A humpback whale that an expert said was looking for food breached the water and landed on a recreational boat near Portsmouth, N.H., on Tuesday, capsizing the vessel and ejecting two passengers, the United States Coast Guard said.
The Northern New England sector of the Coast Guard received a mayday call for a 23-foot boat that had capsized when a whale shot up from underneath the boat and flopped onto it, about half a mile east of Odiorne Point State Park.
The dramatic flip was caught on video by Colin Yager, 16, who was out fishing on another boat nearby, according to WHDH in Boston. He sped over to rescue the two boaters in the water, neither of whom were injured. The whale also appeared to be uninjured, the Coast Guard said.
“It’s was a harrowing experience,” Gregg Paquette, one of the two passengers knocked over by the whale, told WHDH. He continued, “We were lucky; we were really lucky.”
Mr. Paquette told the local news station that he was out bait fishing with Ryland Kenney when the whale came from underneath the back of the boat and collapsed onto the stern. Mr. Kenney said the episode happened within a matter of seconds.
“I was probably about three feet from the whale’s head, and I saw him come up and open his mouth,” Mr. Kenney said. “I think that’s when I was like, ‘Whoa,’ and his mouth closed and it crunched the engine.”
That’s when the Yager brothers turned their boat around to rescue their fellow fishermen.
“I just dropped everything and just started driving over to them,” Wyatt Yager, 19, told WHDH. “They swam around to the back and climbed up the ladder.”
Dianna Schulte, a co-founder and director of research at the Blue Ocean Society for Marine Conservation in Portsmouth, said the whale was likely feeding on bait fish.
“It’s feeding season for many large whales, like humpbacks, who don’t eat during their winter breeding season in the Caribbean. This whale wasn’t ‘angry’ — it was hungry,” she wrote in a statement posted to social media. “Boaters happened to be in the area at the same time.”
“If you see a whale, don’t approach it, or leave your fishing line in the water,” she added. “Lines can entangle whales, and whales can damage your boat.”
In an email, Ms. Schulte said the whale appeared to be a juvenile and about 30 feet long, adding that her group had not been able to match it to an animal seen in those waters before.
Humpback whales, known for being found close to shore and balletic breaches, are a favorite of whale watchers. During the warmer months, they spend most of their time feeding and building up fat for winter.