9/29/2004: Cruise ship impales whale

I wouldn't have put this one up if not for the discussion related to the pygmy whale calf beaching of two days ago. That thread began discussing whether the beaching was man's fault. This one is a little more clear.

The whale there is dead, stuck on the bow of the cruise ship "Jewel of the Seas". full story

Yikes, just awful. I'm guessing the captain of the ship didn't do this on purpose, but it's still really sad. Poor whale.

This happens more often than you might think. I know someone with a sailboat who was below deck for a few minutes out on the open ocean when they felt a thud. They went up and saw a dying whale that they had just struck. They felt horrible, but there was nothing they could do at that point.

A ship this big certainly couldn't have avoided the whale.

I have a feeling that whales are hit all the time, but nobody talks about it. When it's impaled like this, it's hard to hide it.

That must be the maritime equivilant of hitting a deer on the road. Wrong place, wrong time. That's pretty tragic.

Actually, with this whale, it was probably in a blind spot, and wouldn't even be seen until the ship docked. The story confirms this.

See the bow overhang:Jewel Of The Seas

Whales are not only social with each other, they're social with humans. They like the attention they get when they go up to a ship. Hard to say whether this makes the fault any more the whale's or any more the human's, but it's certainly no surprise to me that this sort of thing happens. If you've ever gone on a whale-watching expedition you were probably given a spiel about the Marine Wildlife Preservation Act, which mandates that you have to keep a certain distance away from any visible marine animals, and the paradoxical observation that the whales don't particularly like being protected by the MWPA, as evidenced by the fact that they frequently swim into or breach above the "safe" area, forcing the boats to actually move away from them.

The sad fact, I think, is that whale behavior is so constructed as to make them poorly adapted to the existence of mankind.

The cruise ship could have made the best of it. "Attention passengers, our chef has announced a most special and unusual menu item has been added, sauted whale with capers, Buerre Blanc sauce"

Quote:

Originally Posted by garnet Yikes, just awful. I'm guessing the captain of the ship didn't do this on purpose, but it's still really sad. Poor whale.

What a horrible way to die, that poor whale would have suffered for a while before finally dying. Gosh I'm depressed now after seeing all these sad photo's of hurt animals. Can we have something happy tomorrow. Please

It's a Blubber Navy Beluga Bumper!

That's not nice.

When I used to sail in the ocean porpoises would cavort and, I presume, frolic around our boat. Racing us and playing "chicken". A favorite game of theirs would be to race alongside and cut us off, darting in front of the bow.

It was especially amazing at night, with the running lights out on a moonless night. the phosphoresence (sp?) was just too cool. they looked like greenish/silver contrails whooshing along under water.

Really one of the most stupendous things I've seen.

I wonder about that whale.

I do know the last thing that goes through a bug's mind when it hits your windshield though...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leah What a horrible way to die, that poor whale would have suffered for a while before finally dying. Gosh I'm depressed now after seeing all these sad photo's of hurt animals. Can we have something happy tomorrow. Please

This is what I'd do to anyone if I saw them doing that.

When I first was reading this thread, I thought of my recent road trip from Houston TX to Atlanta GA and how many bugs I had to clean off of my windshield. I guess there is some kind of similarity here, I mean think of all of the boat traffic out on the world's waters and how many smaller sea creatures might be caught in a similar incident or end up stuck in the propellers.

A combine harvests a huge field of corn, I imagine some animals are cought up in the rush to get away. You mow your lawn and surely lots of insects or small critters get sucked up.

There's some kind of moral to this story but I haven't had enought morning coffee to solve it yet.

Fatal Attraction: The relationship between the whale and the human.

Sailing under wind power in an 8-man 1840s schooner seemed pretty eco-friendly. It didn't make any noise in the water and we always seemed to have dolphins riding our bow.