Orcas sink one boat, damage another, off coast of Portugal

By Mark ‘Crowley’ Russell

One boat has been sunk and a second damaged by a pod of orcas (killer whales) off the coast of Portugal.

The sunken vessel, named Oceanview, which belongs to the Nautic Squad, a sailing based in Oeiras, had five people on board when it was attacked on Saturday afternoon.

Portuguese coastguard officials said the sinking occurred approximately five nautical miles (9km) from the beach at Fonte da Telha, just south of the Portuguese capital, Lisbon.

Footage recorded from a nearby vessel shows an orca repeatedly striking the underside of the yacht, which eventually takes on water and begins sinking.

A translated recounting of the encounter posted on Instagram by Portuguese sailing school Terra Incógnita states that the orcas ‘broke the rudder of the sailboat, opening a hole below the waterline, allowing water to enter.’

The speaker says the crew of his boat initially tried to take Oceanview under tow, but rescued the crew when the attempt proved unsuccessful.

Portugal’s National Maritime Authority reported that the five sailors were ‘physically well’ and did not require medical assistance.

In a separate incident off the Bay of Cascais, approximately 20 kilometres northeast of Fonte da Telha, four people on board a tourist boat were also reported to have required assistance from the Cascais Lifeguard Station.

A history of orca boat encounters

At least seven boats have been sunk by orcas around the Iberian Peninsula since reports of attacks first surfaced in 2020. More than 250 boats were reported to have been damaged between 2020 and 2023.

Approximately 700 orca interactions have been recorded since 2020, according to reports compiled by the Cruising Association, based on data collated by Atlantic Orca Working Group (Grupo de Trabajo Orca Atlántica, GTOA)

Encounters peaked in 2023 with 207 recorded during the year, dropping to 136 in 2024, and just 67 so far in 2025.

The drop is likely due to guidelines issued by Spanish authorities advising sailors to stick to shallow waters of 20m or less in orca hotspots, or avoid the areas completely where possible.

The vessels that are targeted are small yachts, and in almost every case, the orcas target the boats’ rudder, and swim off once it has been broken.

There does not appear to be any deliberate attempt to sink the boat, other than – as with the latest incident – when the damage is sufficient to cause the vessel to take on water.

The orcas repsonsible

The orcas involved in the damaging encounters have been identified through photographs as 15 individuals of an approximately 50-strong population of orcas.

The Iberian orcas (also called the Strait of Gibraltar orcas) are a sub-population of Atlantic orcas known to move around the Iberian Peninsula following the migratory patterns of Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus), their primary source of food.

One particular orca, a young female given the name ‘White Gladis’, had been identified as a ‘ringleader’ of the animals responsible, for her repeat appearances during encounters.

Experts initially thought that White Gladis may be exacting revenge for an injury she had suffered as a result of a boat strike, and passing the behaviour on to her relatives.

Since the encounters first made the headlines, however, some scientists have said it is more likely that the incidents are a form of game, since the orcas lose interest once the rudder is broken.

‘They’re pushing, pushing, pushing – boom! It’s a game,’ said, Renaud de Stephanis, president of Conservation, Information and Research on Cetaceans (CIRCE).

‘That’s all it is. Imagine a kid of six, seven years, with a weight of three tonnes. That’s it, nothing less, nothing more. If they wanted to wreck the boat, they would break it in 10 minutes’ time.’

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