Corrected entry: In the scene where the Coast Guard para-rescuer jumps into the water to save the two woman and the male captain, the rescuer introduces himself as Sgt. Jonesy. The Coast Guard does not have the rank of Sergeant. They have Petty Officers.
Corrected entry: The film, being based on a true story, is supposed to be set in 1991. If it is, then why does the weather man who studies the storm have a very modern flat screen monitor?
Correction: I was using monitors with flat screens in 1991 and before. They may not have been as common and cheap as they are now but the technology has been around for many years.
Correction: They were not actually available until the mid 90's.
Corrected entry: In on of the scenes the Andrea Gale completely rolled over. When they show the guys in that are below deck, the TV that is on the shelf behind them hadn't moved an inch.
Correction: Everything's bolted down in ships.
Corrected entry: When the storm is over and people are mourning at the church, you hear the group of people singing a song in remembrance. But, look at the people. Despite a large number of people singing, none are moving their mouths.
Correction: When the female boat captain is up at the podium giving her eulogy, it cuts to a scene from her point of view where she is looking at the audience. It is in this scene where you can see the full choir and an organist in the balcony (on the second floor).
Corrected entry: The woman on the other boat at sea receives a "Weather Fax."
Correction: The "Weather Fax" is a real thing. It is broadcast over radio waves to ships at sea.
Corrected entry: When the fishermen's loved ones are in the bar trying to get updates on the TV about the ship, and the owner of the boat comes in, everyone including Bugsy's "friend" are acting like they are annoyed with him. But how can Bugsy's friend know how big of an a**hole the owner was, when she never meet the guy, or was never told about him?
Correction: According the Sebastian Junger, author of the "Perfect Storm," the boat's owner had a reputation as being less than caring for the crews that worked his boats. Further, there is a natural tension between boat owners and the men that work those boats that does extend to family members and is understood by those in the community. While the movie doesn't exactly play this up, the owner is potrayed as an ass in the scenes that he is in. It is not beyond belief that the people in that bar would have spoken about the circumstances surrounding the Andrea Gail's disappearance, including the boat's safety record and the owner's treatment of past crews. Therefore, I don't think this really qualifies as a plot hole, since it doesn't take much imagination to understand the scenario.
Corrected entry: When the Andrea Gail's owner comes in to the Crow's Nest to tell the "loved ones" that the rescue chopper had to ditch, Ethel says "If it were good news, he would have called us." Weren't the phones dead?
Correction: Chris's phone is dead, but she doesn't live at the Crow's Nest anymore. There is nothing to suggest that the whole town's phones are out.
Corrected entry: In the shot where Andrea Gail meets the gigantic wave, and thereafter sinks, the wave is moving towards the boat. However, the waves in the preceding shots were moving in the same direction as the boat.
Correction: The Andrea Gail is turned over - bow to stern - by the wave, so it is now pointing in the other direction.
Corrected entry: When Irene enters the bar during the day and the wind is blowing and it is raining, she is carrying an umbrella. A sudden gust of wind causes the umbrella to turn inside out (which usually breaks an umbrella). When Irene is shown entering the bar, she pulls her umbrella down in the usual fashion, and puts it in the umbrella stand, with no signs of it having been broken or having turned facing outward.
Correction: Most umbrella frames are hinged. Meaning they are designed to be able to bend "outwards". I have an umbrella that does that and it easily snaps back into place.
Corrected entry: When George Clooney walks up and talks with Murphy outside the Crow's Nest, Clooney is capless. When he goes inside, he has on his John Deere hat. (00:10:50 - 00:11:40)
Correction: It's possible he put it on between the time he talks to Murph and the time he goes inside the Crow's Nest.
Corrected entry: If they were going where they said they were going wouldn't it be the Canadian Coast Guard that would control the rescue mission?
Corrected entry: In the scene when the sailboat rolls over, you can clearly see that there is no keel.
