Billy Tyne, captain of the Andrea Gail, ignores the warning of the storm and continues directly into the path of the storm to get to Gloucester as fast as possible. Although he ignored the advice to dock for a while, he does not fail to prepare his ship for the oncoming storm. Everything is tied down and many precautions are made to ensure that the boat will have the best possible chance to survive the storm. Later on, Billy receives a call from Linda Greenlaw, the weather monitor for all fishing boats. She tells him that the storm has turned into a hurricane called Hurricane Grace. Before he even knows it, Billy is the mercy of the powerful storm that is blowing winds up to 104 miles/hour and creating waves up to 45 feet tall.
The first half of this chapter gives us a taste of what storms are like out on the sea for fishermen. It shows us that sometimes fishermen underestimate the storms because they happen so frequently and this can prove to be lethal. Also, Billy Tyne is putting the money that he gets from selling the fish ahead of his primary need of being safe. He no longer cares about his own safety and continues into the storm, although he was warned not to. This was driven by the fact that he wanted to reach Gloucester first and be able to sell his catch for the luxury of having large amounts of money.
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