Two fishermen landed in the chilly waters off New Hampshire Tuesday morning when a “pissed off” humpback whale landed on the stern of their boat.
The whale was mid-breach from the surface of the water when it swamped Greg Paquette and Ryland Kenney’s craft, Seacoastonline reported.
The men were in “fight or flight” mode, Kenny told the news outlet.
“I heard a big crackle,” he recounted. “When that happened … the bow tipped up and I went to the left and as (the boat) was rolling over I kind of jumped off horizontally to avoid the whale and the boat.”
Both men swam clear of the boat.
Ryan Whitney posted footage of the incident on X writing, “There is a pissed off whale patrolling the waters of Portsmouth NH today. Head on swivel if you’re out there.”
There is a pissed off whale patrolling the waters of Portsmouth NH today. Head on swivel if you’re out there pic.twitter.com/xQPIHs8ZjN
— Ryan Whitney (@ryanwhitney6) July 23, 2024
The video was shot from the nearby boat of brothers Wyatt Yager, 19, and Colin Yager, 16, of Eliot, Maine, who were fishing for menhaden just after 7 a.m. at the mouth of the Piscataqua River.
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“I was just in shock. Everyone else had the same reaction and tried to get over to those people,” Wyatt Yager said. “It was like, ‘Oh shoot,’ and then, ‘We’ve got to go help these people.’ All the boats dropped what they were doing to go over to help them.”
The teenagers rescued Kenny and Paquette within two minutes of the men going in the water.
“The men stayed in the Yagers’ boat for about 15 minutes, then the brothers dropped them off at a nearby friend’s vessel before the Coast Guard arrived, according to Wyatt Yager. Paquette and Kenney were transported to Great Cove Boat Club in Eliot, Maine after the breach, the two fishermen said,” according to Seacoastonline.
Coast Guard spokesperson Diolanda Caballero said neither the fishermen, nor the whale were injured.
“It’s been an emotional day,” Paquette said.
The Coast Guard had received two mayday calls following the incident.
Dianna Schulte, co-founder and director of research for the Blue Ocean Society for Marine Conservation, told the New York Post she believes the whale was not angry, but rather feeding.
“It was an accident,” she said.
“The whales will come up through schools of fish with their mouth wide open and close their mouth, either right before they break the surface or even after they break the surface,” Schulte explained. “The boat was in the wrong place.”
The menhaden fish, which are experiencing a population boom in the area, are a favorite among whales, dolphins and sharks, according to the Post.
“The whales, when they’re feeding on the fish schools, when they’re that dense, they just can’t see through the fish school, so they don’t know what’s above them, especially on a cloudy day like today. So the whale had no idea that the boat was even there,” Schultz said.
“I’ve been watching whales and researching whales for 30 years, and I’ve never seen a humpback whale purposely hit a boat.”
Schulte told Seacoastonline that it’s “very unusual” to see whales in the location the incident happened.
“I’ve lived on the Piscataqua River all my life,” she said, “I never saw whale in the river.”
