Watch: Whale slams into boat off New Hampshire coast, sending men into ocean

Video: Breaching whale capsizes boat in New Hampshire

A breaching whale crashed into a boat in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on July 23, 2024, causing the vessel to capsize and knocking two mariners into the water. (Credit: Colin Yager via Storyful)

A breaching whale crashed into a boat off the coast of New Hampshire, capsizing the vessel and sending two mariners into the water.

The incident was captured on video on Tuesday near Portsmouth. Brothers Colin and Wyatt Yager told WMUR-TV that they were fishing a mile off the coast for the first time when the whale appeared.

They saw the breach a couple times, prompting Colin to pull out his phone and record.

"I had my fishing rod right here, phone in my hand and just saw it go up, and was just lucky enough to be facing the right direction," Colin Yager told the local news outlet of the scary moment.

"I saw it come up, and I was just like, ‘Oh no, it’s going to hit the boat!’ and then it started to flip," he added.

The video shows the whale breaching, knocking the boat and the two men sideways into the Atlantic Ocean.

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A breaching whale is seen in a screenshot from video crashing into a boat in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on July 23, 2024, causing the vessel to capsize and knocking two mariners into the water. (Credit: Colin Yager via Storyful)

The Yager brothers then helped the other boaters out of the water, according to WMUR. The men who were knocked in said they saw the whale earlier and had tried to keep their distance.

"When I turned, the whale’s head was already landing on the engine," fisherman Greg Paquette told WMUR-TV. "So when I saw that, then all of a sudden, I look down, the boat is pitching up. The transom is going down into the water."

The U.S. Coast Guard said the whale did not appear to be injured, and that the vessel was salvaged.

Sara Morris of the University of New Hampshire Shoals Marine Laboratory said the whale was likely lunge feeding when it came in contact with the boat.

"I think one of the key things is that when whales are sighted to encourage boaters to keep their distance," Morris told the local news outlet. "The whales are moving around underwater and coming up, potentially in an area different from where they went down, and we want to give them as much leeway as we possibly can to avoid a situation like what you see here."

This story was reported from Cincinnati.