Cruise ship kills whale
Oh boy…. how sad :<
whale towed by tugboats
obvious injuries to the tummy can be seen
Department of Fisheries and Oceans officials look at the carcass of a whale lodged at the bow of a Princess Cruise Lines ship after docking in Vancouver, B.C., on Saturday July 25, 2009. The whale was discovered after the ship docked in Vancouver after traveling from Alaska. (CP)
A diver secures ropes around the carcass of a whale lodged at the bow of a Princess Cruise Lines ship so it could be removed with a tug boat in Vancouver, B.C., on Saturday July 25, 2009. The whale was discovered after the ship docked in Vancouver after traveling from Alaska. (CP)
The Province — A fin whale was impaled and dragged dead into the Port of Vancouver on the bow of a luxury cruise ship Saturday morning.
The whale, about 20 metres long, was wrapped around the bow of the docked Sapphire Princess in full view of flocks of tourists at Canada Place, many snapping pictures of the disturbing sight.
At 3:30 p.m. the carcass was finally dislodged from the ship’s protruding bow and towed away by tugboats, after divers and coast guard officials had secured the heavy body in ropes and harnesses.
A man who said he had worked aboard the Sapphire Princess for five years, who didn’t want to be named, told The Province he was not sure when the whale had been hit.
“From what I hear there was a bit of a rumbling this morning,” he said. “It’s too bad; I wish we had some system to detect them.”
Julie Benson, spokeswoman for Princess Cruises, said the company does not know when the whale became lodged on the ship, except it had to be somewhere between Vancouver and the last port of call at Ketchikan, Alaska.
The whale was first noticed at 6:30 Saturday morning, as the ship was about 30 minutes away from the Canada Place dock, she said.
Princess Cruise Lines employees lower a rope down to divers as others look at the carcass of a whale lodged at the bow of the cruise ship after docking in Vancouver, B.C., on Saturday July 25, 2009. The whale was discovered after the ship docked in Vancouver after traveling from Alaska. (CP)
Sapphire Princess is 954 feet long, weighing 113,000 gross tons. The poor whale is 70 feet in length and about 154,000 lbs.
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The whale was not impaled but caught above the bulbous bow.
thx for the update len