Famed skipper and Maine author Linda Greenlaw headed back to sea Monday to resume her made-for-TV swordfishing trip after being arrested and hauled into a Canadian court for allegedly fishing inside Canada’s 200-mile limit.

Greenlaw, 47, notified her family that she and the crew were in good spirits despite being boarded last week by Canadian authorities, then arrested and detained in St. John’s, Newfoundland, before making bail Friday.

The fishing boat captain, made famous by the book and subsequent movie “The Perfect Storm,” may have been working to untangle miles long fishing lines when the boat she was on, the Sea Hawk, drifted over the international fishing border into Canadian waters, according to her parents, James and Martha Greenlaw of Isle au Haut.

Greenlaw called her parents after the boarding so they wouldn’t worry, her mother said. “She knew I would be very concerned,” Martha Greenlaw said Monday. “She wasn’t worried. I’m sure she was upset.”

Greenlaw hasn’t commanded a swordfishing boat in nearly a decade, her mother said. Instead, she has been lobstering from her home on Isle au Haut. But the popular author has been spending a growing share of her time writing and promoting her work, and has had little time to lobster this season, her mother said.

Greenlaw had recently returned from a book tour when she was called by NBC and asked to lead a swordfishing trip that would be filmed for an eight-episode series tentatively entitled “Sword.”

Greenlaw saw the mission as good for her high-profile writing career, even though the trip would be demanding physically and mentally, her parents said. The boat left Fairhaven, Mass., on Sept. 16 and began steaming for Georges Bank, the productive fishing grounds that span both U.S. and Canadian waters.

Canadian authorities charged Greenlaw with violating their fishing territory on Sept. 23. They say a fisheries patrol plane spotted the Sea Hawk fishing in Canadian waters, according to Canadian press reports. Fisheries officers boarded the vessel and arrested Greenlaw and the boat was escorted into St. John’s early Friday.

Greenlaw appeared in court Friday. She and the boat’s owner posted a certified check for $65,000 to secure the release of Greenlaw, the Sea Hawk, and its catch pending an Oct. 27 court date, said Marlene Kenney, a Newfoundland court officer. The bond for Greenlaw was $10,000 of that.

Martha Greenlaw was shocked to see pictures of her daughter being led into the court in handcuffs.

“She talked to her dad and said she had been boarded and would have to go to court and the owner of the ship would have to arrive and pay the bails,” Martha Greenlaw said. “She knew all that and said to him, ‘Tell mom not to worry. They won’t throw me in handcuffs or in a cell.'”

Her mother said that her daughter charted her course using global-positioning software, and that any violation of Canadian waters was accidental. “She was well aware she was not in Canadian waters,” Martha Greenlaw said. “When they did their first set, she had done everything on GPS and had charted everything She had plenty of proof of where she was.”

However, fishing has more than its share of the unexpected. “When they put their lines out, 40 miles of line, I think the lines got tangled and she probably didn’t realize she had drifted into Canadian water,” her mother said.

Michael Savasuk, a maritime lawyer in Portland, said it’s unusual for the Canadian authorities to board and arrest someone for a fishing boundary violation.

“The Canadian Coast Guard are pretty good about giving warnings,” he said. “When they use this kind of force, it’s usually because they were warned and did not heed the warning.”

Those warnings come in by computer, and sometimes fishermen are so focused on their gear they aren’t aware they’ve been issued a warning, Savasuk said.

If it appears the fishing boat is ignoring the warnings, the authorities, U.S. or Canadian, would take more aggressive steps, he said, though he has never heard of fishermen being handcuffed as they’re brought to court for a boundary infraction.

He said fisherman often fish right alongside the line, increasing the potential for inadvertent incursions.

A Colby College graduate, Greenlaw survived the so-called perfect storm of 1991 and was the last person in contact with the Andrea Gail, a swordfish boat from Gloucester, Mass., that sank with all hands. Her role in the hit movie was played by Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio.

A silver lining to Greenlaw’s detention was that they missed the worst of Hurricane Kyle as it headed east past the Gulf of Maine.

Her parents said they were worried about her but confident that she would be prudent.

“We were anxious, of course,” said her father, James Greenlaw. “We’re always anxious when she’s out. She was watching the weather. If there’s a hurricane in one direction she probably would be headed in the other direction. She’s got a pretty good feel when to go and when not to go.”

Copy the Story Link