i was the captain of the andrea gail's sister ship, the hannah boden. so most people make the "perfect storm" connection right, you know, very quickly. i was running that swordfishing boat the last six years that i swordfished, and because of the book -- people always ask, you know, "how did 'the perfect storm' change your life?" the weather event itself didn't really change my life a great deal, but the book by sebastian junger changed my life from fishing to writing. i started -- because of the generous portrayal of me in that book, started getting a lot of attention from the media and got some attention from publishers. c-span: what year did you start the writing thing, then? >> guest: it took me one year to write my first book, so i started it in 1998 and finished in 1999. c-span: now, when we record this -- we're recording this in august -- your book's number two on "the new york times" best-seller list. did you ever think that would happen? >> guest: no. i have been so surprised and, of course, thrilled that it's happened. c-span: why? why do you