The incident occurred when two teenage brothers, Wyatt Yager (19 years old, from Maine) and Colin (16 years old), were on their way to go fishing early in the morning. In a moment of chance, the Yager brothers captured the entire terrifying event on video.
According to Wyatt’s account, he and his brother were fishing about a mile off the coast of New Hampshire in search of bait when Colin spotted a whale and began filming.
Initially, the two brothers were very excited, but just seconds later, the situation suddenly turned frightening as the massive whale breached the surface and collided with a nearby small boat.
Whale capsizes boat, two people fall into the sea.
The video shows the whale breaching the water to hunt. When it closed its mouth and fell back into the water, its massive body struck a nearby fishing boat. The impact caused the boat to capsize, throwing the two men onboard into the sea. Fortunately, the Yager brothers were quick to respond and saved the stranded individuals from the water.
“It’s a miracle that I’m still alive,” said Mr. Kenney, one of the two individuals who fell into the sea, shuddering as he recounted the experience.
This is not the first time there has been a collision between marine animals and boats. Since 2023, killer whales have attacked hundreds of boats in the Gibraltar Strait. However, similar incidents involving whales are quite rare.
Whales typically avoid the Portsmouth harbor area, but recently, humpback whales have been spotted closer to shore than ever before. According to WGME, just one day before the capsizing incident, a humpback whale was sighted near the Piscataqua River mouth. Humpback whales can grow up to 60 feet long and weigh 36.3 tons. Their massive size makes them capable of easily destroying a boat.
This incident raises once again the alarm about the potential “collisions” between marine animals and human vessels.
Sara Morris from the Shoals Marine Laboratory at the University of New Hampshire stated, “I think one of the important things is that when seeing whales, boats need to keep a safe distance as far as possible. Avoid unnecessary collision situations like the one we just witnessed.”
After the incident, the boat was also rescued.
