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This is not the first time orcas have shown an awareness of us in boats: through the second half of the 1800s orcas in Australia actually helped whalers hunt ba

This is not the first time orcas have shown an awareness of us in boats: through the second half of the 1800s orcas in Australia actually helped whalers hunt baleen whales: herding the prey, and even grabbing ropes in their mouths to help haul, in exchange for the most valuable (to them) parts of the carcasses. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killer_whales_of_Eden,_New_South_Wales https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killer_whales_of_Eden,_New_Sou... Old Tom, one of the most helpful orcas, died in 1930. His skeleton is on display at a museum, and the wear marks from the ropes are visible on his teeth. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Tom_(orca) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Tom_(orca)

j-bos 3y ago
Phenomenal history, thanks for sharing.
mustacheemperor 3y ago
Died in 1930 when a whaler tried to bring the carcass in early, before Tom had his share (there was a storm approaching). Tom lost teeth grabbing the tow rope and washed up deceased with oral abscesses some time later. This was after most of the pod of killer whales had disappeared - thought maybe hunted down in Norway. Whaling is fascinating history. But it is very sad.
- vintagedave 3y ago
  > thought maybe hunted down in Norway Are you sure? I don't know much about orcas but that's a very long way to track the same whales. The Wikipedia article [1] states Norwegian whalers a little further north in Jervis Bay, still in Australian waters. I fully agree, whaling is a very sad history. As a kid, I occasionally saw "whale pots", big iron cauldrons used for boiling down blubber (I suppose.) I thought they were really cool. I don't think so any more. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Tom_(orca)#Death_and_the_end_of_whaling https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Tom_(orca)#Death_and_the_e...
  - mustacheemperor 3y ago
    Aha, I misread “Norwegian” to be in Norway, not Norwegians whaling in Australia. Certainly makes a lot more sense geographically, I was thinking that seemed like a long way to swim.
epilys 3y ago
In the 6th century CE, a whale called Porphyrios terrorized and sank ships near Constantinople for nearly 50 years. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porphyrios_(whale) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porphyrios_(whale) Porphyrios harassed ships in the waters of Constantinople for over fifty years,[7] though not continuously since it at times disappeared for lengthy periods of time.[4] It most frequently appeared in the Bosporus Strait.[1] Porphyrios made no distinctions in regard to which ships it attacked, recorded as having attacked fishing vessels, merchant ships and warships.[1] Many ships were sunk by Porphyrios, and its mere reputation terrified the crews of many more; ships often took detours to go around the waters where the whale most commonly swam.[4] Emperor Justinian I (r. 527–565), perplexed by the whale attacks and wishing to keep sea routes safe,[11] made it a matter of great concern to capture Porphyrios, though he was unable to devise a means through which to do this.[1][4][12]
- altairprime 3y ago
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  - cdelsolar 3y ago
    [dead]
- darklycan51 3y ago
  They assumed it was a whale but from the region it's likely it was an orca instead especially because currently the orca attacks started (again) from the mediterranean
IvyMike 3y ago
If someone is out there secretly training and paying Orcas to sink yachts... that would be pretty neat.
- quantumfissure 3y ago
  It would be a missed opportunity if they don't have their secret base inside a volcano.
- grecy 3y ago
  I want the orcas to fight back more and more, but deep down I know we will just wipe them out, which would be horrible
  - autoexec 3y ago
    I agree. Frankly, we deserve it.
- ryan-allen 3y ago
  The yachts they can disable are the smaller, wind powered ones. Probably not the kind of boat you had in mind. A sinking yacht it a serious threat to life but, hey, it's pretty neat, right?
  - DropInIn 3y ago
    Anyone who has one of those has a disproportionate amount of wealth obtained almost certainly at the expense of others. The reality is that anyone earning over 70k a year is earning more than thier fair share of society's production. We only produce a fixed amount of GDP, which when divided by population makes for a fairly small number even excluding children. Yachts are hella expensive, with even the cheapest used sail boats costing more than a new car and an "ok" used one being 200k+ That not middle class shit, that's rich people shit. People earning 65 k a year and raising 2 kids can Never afford that, unless they are neglectful, go bankrupt to do it etc. People need to stop using Elon level wealth as the metric for rich.... That's not rich, that's Obscene. Rich is anyone earning over 100k a year. That's Extreme privilege having nearly 2 shares of GDP while how many have to have less than a fair share to get you there? Yea....
deleted 3y ago
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j-bos 3y ago