Correction: Mistral (Satori in real life) was a Westsail 32, which is a full keel boat. The keel is integrated into the hull and is present as the boat rolls in the film. The full keel does not protrude from the center of the boat like a standard sailboat keel.
Corrected entry: At one point when they are piloting the Andrea Gale over the waves the boat crashes down smashing the front windows, the left side windows are then smashed, later on however it becomes quite obvious that the left windows are the only ones broken and the front ones are completely intact.
Correction: It is only the left window that is smashed. In the very first shot you can tell that it is the portside windows because you can see white wiring running above them, which is also seen later in a wider, clearer shot of the bridge.
Corrected entry: In the beginning of the film, the crew of Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio's boat is unloading the body of a sailor who supposedly died while on their most recent expedition. However, when we see the names of all the Gloucester fisherman lost in 1991, it is only the names of the men lost on the Andrea Gail.
Correction: The list is only of those lost at sea. While the sailor died at sea, his body was returned.
Corrected entry: In the scene where Billy Tyne and Linda Greenlaw are in the wheelhouse of the Andrea Gail talking about the romance of being a swordboat captain, Capt. Billy (who knows all the charts by heart) says that "you head out the South channel...head NORTH, open up to twelve..." If you head north and open up to 12 out of Gloucester, you will run aground off (approx.) Ogunquit, Maine in about 3 hours. The Grand Banks are almost DEAD EAST from Gloucester.
Correction: While the Grand Banks are due east of Gloucester, to get there you do not point your boat due east and sail in a 'straight line'. The shortest route between two points on a sphere is along a great circle - and the great circle route from Gloucester to the Grand Banks starts out going north-ish.
Corrected entry: In the scene where Clooney's climbing out on the boom arm with the lit welding torch, he gets dunked under the water for several seconds, long enough for the rest of the crew to get worried. When he comes back up, the blue flame is still going strong, requiring no relighting.
Correction: Most types of welders come with built-in oxygen supply and will work underwater.
Correction: Actually, while all welding torches require a source of oxygen (oxidizer) and a combustible fuel source acetylene, or some other fuel. Underwater torches also require additional sources of oxygen that create a bubble around the actual flame and enable them to work underwater. They require skill and training to operate. They aren't typically found on Swordfish boats. A normal cutting torch that Clooney would have been using in that situation wouldn't even work in high winds. Let alone submerged.
Corrected entry: For the little sailboat near the beginning of the movie - the captain says that he has been sailing for 42 or something years, but when we see the boat in the heavy weather, we can see that the jib (front sail) is out. In the kind of weather they were in, it would have made much more sense to wind in the jib (which just involves furling it around the main stay, so that wouldn't be hard), and try to sail on motor alone.
Correction: The jib is not on the mainstay. There is no mainstay. The jib is on the headstay. The stay running to the stern of the boat is the backstay. The rigging on the port and starboard side of the mast are shrouds. As to the advice of furling (not winding) the jib in and using the engine, the jib would provide a stabilising effort to the boat.
Corrected entry: In one scene, George Clooney's character tells his crew they look like they've had a rough night in Scollay Square. The film is set in 1991, but Scollay Square in Boston, once a wild burlesque/bar area, was turned into Boston's Government Centre in the early 1960's. Scollay Square no longer existed in 1991.
Correction: Government Centre in Boston is STILL unofficially called Scollay Square. There are signs all over the subway station at Government Centre as well as outside the stop. So it is entirely possible for Clooney's character to mention fighting in Scollay Square.
Corrected entry: The helicopter para-rescuer crew member that went missing was called Sgt. "Jonesy" Jones in the movie. In real life, the para-rescuer that was missing and never found was named Sgt Millard Jones.
Correction: The real-life name of the missing pararescue jumper is Tech. Sgt. Arden "Rick" Smith, as stated in the novel. In the film the name is Sgt. Millard "Jonesy" Jones. The film changes the names of every real person, save for the crew of the Andrea Gail and their families.
Correction: The pararescue jumpers are part of the US Air Force, not the Coast Guard. So they have the rank of Sergeant.