Stormy Entertainment Trivia Quiz

Answer: Joseph Conrad

Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski was born in Poland and didn't learn English until he was in his 20s. He wrote many nautical stories, drawing from his own nearly eleven years of service in the merchant marine. "Typhoon" tells of a steamship in a typhoon, a type of ship and crew quite different than the sailing vessels that they were replacing. One of the most memorable scenes was the sound coming from the crowded Chinese passengers; nothing loud or dramatic, but the sound of the silver coins they had labored to earn sliding and tinkling in the bilges of the ship as it rolls and heaves in the violent sea.

Answer: The Caine Mutiny

Herman Wouk served on a destroyer-minesweeper in WW2, providing for realism in his 1951 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. "The Caine Mutiny" includes a account of a fictional destroyer-minesweeper enduring a severe lashing from a typhoon, based on an actual instance of a fleet under Admiral William Halsey in Typhoon Cobra in December 1944.

In the actual storm, three destroyer-type vessels capsized and sank, and many other ships suffered significant damage, loss of life, and injuries. The fictional USS Caine was in severe danger, with the Captain and his second in command disagreeing on the safest course of action. Humphrey Bogart played the captain, Lieutenant Commanded Queeg, in a memorable performance in the 1954 movie based on the novel.

Answer: The West Wing

Martin Sheen starred as fictional President Jed Bartlett in "The West Wing" from 1999-2006. The first season episode "The State Dinner" revolves around a visit by the President of Indonesia, a difficult guest. Many emergencies distract President Bartlett from the dinner, including a large hurricane that strikes a naval task force that was sent to sea in an attempt to avoid the storm's predicted track.

The President speaks directly to one of the smaller ships that has lost propulsion and is in extreme danger; when he asks to speak to the ship's captain, the young radio operator informs the President that the captain is busy and he can't get in touch with him, leaving the President to console the scared young man in what may be his last moments.

Answer: Jimmy Buffett

The song first appeared on Buffets album "A1A", named for a coastal road that runs the length of Florida's Atlantic coast and on to Key West. The song is about a stereotypical Florida Keys beach bum that tries to stay drunk during all of hurricane season, 1 June - 30 November each year. Chesney reprised the song in 2018, duetting with Buffett.

Answer: Scorpions

Other than the title, the song really has nothing to do with meteorological storms. The Scorpions formed in 1965 in Hanover, West Germany. Their 1984 album "Love At First Sting" was their first big commercial success, largely due to "Rock You Like A Hurricane" which reached number 25 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Answer: Key Largo

"Key Largo" was the fourth and last movie appearance together for Bogart and his wife Lauren Bacall. Bogey plays a man visiting his war buddy in a hotel in Key Largo. A hurricane isolates a diverse group, including a gangster played by Edward G. Robinson, that Bogart has to deal with while the storm rages. Key Largo (Spanish for "long key") is in the northern Florida Keys, closer to Miami than it is to the end of the Overseas Highway at Key West.

Answer: National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

NOAA is an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce that concentrates on scientific study of the oceans and atmosphere (as the name indicates). Many well-known agencies are parts of NOAA: the National Weather Service, National Ocean Service, National Marine Fisheries Service, and the National Hurricane Center among others.

The game "Hurricane Hero" was just one of approximately twenty educational games and interactive applications that were available on the NOAA website.

Answer: The Storm on the Sea of Galilee

Matthew, Luke, and Mark were three of the disciples of Jesus, and the only answer listed from the life of Jesus was of Him calming a storm on the Sea of Galilee. Rembrandt painted the piece in 1633.

Answer: Cape Fear

The Cape Fear River rises in the mountains of western North Carolina, flows past the city of Wilmington and enters the Atlantic Ocean at Cape Fear. The 1962 version of "Cape Fear" starred Gregory Peck as attorney Sam Bowden, and Robert Mitchum as Max Cady, a convict that Bowden had previously defended, but not to Mr. Cady's satisfaction.

In the 1991 version, Nick Nolte and Robert De Niro played the main characters. In an interesting twist, Gregory Peck played another defense attorney and Robert Mitchum played a police lieutenant in the 1991 version.

Answer: The Perfect Storm

Adventurer Sebastian Junger wrote "The Perfect Storm" about an actual 1991 storm that hit the New England states of the U.S. and the maritime provinces of Canada. The book tells the true story of the crew of the fishing vessel Andrea Gail, and her crew out of Gloucester, MA.

However, since all of the crew perished when the boat sank, the descriptions of their voyage and eventual deaths are the "creative" part. Junger describes the physiological processes involved in drowning in cold, clinical style that really hits home when you consider the crew experiencing that.