While an accidental collision with a sperm whale at night accounted for sinking of the Union in 1807, the Essex incident some 30 years beforehand was the only other documented case of a whale deliberately attacking, holing, and sinking a ship.
Killer whale 'attacks' on boats might be driven by past trauma The marine mammals have been "attacking" sailboats since 2020. But those encounters are becoming more frequent, and some say the orcas' tactics are evolving.
Sperm whales in the 19th century taught each other how to attack whalers by ramming the boats with their head, scientists have found. Hal Whitehead, research professor in the Department of Biology at Dalhousie University, made the discovery while delving into log books kept by whalers in the early 1800s.
Scientists suspect that this is the third vessel this subpopulation of killer whales has capsized since May 2020, when a female orca believed to be the originator of this behavior suffered a traumatic encounter with a boat. In most reported cases, orcas are biting, bending and breaking off the rudders of sailboats.
"In more than 500 interaction events recorded since 2020 there are three sunken ships. We estimate that killer whales only touch one ship our of every hundred that sail through a location," Alfredo López Fernandez, a biologist at the University of Aviero, told Live Science.
Whales are susceptible to collisions with marine vessels, which may cause serious injury or death and can damage vessels.
Sperm whales are relatively placid mammals and very few incidents in modern times suggest otherwise. They mainly feed on squid and rarely attack, apparently only when mistaking other mammals for seals or prey.
Until the late 1970s the whaling industry was the main issue for these majestic sea mammals. Today, the two major causes of whale mortality have to do with irresponsible fishing and ship strikes – each causing approximately 20,000 deaths per year, Bray said.
Collisions with vessels can be fatal. When a whale or sea turtle is hit by a ship or another vessel, these gentle creatures are likely to die or suffer a horrific injury. Ship collisions have been identified as a significant human cause of baleen whales (mysticete) mortality [1].
Researchers believe killer whales are deliberately hitting boats, causing some to sink, following a string of incidents off the southwestern tip of Europe. Scientists believe younger orcas are imitating the behaviour of an older, hostile female.
While sharks are known to feed on a variety of marine animals, including fish, squid, and seals, they do not typically eat whales. However, there have been some rare instances where sharks have been observed attacking and feeding on whales.
The development of harpoon guns, explosive harpoons and steam-driven whaling boats in the late 19th century made large-scale commercial whaling so efficient that many whale species were over-exploited and came very near to extinction. Over-exploitation eventually led to the demise of the whaling industry in Australia.
On February 24, 2010, Tilikum killed Dawn Brancheau, a 40-year-old SeaWorld trainer. Brancheau was killed following a Dine with Shamu show. The veteran trainer was rubbing Tilikum as part of a post-show routine when the orca grabbed her by her ponytail and pulled her into the water.
British Navy mistook whales for submarines and torpedoed them, killing three, during Falklands War.
A study on the disruptive behavior of killer whales was published in 2022. Alfredo López Fernandez, co-author of the study, told Live Science said most of the interactions have been harmless, but at least three ships have sunk since the behavior started in 2020.
With seawater gushing into the boat, the experienced crew of four issued a mayday call, and were eventually towed to shore unharmed. In another recent instance off the coast of Spain, three orcas repeatedly struck a yacht, causing it to sink entirely after Spanish Coast Guards rescued the crew on board.
Frequently they do avoid vessels, except silent ones. The ocean is a noisy place. Whales seem to 'tune out' repetitive background noise like the drone of an approaching vessel.
Ships add both noise and danger to the underwater soundscape. Lynne Barre, the recovery coordinator for southern resident killer whales with the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), says whales may be confused by ship sounds.
Of all the large whale species that inhabit our coastline, Blue, Fin, Humpback, and Gray whales are the most vulnerable to vessel strikes because they migrate along the coast and many use areas along the coast for feeding, where they overlap with heavy shipping traffic.
In the early morning Thursday, killer whales smashed into a sailboat off the southern coast of Spain, puncturing its hull and damaging its rudder. Spanish authorities raced to save the sinking vessel, according to Reuters, but it was in such disrepair it had to be towed ashore.
It can grow to a length of 30 metres (98 feet) and can weigh as much as 175 tons. Hitting one at speed can not only damage the ship and possibly injure its crew members, but it is enough to damage the cargo as well. It can even dislodge containers in worst case scenarios.
Orcas are the largest natural threat to sperm whales, though pilot whales and false killer whales are also known to hunt them. Orcas go after entire sperm whale pods and will try to take a calf or even a female, but the male sperm whales are generally too big and aggressive to be hunted.
Orcas, or killer whales, are the largest of the dolphins and one of the world's most powerful predators.
Nonetheless, while swimming side-by-side with them, sperm whales can accidentally smother you, decapitate you with their tails, and many researchers believe they can also vibrate your body to death with their most intense vocalisations if they choose - they are the loudest animals on the planet.