Giant whale capsizes boat off New Hampshire

In an incredible and frightening moment caught on camera, a giant whale breached the ocean surface off the coast of New Hampshire and crashed into a boat, causing it to capsize.

Greg Paquette is the owner of the 21-foot boat.

“The next thing we know, he came right up and landed on the transom of the boat,” said Paquette, a native of Groveland, Massachusetts.

Greg was fishing early in the morning with a friend. He noticed the whale getting closer, but he never thought he would hear it and then see it.

“All I heard was, ‘Whoa!’” he exclaimed. “After that, I turned around and the whale’s head fell onto the motor and I felt its weight,” Paquette continued.

As the whale crashed into the boat, the boat sank and took on water. His friend jumped overboard and Greg went down with the boat.

Colin Yager, 16, of Maine, was fishing nearby with his older brother Wyatt and filming the water when the whale suddenly breached a boat in Portsmouth Harbor.

“It’s scary but it’s something you don’t see every day,” Wyatt said.

“He came out of the water and walked toward these craft and knocked some of them over. You can see it in this video. I saw and heard him land on the boat and it was shocking,” Yager said.

The impact of the breach nearly sank the ship.

Wyatt Yager and his brother Colin rushed to pull Paquette and his friend from the water.

Paquette is grateful for their quick response.

“As soon as they saw what was happening, they dropped everything and rushed towards us within seconds. We hadn’t been in the water for a minute,” Paquette said.

And now he certainly has a great fishing story to tell.

“We have a good story to tell the kids,” he said with a laugh.

The boat is now on dry land but there is more than just the engine to repair.

Paquette told Boston 25 that won’t stop him. He plans to return to fishing as soon as the problem is resolved.

No one was injured in the accident.

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