After two continuous hours of being attacked by orcas, the ill-fated yacht sank to the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea.
Robert Powell (59 years old) and his crew had only set sail for 22 hours on a 10-day journey from Vilamoura, Portugal to Greece on a €100,000 yacht – equivalent to $128,680, according to New York Post.
Orcas are believed to attack yachts for entertainment. (Photo: Vidar Nordli Mathisen).
“For me, they (the orcas) are not playing at all; they know exactly the weak points of the boat and deliberately aim to sink it,” Powell, who intended to celebrate his birthday on the yacht in the Mediterranean, told SWNS.
“Their intention was to sink the boat, and that is what happened.”
Five orcas surrounded the 39-foot (approximately 12 meters) yacht, taking turns smashing it into pieces around 8 PM in a coordinated attack. Powell compared it to a pack of wolves attacking their prey.
The $128,000 yacht was sunk by five orcas. (Photo: SWNS).
The IT company owner said he felt the first impact at the bottom of the boat and thought they had struck a rock.
“While the boat was moving at about 5-6 knots, I tried to look around to see if I could spot anything when the boat was hit again,” Powell recounted.
“When the boat was struck for the second time, I looked back and saw the dark shape of an orca in the water.”
Initially, a pod of five orcas focused their attacks on the rudder; after 15 strikes, the yacht was no longer maneuverable. They then spread out, with each orca targeting different parts of the boat, including the hull and the stern.
“They surrounded the boat like a pack of wolves hunting prey,” Powell described. “The orcas took turns attacking, sometimes two would charge in at the same time and ram the boat. It was truly terrifying.”
The crew was rescued by a passing Spanish ship just minutes before the Bonhomme William sank. (Photo: Robert Powell/SWNS).
After about an hour and a half of being attacked, the hull was bent and eventually broke under the pressure from the pod of orcas, causing water to flood the living area of the yacht.
As soon as the attacks began, the crew immediately called for help. They were only 2 miles from the Spanish coast, but it took two hours for rescue teams to arrive and help them escape from the sinking vessel, which went down to a depth of 130 feet (about 40 meters) in the Mediterranean Sea.
Powell stated that he tried everything, such as turning off the engine and dropping buoys into the water to deter the attacks, but the orcas remained relentless.
“It was a very long and truly fierce attack; it surprised me,” he said. Powell believes that this pod of orcas may have been the cause of terror for other boaters in the area over the years.
Previously, in May, a pod of orcas sank a 50-foot yacht in Moroccan waters after repeatedly ramming the vessel.
Some studies suggest that orcas are targeting boats for “entertainment.”
