A British yacht captain said a pod of orcas repeatedly rammed his boat for two hours off the coast of Portugal last month, the latest of more than 40 unexplained killer whale attacks on vessels off the Iberian coast in the last six months.
"I don't frighten easily and this was terrifying," British sailor David Smith told the BBC last week.
Smith and his crew were delivering a 45-foot yacht to a new location for a client when the pod of six or seven killer whales began ramming the underside of the vessel.
"It was continuous," Smith said. "I think there were six or seven animals, but it seemed like the juvenile ones — the smaller ones — were most active. They seemed to be going for the rudder" — typical of what others have reported in the string of attacks.
Portuguese maritime authorities advised Smith to shut down the boat's engine to make it "uninteresting" to the orcas — but it didn't work. Smith said he feared the pummeling would damage the rudder structure that steers the boat.
"If that fractures, you're really in trouble," Smith said. "I was definitely preparing to ask the Portuguese coast guard to send a helicopter to get us off."
The orcas suddenly departed after two hours.
Scientists, initially skeptical of the reported orca attacks, have begun investigating. Though no humans have been injured, the attacks appear to be increasingly aggressive.
Some media reports have characterized the orcas as a "rogue" pod of killer whales out for revenge, possibly for boat injuries.
Scientists, however, have speculated that the encounters may be some form of "play" for the juvenile orcas. Three juvenile male orcas appear to be involved in most of the attacks, according to video footage reviewed by scientists. They show signs of injuries from boats.
"It's mainly two of those guys ... just going crazy," biologist Renaud de Stephanis told the BBC. "They just play, play, and play. And the game is getting worse and worse."
Spanish authorities have prohibited smaller boats from the area of the reported attacks.
Victoria Morris told The Guardian about an attack in July on a 46-foot sailboat where she was a crew member. She recalled the horror she felt as she prepared to abandon ship as some nine killer whales repeatedly bashed the hull as they "whistled to each other." It felt "totally orchestrated," she said. A chunk of the vessel's rudder was bitten away.
In August a French-flagged vessel radioed authorities to say it was "under attack" by orcas.
Later that same day, a Spanish naval yacht lost part of its rudder in an encounter with orcas. One crew member can be heard on a videotape of the clash that one of the orcas was eating the rudder.
In September three orcas repeatedly rammed a sailing boat off the coast of Spain for 45 minutes as it traveled to Scotland. That crew also reported the animals bit off part of the rudder.
Fishing boats steal their food. They can't tell a yacht or a military boat from a fishing craft. They are highly intelligent. They are defending what they think is theirs.
I saw a video there about deep line tuna fishermen, and they were showing the orcas eat half or all of giant tuna (100s of pounds) as they were being reeled in by giant motorized wheels, and the fishermen were videotaped, "Well, what can we do?" and the presentation acted as if that were true.
Thus, once the cameras are gone, they start shooting the whales - guaranteed, which pissed them off.
Portuguese maritime authorities advised Smith to shut down the boat's engine to make it "uninteresting" to the orcas — but it didn't work
Sounds like the authorities really wanted them to shut down their engine so the orcas wouldn't be injured by the propeller, that was their main concern.
I don't think they were playing. They're probably hungry and hoping to knock a sailor off the boat or capsize it. Maybe this group has got a taste for human flesh eating migrants.
adipocere I just recently read some identical stories of orcas attacking boats off the coast of Australia. There were like three separate incidents. If no one has reported this behavior in the past, then what is going on with the orca now to cause this behavior? Or is it it's happened in the past, but because of the information age, like George Floyd becoming like a catalyst for police on black, if not for the news media,cellphone video, he would have been just another untold story?
Alisadoll et al. My view is that all the incidents with wild life are showing us the devastation humans are having on the environment and to wake up because we are next.
Joyly It’s only some humans that are bad. Very few but they are the deciders. And they owe their allegiance to pure evil which hates mankind.
We could have free clean energy like Ashgabat does, a Tesla system, and be just fine. Check it out.
There’s no over population either, just distributed poorly. Everyone could fit in Arizona on one square yard each.
It’s the unjust system of the Phoenicians (Canaanites) with the worst dirty technology and exploitative banking system that destroys and steals everything from us. We’re caught in their system.
It’s not humanity in general that’s the problem. Don’t fall for that false paradigm. The great liar would have you believe you are the evil one. And point to everyone and everything else instead.
Alisadoll I believe we are complicit through our acceptance and lack of action to prevent evil.
‘Evil requires the consent of good people’.
For myself I know I have to firstly educate myself, then speak truth and act in harmony with that - no matter what. I absolutely have to become more involved in politics ; just voting once every four years or not (because I judge no candidate worthy of my vote) shows my lack of responsibility and then I deserve whatever I get. My inaction my lack of involvement has helped create that result.
ReRan Well, it’s just as bad for them since dna is in every living thing. It will literally destroy the structure of it. It’s pretty much anti life. All life.
I did reed long time ago that Orcas can make and very strong sound-pulse they use to stun their prey, if their prey follow under a boat which I think they often do, and the orcas come and make this sound-pulse (205 dB) if will sound like they attack the boat.
Hasse Well, if I was an orca, I damn sure would split this silly planet. (BTW, before you ask, the answer is 42. )
But seriously, H, . . .
Really! I have probably surfed on at least 100 different waves where dolphins* were surfing the same wave with me and about 20 with sharks. (All that I knew of.)
When I was a kid ~age 13? I was at this dock, { [Link] }and in our 'river' (nowadays called the Indian River Lagoon) ,in an area about 50 X50 meters, were ~80? dolphins enjoying themselves in a West Virginie tradition! What's that? A family orgy!
It was incredible and made me wish to be a porpoise oops, dolphin. And that's true..
R.C.
*We call them 'porpoises' - something I've only learned in the last ten years.
Comment: Strange animal behavior: 'I've never seen or heard of attacks' - Scientists baffled by orcas harassing boats