Phenomenal history, thanks for sharing.

mustacheemperor 3y ago

Died in 1930 when a whaler tried to bring the carcass in early, before Tom had his share (there was a storm approaching). Tom lost teeth grabbing the tow rope and washed up deceased with oral abscesses some time later. This was after most of the pod of killer whales had disappeared - thought maybe hunted down in Norway. Whaling is fascinating history. But it is very sad.

vintagedave 3y ago
> thought maybe hunted down in Norway Are you sure? I don't know much about orcas but that's a very long way to track the same whales. The Wikipedia article [1] states Norwegian whalers a little further north in Jervis Bay, still in Australian waters. I fully agree, whaling is a very sad history. As a kid, I occasionally saw "whale pots", big iron cauldrons used for boiling down blubber (I suppose.) I thought they were really cool. I don't think so any more. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Tom_(orca)#Death_and_the_end_of_whaling https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Tom_(orca)#Death_and_the_e...
- mustacheemperor 3y ago
  Aha, I misread “Norwegian” to be in Norway, not Norwegians whaling in Australia. Certainly makes a lot more sense geographically, I was thinking that seemed like a long way to swim.

epilys 3y ago

In the 6th century CE, a whale called Porphyrios terrorized and sank ships near Constantinople for nearly 50 years. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porphyrios_(whale) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porphyrios_(whale) Porphyrios harassed ships in the waters of Constantinople for over fifty years,[7] though not continuously since it at times disappeared for lengthy periods of time.[4] It most frequently appeared in the Bosporus Strait.[1] Porphyrios made no distinctions in regard to which ships it attacked, recorded as having attacked fishing vessels, merchant ships and warships.[1] Many ships were sunk by Porphyrios, and its mere reputation terrified the crews of many more; ships often took detours to go around the waters where the whale most commonly swam.[4] Emperor Justinian I (r. 527–565), perplexed by the whale attacks and wishing to keep sea routes safe,[11] made it a matter of great concern to capture Porphyrios, though he was unable to devise a means through which to do this.[1][4][12]

altairprime 3y ago
[dead]
- cdelsolar 3y ago
  [dead]
darklycan51 3y ago
They assumed it was a whale but from the region it's likely it was an orca instead especially because currently the orca attacks started (again) from the mediterranean

IvyMike 3y ago

If someone is out there secretly training and paying Orcas to sink yachts... that would be pretty neat.

quantumfissure 3y ago
It would be a missed opportunity if they don't have their secret base inside a volcano.
grecy 3y ago
I want the orcas to fight back more and more, but deep down I know we will just wipe them out, which would be horrible
- autoexec 3y ago
  I agree. Frankly, we deserve it.
ryan-allen 3y ago
The yachts they can disable are the smaller, wind powered ones. Probably not the kind of boat you had in mind. A sinking yacht it a serious threat to life but, hey, it's pretty neat, right?
- DropInIn 3y ago
  Anyone who has one of those has a disproportionate amount of wealth obtained almost certainly at the expense of others. The reality is that anyone earning over 70k a year is earning more than thier fair share of society's production. We only produce a fixed amount of GDP, which when divided by population makes for a fairly small number even excluding children. Yachts are hella expensive, with even the cheapest used sail boats costing more than a new car and an "ok" used one being 200k+ That not middle class shit, that's rich people shit. People earning 65 k a year and raising 2 kids can Never afford that, unless they are neglectful, go bankrupt to do it etc. People need to stop using Elon level wealth as the metric for rich.... That's not rich, that's Obscene. Rich is anyone earning over 100k a year. That's Extreme privilege having nearly 2 shares of GDP while how many have to have less than a fair share to get you there? Yea....

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]