35 years ago, a storm formed that took six fishermen from Massachusetts
Historical records show that on Oct. 28, 1991, a severe weather system developed east of Nova Scotia, leading to the loss of the vessel Andrea Gail.
By Madison Lewis ·
On Oct. 28, 1991, a weather system began to form hundreds of miles east of Nova Scotia. This event is now known as The Perfect Storm. The formation of this storm led to the death of six crew members from the Andrea Gail.
The Andrea Gail was a fishing boat based in Gloucester, Massachusetts. The six men aboard were lost at sea during the storm. The incident occurred 35 years before this year’s date.
The date of Oct. 28 has marked several other major historical events across the past four centuries. In 1636, the General Court of Massachusetts passed a legislative act to establish Harvard College. This act laid the groundwork for one of the oldest institutions of higher learning in the United States.
Retail history also traces back to this date. In 1858, Rowland Hussey Macy opened his first New York store at Sixth Avenue and 14th Street in Manhattan. This location became the starting point for the Macy’s department store chain.
In 1886, President Grover Cleveland dedicated the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor. The statue was a gift from the people of France. In 1936, President Franklin D. Roosevelt rededicated the statue on its 50th anniversary.
Political milestones are also recorded for this day. In 1919, Congress passed the Volstead Act over President Woodrow Wilson’s veto. This act provided the means to enforce the Prohibition-era ban on alcohol. In 1962, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev informed the United States that he had ordered the dismantling of missile bases in Cuba. The U.S. secretly agreed to remove nuclear missiles from Turkey, ending the Cuban missile crisis.
More recent events include the 2021 rebranding of Facebook to Meta by CEO Mark Zuckerberg to encompass its virtual-reality vision. In 2022, Paul Pelosi, the 82-year-old husband of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, was severely beaten in their San Francisco home. In 2024, the Pentagon disclosed that North Korea had sent about 10,000 troops to Russia to train and likely fight against Ukraine.
