HULL OF AN ORDEAL

Humpback Whale Sinks U.S. Family’s Sailboat in Wild Attack

A wildlife biologist, her husband and their 23-year-old swam for shore after their boat sank in about three minutes.

A humpback whale rammed an Alaska family’s sailboat in Glacier Bay on July 29 and sank it. Tania Lewis and her husband were asleep, having spent the day sailing in Glacier Bay, when the whale struck at about 11:30 p.m. Their son Lou, 23, was still up reading and alerted his parents. A dinghy attached to the boat was already flipped and full of water. Only after they capsized it by accident could they turn it upright. “That’s how my husband and I got to shore,” Lewis said. Lou swam to land, buoyed by a backpack. The beach was 130 yards off. They made a fire and waited on the shore until a rescue crew arrived at 6:30 a.m. Crews later located the wreck and found the hole the whale had left in the keel. A park biologist later suggested to Lewis that the whale was probably chasing fish. Lewis said a full moon came up and the family spent the night by the fire.