We’ve all seen the ways we’ve ruined the world around us. Record forest fires are raging around the world, roads are melting under the heat and oceans are reaching unprecedented temperatures. It should come as no surprise, then, that nature is starting to fight back. At the forefront of this fight is the orca, which has been attacking ships around the world in recent months.
The attacks started in May, when a pod of orca attacked and sank three sailboats off the coast of Portugal. Then, we learned that the animals were teaching the attacks to other animals. It’s scary stuff if you’re a sailing enthusiast on the open ocean. Now a sailor in France has shared a video showing just what it’s like when a pod of killer whales gang up on you. And it looks terrifying.
The footage, which was first brought to our attention by the folks at LadBible, shows a pod of five orcas tailing a 30-foot yacht that’s sailing about a quarter of a mile off the coast of Cape Vincent in Portugal. After tailing the ship for a few minutes, one of the orca moves in and attacked the rudder.
Perhaps even more worryingly, Phep Philouceros, the French sailor who was at the helm, reported hearing a cracking sound from the hull while the whales attacked. But thankfully, he didn’t spot any water coming onboard. At this point, they decided enough was enough and called for help from dry land. LadBible reports:
“The sailor recalled how he had attempted to stop his engine or reverse in an attempt [to] stop the attack but neither came to any avail.
“The rudder was destroyed in one minute and pulled out,” he said. “They also rammed blows on the twin keels of the boat.”
The sailor claimed the ‘attack wasn’t violent’, before adding: “The boat moved, it rotated but didn’t capsize.
“If the orcas really wanted to sink the boat, they could have done it easily. I don’t think it was their intention.”
Despite calling for help following the attack, Philouceros’ problems didn’t end there. According to the site, the pod of orcas continued to hound the stricken vessel for 30 minutes while it was towed back to shore by the coast guard.
Philouceros eventually made it to safety on dry land, but his run-in with the pod of orca is just the latest in a long string of killer whale attacks on ships off the coast of Portugal. It’s reached the point where there’s now even app that tracks killer whale activity in the area, which the French sailor says he was checking regularly.