The two men seen floating beside their overturned boat were smiling.
On July 23, the Yager brothers had been fishing for Atlantic menhaden, a common baitfish also called “pogies,” in Portsmouth Harbor, New Hampshire, when they witnessed the whale surfacing in their immediate vicinity.
“We’ve never really seen one that close to shore, so we’re a bit like, ‘Dang, this is pretty cool!’” Wyatt told the station.
The brothers were fishing near the two men in their boat when the whale breached dangerously close to the latter’s vessel. The brothers then witnessed a powerful collision. Wyatt said he couldn’t believe his eyes.
Capturing the moment on video, the brothers witnessed the whale rise out of the water and crash down onto the other boat, rocking it so heavily that it tipped over sideways and flung both men overboard. The vessel then capsized.
“It’s absolute chaos when it first starts,” Wyatt said. “Me and my brother were like, ‘Did this really just happen?’”
Without considering any danger the situation posed their own lives, the Yager brothers in their boat immediately raced to help the men, now floundering in the water, and managed to get them safely aboard. Wyatt did not think that the whale might breach again.
“It didn’t cross my mind. Watching the video, it’s pretty scary. I’m surprised that didn’t cross my mind,” he said. “But in the moment, it was just, ‘We just need to go help these guys.’ Didn’t really think much else.”
Other fishermen nearby arrived to offer a hand.
Wyatt told the station he was surprised to see both men still smiling and happy afterward, considering that they had just been tossed like rag dolls into the sea, ending their boating trip abruptly.
The brothers supposed the breaching whale must have been going after the same fish they were.
Wyatt added that neither he nor his brother would be deterred from fishing because of the incident; Colin had planned to set sail again the next day and Wyatt the day after.
