000
YA-The story of a woman who attended college, worked on fishing ships, and became a fishing captain. Greenlaw's name came to national attention a few years ago in Sebastian Junger's The Perfect Storm (Knopf, 1997) when her vessel's sister ship capsized, losing all its crew. Here, readers accompany the captain and her five-man crew as they travel in calmer weather on the Hannah Boden from their home port of Gloucester, MA, to catch swordfish on the Grand Banks of the North Atlantic. The readable, straightforward account of the trip reveals the day-to-day regularity of steaming to the site, preparing, setting, and hauling in the four-mile long fishing line, followed by cleaning and icing the catch. This routine allows for about four hours of sleep per day and continues for two to three weeks. It's a demanding job and the necessary precision of tasks handled by the crew is astonishing. Interspersed throughout the book are chapters entitled "Mug-Up," which provide folkloric background about ships and fishing superstitions. A fascinating look at an unusual career.-Pam Spencer, Young Adult Literature Specialist, Virginia Beach, VA

Copyright 2000 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 1999
Originally profiled in Sebastian Junger's hugely popular "The Perfect Storm" (1997), Captain Greenlaw pens her account of one memorable fishing trip to the Grand Banks of Newfoundland aboard her ship the "Hannah Boden." Greenlaw and crew are in search of a "slammer," one month at sea that hopefully will bring them upwards of 60,000 pounds of very valuable fish. Probably the world's only female swordboat captain, Greenlaw recounts the 20-hour workdays, the frequent equipment breakdowns, and the in-fighting that eventually erupts among her crew. Not surprisingly, her all-male crew includes some macho types, but that's something Greenlaw uses to her advantage; her efforts are always matched or bettered by the men, as "No self-respecting fisherman will allow himself to be outworked by a woman." Exciting and gritty, especially when the big fish are biting and Greenlaw is expertly detailing the dangerous world of deep-ocean fishing. ((Reviewed May 15, 1999))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1999, American Library Association.)