What is the perfect storm based on?
Then, is the perfect storm based on a true story?
The film only claims to be "based on a true story", and differs in many ways from the book starting with the fictionalization of the material into a "story". The events shown in the film after the Andrea Gail's last radio contact are pure speculation, as the boat and the bodies of the crew were never found.
Similarly one may ask, has the Andrea Gail been found?
In 1991 several items from the Andrea Gail were found. A 406Mhz EPIRB in the off position, a propane tank, fuel drums, an empty life raft, and some flotsam were found. Fishermen note that the island is about 180 miles East Northeast of the Andrea Gail's last known position.
The book is about the 1991 Perfect Storm that hit North America between October 28 and November 4, 1991, and features the crew of the fishing boat Andrea Gail, from Gloucester, Massachusetts, who were lost at sea during severe conditions while longline fishing for swordfish 575 miles (925 km) out.