Terrifying moment pod of killer whales sank £100k boat | SWNS

A British yacht captain has told how a pod of killer whales sunk his £100,000 boat during a "terrifying" two-hour attack - in the Mediterranean Sea.
Robert Powell, 59, said the pack of five orcas encircled his 39ft sailing boat ‘like wolves’ and took it in turn to smash into the ship as he sailed off the coast of Spain.
He and two crew were 22 hours into a ten-day trip between Vilamoura, in Portugal, and Greece when the animals began their violent “attack” at 8pm on Wednesday, roughly two miles offshore.
After they knocked out the boat’s rudder, the animals spent the next few hours “taking it in turns” to charge into it - causing the vessel to buckle under the pressure.
Robert, who had radioed for help not long after the orcas began their assault, said he and his crew had felt like “sitting ducks” as they waited for rescue.
And just minutes before the boat sunk, a Spanish salvage vessel helped them leave their stricken ship, which is now 130ft below the Mediterranean Sea.
Robert said about the ordeal: “Once the rudder was disabled, all five orcas circled the boat. And one by one they kept coming in and ramming in various different places.
“They’d ram the keel, ram the stern. The boat, with no rudder, just goes around in circles. They were circling. It was like watching wolves hunt.
"They were taking it in turns to come in - sometimes two would come in at the same time and hit it. So obviously pretty terrifying.
“It was a very long attack, and it was really the violence of the attack that surprised me.
“To me they were not playing at all, they knew exactly what they were doing. They knew the weak points of the boat and they knew how to sink it.
"Their sole intention was to sink the boat, and that was it.”
Orca attacks on sailing ships in the Mediterranean have increased recently - with another boat being sunk in May in the Straights of Gibraltar after getting rammed.
Robert, who lives in London, believes the pod that attacked and sunk his vessel could be the same that has been terrorizing other skippers
He added: “I’ve heard of a group that operates around that area. I’ve sailed it before, I sailed it last year.
"I know other people who have been hit. They’ve not had their boats sunk but have had it damaged badly.
"And I have a feeling that this group are boat sinkers - I think they knew what they were doing, I’m sure of it.”
Robert set out in his boat, the Bonhomme William, from Vilamoura, on Portugal’s Algarve coast, for the ten-day trip to the Greek Islands to celebrate his 60th Birthday on Tuesday (23/7).
But as the IT company owner sailed with two crew, a deckhead and a chef, he was hit by the first orca between the Spanish towns of Barbate and Tarifa at around 8pm.
Robert said: “All of a sudden I felt something really hard hit the bottom of the boat.
“My initial reaction was that I’d hit a rock or fishing net - or I’d hit something submerged - and it shuddered the whole boat. It was a big hit.
“Whilst I was looking around the boat to see if I could see anything - I was doing about five to six knots - it got hit again.
“On the second hit, I looked over the back of the boat and I could see the dark shape of a killer whale in the water. That killer whale was accompanied by two others.
"At this stage, these three were fairly young, fairly smallish juveniles, and they were hitting the rudder really violently and hard.”
Robert said the pod of three whales managed to disable the rudder, which controls the boat's steering, after around 15 to 20 hits.
He then used his radio to call the Coast Guard for emergency assistance, but not long after, his crew spotted two more killer whales that joined the rampage.
Robert said: “They pointed to two big orcas. And once the rudder was disabled, all five orcas circled the boat.
"One by one they kept coming in and ramming in various different places.
“Probably about an hour and a half into the attack, I heard the hull split. They hit the middle of the boat and I heard something crack.
“I went down below decks and they’d split the hull - and there was water coming in the main living area of the boat right in the centre.”
Robert, who had originally sailed his boat over from Brighton to Portugal, said he had tried several different techniques to dissuade the orcas but none had worked.
He said: "I had prepared for an orca attack… I tried to put a couple of firecrackers in the water.
“But you’re not allowed to shoot them or throw things at them.
“One of the other ploys that people say to get rid of orcas is to switch the engine off and go quiet and just do nothing.
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[@pjdee5879]

If he has some decent footage he will probably be able to buy a bigger boat.

[@natcalverley4344]

To all of those claiming insurance scam most blue water boats don't carry insurance other than third party liability. My 53 foot Spencer Ketch costs me $3800 per year for five million liability and $250,000 replacement insurance that only covers me within 50 miles of shore. In blue water I only have liability insurance. Blue water insurance for my vessel is about $50,000 per year. We do have a armoury on board our Canadian flagged vessel that complies with all Canadian firearms laws for storage and class of weapons which is legal in international waters as we are subject to Canadian law only in international waters. Once we enter another countries waters we are subject to their firearms laws and must import them legally if possible or store them in international waters. Trust me no killer dolphin is going to sink our vessel as a captain my duty is to protect my vessel and crew.

[@simonjohnson1]

Any details of the acoustic pingers that didn't work? Were they Fishtek Marine anti-depredation pingers?

[@JCKDPTT]

it`s almost like they are saying: Get Out Of Our Oceans, You Are Destroying The Place

[@Tconcept]

Insurance scam

[@Princess__Buttercup]

There are a ton of orca attacks there.

[@paperchaser-lv9sz]

No footage

[@peterjones-b5b]

Insurance scam alert !!!

[@user-gl2eq2ly4g]

Show the pictures

[@richardtiiird8464]

It's their ocean.

[@leroysimon5692]

👏🏾👏🏾👍🏾

[@Flight-of-Life]

Also known as insurance fraud

[@4thegood]

You sir are smart like the real orcas. Glad I’m not the only one who thought it was an insurance job.

[@adrenalinvan153]

Humans apex predator..... Sad but true!

[@mopthermopther]

Let me get this straight The boat was attacked by fried okra ?

[@artfasil]

The whales have bad experiences from ships/boats and attack in return.

[@vlachyna]

V Praze už tvrdí, ze v tom jedu… mám vedle reportáž, tiskárny na elitě, stroje času, mezimplatwtarni rakety a Varny na párno ještě masinu na ovládání zvířat 😂😂😅🎉 počasí 😂😂😅. Ty tornáda tenkrát prej taky moje práce 😂😂😅🎉

[@willhall4037]

The training continues

[@shopaccount6446]

Pathetic

[@ragnor56]

Who was in the oceans first & why do they always blame the fish ?

[@milo2324]

Genesis 1:26-28 And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Dominion? 😂😂😂😂

[@gillianscott4363]

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@teur7078]

Imao where the F are the orcas dude?

[@marcnowak7587]

100k boat and we have potholes , best wishes to the killer whales