{"id":618890,"date":"2026-10-02T23:08:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T23:08:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/618890\/"},"modified":"2026-10-02T23:08:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T23:08:14","slug":"gang-of-eight-sperm-whales-sink-yacht-after-ramming-boat-in-south-pacific","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/618890\/","title":{"rendered":"Gang of eight sperm whales sink yacht after ramming boat in South Pacific"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Independent<\/p>\n

Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Membership today.<\/p>\n

Join today<\/a><\/p>\n

\n Already a member?
\n Log in<\/a>\n <\/p>\n

Your support helps us to tell the story<\/p>\n

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.<\/p>\n

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.<\/p>\n

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.<\/p>\n

Your support makes all the difference.Read more<\/p>\n

A pod of sperm whales<\/a> cracked the hull of a yacht in the remote South Pacific<\/a> forcing the crew to abandon ship. <\/p>\n

The crew onboard the 52ft boat have described the terrifying encounter, which happened 250 nautical miles north of Norfolk Island. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere was sort of a loud thud. The whole boat was pushed sideways,\u201d said Australian Jemma Cooper, who was flung from the steering wheel by the force of the blow.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe looked out to our port side, and there were six to eight, a pod, of whales<\/a> there. So then it became clear that that’s what it was,\u201d she told AFP.<\/p>\n

Jeremy Cooper, her husband, was sleeping below deck but was woken by the impact. \u201cIt was pretty immediately evident it was very serious,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Tai Tam crew were rescued at 6 am Sunday (6 pm BST Saturday) by a nearby container ship about 18 hours after the whale encounter (New Zealand Defence Force)<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the steering gear was smashed on the starboard side, and there was a significant amount of water coming in,\u201d Cooper told AFP.<\/p>\n

This is not the first time whales have struck a boat. Last year a family yacht was attacked by a pod of orcas in the middle of the night while sailing off the Portuguese coast. <\/p>\n

At 1pm New Zealand time Saturday (1 am BST last Friday), about 30 minutes after the whale collision, they activated an emergency beacon.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe declared a full mayday,\u201d said New Zealand crew member Terry Hetherington. They spent the next few hours bailing out as much water as they could, he added.<\/p>\n

Another crew member, Frenchman Martin Jaffre, said the whale collision left gashes in the hull and cracked the fibre glass structure. It also broke the steering.<\/p>\n

\"AnAn adult male sperm whale grows to be about 50-60 feet (17-20 m) long. Females are smaller, about 33-40 feet (11-13 m) long. (Reuters)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe could no longer steer the boat, and a boat with no steering quickly becomes a problem,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

With lots of water filling the boat, Jaffre tried to slow it with expansion foam, and swam below the boat to inspect the hull, his crew mates said.<\/p>\n

They bailed the water by hand and tried to stay aboard as long as possible, however they couldn\u2019t stop the engine from getting clogged.<\/p>\n

Late that night they decided to abandon ship and transferred to a life raft. Luckily the sea was calm and there was light from the full moon.<\/p>\n

They cut the tether from the yacht in the early hours of Sunday, before it slipped beneath the water.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe crew abandoned the yacht and transferred to a life raft, cutting the tether before it sank completely (New Zealand Defence Force)<\/p>\n

A 143-metre (470ft) container ship, the MV Sofrana Surville, rescued the sailors at 6 am Sunday (6 pm BST Saturday), the New Zealand military said, about 18 hours after their encounter with the sperm whale.<\/p>\n

The Royal New Zealand Air Force flew a P-8A Poseidon patrol plane to the area to establish radio communications and coordinate the rescue, they said in a statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Within half an hour they were having a cup of coffee and a chat with the captain, said Cooper, ruing the end of their Pacific holiday voyage. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was wonderful, wonderful, and just a terrible, terrible ending, but luckily no loss of life,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Rescue Coordination Centre Operations Manager Mike Clulow praised the quick thinking of Tai Tam\u2019s crew, as well as the coordination between the agencies and vessels involved in the rescue.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe crew of the yacht did all the right things, and it was unfortunate to have struck a whale in open water. They were well prepared and the early activation of their EPIRB was key to helping get them to safety. It is an excellent reminder that being prepared when going to sea can save your life,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Membership today.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":618891,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[111,139,69,147,406],"class_list":["post-618890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=618890"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618890\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/618891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=618890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=618890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=618890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}