A New Hampshire whale smashes into a fishing boat, sending men sailing into the Atlantic.
Off the coast of New Hampshire, a whale struck a small boat as it was mid-breach. The impact caused the boat to capsize, throwing two fishermen overboard in a matter of seconds.
Two teenage brothers from Maine named Colin and Wyatt Yager, who were on an adjacent vessel, shared the film on social media on Tuesday. According to reporting by Seacoastonline, a part of the USA TODAY Network, it has been replayed several times in the previous few hours.
Since it was uploaded, one video in particular has received over four million views and hundreds of comments. The caption alerts locals about the possibility of a “pissed off whale” patrolling the waters near Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
The caption reads, “If you’re out there, head on swivel.”
The fishermen’s boat overturned near Odiorne Point in Rye, New Hampshire, and the teenagers “swiftly rescued” them, according to U.S. Coast Guard spokesperson Diolanda Caballero, who talked with Seacoastonline.
According to Wyatt Yager, who spoke with Seacoastonline, all of the boats stayed close to the edge of the school of fish so the whale could feed, so at first he wasn’t concerned about it. However, it approached the vessel a bit too closely, which led to its overturning.
“I was merely stunned. “Everyone else responded in the same way and attempted to win those people over,” he remarked. “We had to go help these people after it was like, ‘Oh shoot.'” Every boat abandoned what they were doing in order to reach them and assist.”
Both the whale and the guys who were tossed into the water escaped unharmed, according to Caballero.
The Coast Guard has been contacted by USA TODAY for a response.
About an hour after Greg Paquette and Ryland Kenney noticed the whale, it slammed into their boat, sending both men into “fight or flight mode” as soon as they were flung into the ocean, according to Seacoastonline.
“A large crackle was heard,” Kenney said to the publication. “After that, the boat’s bow tipped up, so I veered to the left and kind of leaped off horizontally to avoid the whale and the boat while it was rolling over.”
The whale’s head struck the boat’s engine, and that’s the last thing Paquette remembers seeing before it was hurled into the water.
“Oh no,” I thought as I watched the entire stern fill with water. We’re about to descend. We will submerge at this point, Paquette informed Seacoastonline. In a matter of seconds, they were able to swim away from the flooded boat, but after the initial rush of “energy and adrenaline” subsided, they become extremely weary.
“Today has been quite emotional,” Paquette remarked.
According to Wyatt Yager, the men sat on the Yagers’ boat for roughly fifteen minutes before the brothers let them off at a friend’s boat nearby before the Coast Guard showed up. Following the breach, Paquette and Kenney were taken to the Great Cove Boat Club in Eliot, Maine, according to the two fisherman.
Less than two minutes passed before the males were pulled out of the water by Wyatt, 19, and Colin, 16, who intervened to assist.
“We’re happy they moved so quickly,” Paquette remarked. They never gave it a second thought. We sincerely appreciate both of them.”
Although the whale appeared to make quite a stir, Colin Yager’s response to the “breach” has unintentionally drawn the greatest attention.
Many have remarked on Colin’s response, highlighting how rapidly his intuition took over.
The “amazing scene” was the product of “unfortunate timing,” according to a user by the name of Daisy Evans. She pointed out that the whale was breaching beneath a school of baitfish adjacent to the boat.
As it strikes the boat, you can really see scores of fish coming out of its mouth. She wrote, “The whale was not attacking.”
