A BRIT man has revealed how he survived a terrifying orca attack after five of the dangerous beasts spent two hours ramming his £100,000 yacht.
Robert Powell, 59, was targeted by a pod of killer whales in the Mediterranean Sea on Wednesday when they began circling his doomed 39-foot boat “like wolves” before destroying it.
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The Briton and two crew members were on board the Bonhomme William between Vilamoura, Portugal, and Greece when the animals left them on a sinking ship.
The orcas would have disabled the yacht’s steering, tipping the boat over, with water gushing on board.
The Spanish coast guard rushed to the scene between the southern cities of Tarifa and Barbate in a dramatic rescue operation.
London-based managing director Robert showed his yacht sinking into the sea in agonizing social media posts.
The Bonhomme William now tragically sits 130 feet below the Mediterranean Sea.
After safely returning to dry land, alerting authorities, Robert spoke about how terrifying the whole ordeal was.
He said the entire crew felt like “sitting ducks” as they watched the sea beasts wreak havoc as they waited to be rescued for hours.
Describing the harrowing attack, Robert said: “As soon as the rudder was disabled, all five orcas circled the boat.
“They were banging the keel, they were banging the stern. The boat, without a rudder, just went in circles. They were circling. It was like watching wolves hunt.
“They were taking turns going in – sometimes two would go in at the same time and get it right.
The yacht’s captain says he was shocked by the sheer violence of the attack, dismissing any claims that suggested the orcas were playing.
He continued: “To me they weren’t joking, they knew exactly what they were doing. They knew the weak points of the boat and knew how to sink it.
“Their only intention was to sink the boat, and that was it.”
The attack may have come from a notorious pod of whales led by an orca nicknamed “White Gladis” – which is believed to have been attacking sailors for at least three years.
Orca attacks on boats traveling through the Strait of Gibraltar – also known as Orca Alley – were first reported in 2020.
Orca attacks on sailing ships in the Mediterranean have increased recently – with another boat being sunk in May in the Strait of Gibraltar after being rammed.
Robert believes the pod that attacked him could be the same one that has terrorized the seas for years, as he feels the creatures planned the attack like experts.
My initial reaction was that I had hit a rock or fishing net – or something submerged – and it made the whole boat shake. It was a great success.
Robert Powell
When the yacht was first hit by one of the orcas, Robert was left in disbelief as the boat “shuddered”.
He said: “Suddenly I felt something very strong hit the bottom of the boat.
“My initial reaction was to hit a rock or fishing net – or something underwater – and that shook the whole boat.
“As I was looking around the boat to see if I could see anything – I was doing about five to six knots – it was hit again.
“On the second hit, I looked to the back of the boat and could see the dark shape of a killer whale in the water. This killer whale was accompanied by two others.
“At this stage, these three were quite young, quite small, and they were hitting the rudder very violently and forcefully.”
Robert said the group of three whales managed to disable the rudder, which controls the boat’s direction, after about 15 to 20 strikes.
“Probably about an hour and a half after the attack started, I heard the hull break apart. They hit the middle of the boat and I heard something pop,” he continued about his nightmare.
“I went down to the lower deck and they split the hull – and there was water coming into the main area of the boat, right in the center.”
His miraculous survival came from the British man who was already planning how to survive the orcas.
Despite having lost his yacht, Robert says he did his best to scare them away, throwing fireworks into the water and turning off the ship’s engine.
RECENT ATTACKS
A gang of killer whales furiously attacked and sank a boat near a Moroccan port last year in November.
The Polish company operating the boat said all attempts to rescue the yacht failed before it sank.
The operator said the crew were “safe and sound” after the bizarre incident.
They said in a statement: “Despite attempts to bring the yacht to port by the captain, crew and rescue teams from SAR (Search and Rescue), port tugs and the Moroccan Navy, the unit sank near the entrance to the port of Tangier. Med.”
Another incident occurred in August when a boat full of panicked tourists was attacked by a pod of orcas.
Footage showed horrified tourists surrounded by several orcas near the coast of Sesimbra, Portugal.
Last year, British couple Janet Morris, 58, and Stephen Bidwell, 58, from Cambridge, were involved in an hour-long whale attack.
On May 2, around six orcas reportedly collided with the hull of the Bavaria 46 cruiser yacht they were traveling on in the Strait of Gibraltar.
Janet and Stephen were surprised when they were alerted by the cry of “orcas!”
Stephen said The telegraph: “It was an experience I will never forget.
“I always remembered that we had a 22-ton boat made of steel, but seeing three of them coming at the same time, quickly and at a fast pace, with their fins out of the water, was scary.”
Janet added: “We were sitting ducks.”
“A clearly larger matriarch was definitely nearby and almost supervising,” Stephen added, adding to speculation that it was White Gladis.
The boat’s captain, Greg Blackburn, from Leeds, lowered the mainsail to make the vessel “as flat as possible”.
The pod of whales and their gang leader eventually lost interest – after causing thousands of pounds worth of damage.
Why are orcas attacking boats?
ALTHOUGH researchers are unsure exactly why killer whales attack boats in the strait, many theories have been put forward.
Some experts suggest that it could be a playful manifestation of the animals’ curiosity.
But others fear a “critical moment of agony” such as a collision that could have triggered aggression against boats.
Alfredo López Fernandez, a biologist at the University of Aveiro in Portugal, said Live Science: “That traumatized orca is the one who initiated this behavior of physical contact with the boat.”
Some even speculate that White Gladis may now be encouraging other killer whales.
Orcas are the largest members of the oceanic dolphin family.
Although they never attack humans, the apex predators can take down large groups of whales, hence the name killer.
What makes them a unique marine mammal is that they often hunt in lethal packs and family groups of up to 40 individuals – and feed on fish, dolphins, sea lions, seals, sharks and rays.
The carnivores can grow up to 32 feet (10 m) long and weigh up to six tons – and are instantly recognizable by their distinctive black and white coloring.
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