Whale surfaces, capsizes fishing boat off New Hampshire coast

RYE, N.H. -- Two fishermen are safe after a whale crashed onto their boat, capsizing it off the New Hampshire shore, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

The incident occurred Tuesday near Odiorne Point State Park in Rye. The two men, who were thrown overboard, said they had seen the whale earlier and were trying to keep their distance.

“He went under, he disappeared for a few minutes, and then the next thing we know, he just popped right up on our transom,” fisherman Ryland Kenney told WMUR-TV.

The Coast Guard posted to X that they had received a mayday call stating that a 23-foot (7-meter) center console boat had turned over because of a whale breach.

“The occupants were ejected from the vessel as the boat capsized,” the Coast Guard posted, adding that an urgent marine information broadcast was issued and the Coast Guard Station Portsmouth Harbor was alerted.

“A good Samaritan recovered both individuals from the water. No injuries were reported,” the Coast Guard posted.

The rescuers turned out to be two young brothers.

“I saw it come up, and I was just like, ‘Oh, it’s going to hit the boat,'” Wyatt Yager told the station. “It started to flip.” His brother, Colin Yager, caught what happened on his phone.

The boat crew from Station Portsmouth reported that the whale appeared not to be injured. The incident was reported to the Center of Coastal Studies Marine Animal Hotline and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The vessel has also been salvaged.

The whale probably did not know the boat was there, said Sara Morris of the University of New Hampshire Shoals Marine Laboratory.

“If you look at the video really carefully, you can see that the whale has its mouth open,” she told the station. “It looks like it's lunge feeding and actually trying to catch fish.”