WELLINGTON, Oct 1 — A sperm whale cracked the hull of a yacht sailing in the remote South Pacific, forcing four sailors into a day-and-night fight for survival on the high seas.
Crew members on the 16-metre (52-foot) Tai Tam told AFP on Thursday of their weekend encounter with a pod of sperm whales 250 nautical miles north of tiny Norfolk Island.
“There was sort of a loud thud. The whole boat was pushed sideways,” said Australian Jemma Cooper, who was thrown from the steering wheel by the force of the blow.
Not knowing at first what had happened, she noticed a brown discolouration in the water and a sperm whale.
“We looked out to our port side, and there were six to eight, a pod, of whales there. So then it became clear that that’s what it was,” she told AFP.
