Summary of The Hungry Ocean

            The Hungry Ocean is a straightforward telling of one particular thirty-day commercial swordfishing trip aboard the Hannah Boden from her homeport of Gloucester, Massachusetts to the fishing grounds of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland approximately one thousand miles to the east. Running a swordboat is complicated business and Greenlaw's eloquent thrift with words, true to her New England roots, serves her well in describing the physical realities of the trip. Provisioning a one hundred-foot fishing boat with crew of six for thirty days at sea is the easy part for an experienced captain like Greenlaw. The fifty boxes of groceries doesn't change much each trip, nor do the twelve thousand pounds of squid (bait, not dinner), three thousand hooks, eight thousand chemical lightsticks and other tackle necessary to rig a forty-mile fishing line. The challenge is in those things you don't buy at the store. .
             Greenlaw writes that "finding a productive piece of water and protecting it from encroachers is absolutely the toughest and most critical part of a swordfish captain's job." That Greenlaw is a woman is not a factor in these territorial scuffles. She faces the same problems as any male CEO dealing with cutthroat competitors and employees and partners who don't always share the boss's view. No quarter is given Greenlaw because of her gender and none is asked. .
             The cutting edge technology aboard the Hannah Boden utilized in tracking weather and finding fish is explained clearly and makes for interesting reading. These great scientific advancements are key elements in increasing the safety and productivity for the modern fishing boat off shore. Although very little at sea is fool proof, this technology did not prevent the loss of the Andrea Gail, sister ship to the Hannah Boden, and her crew of six during the Halloween gale of 1991 as described in Sebastion Junger's best seller The Perfect Storm (see reviews).