Whale Was Already Dead When Hit By Cruise Ship

A fin whale impaled on the prow of the Sapphire Princess had been dead for five to seven days before the cruise ship hit it, the Vancouver Province reports.

The whale was pinned to the ship when it docked in Vancouver last month.

A juvenile fin whale was found dead last week on the bow of a cargo ship in the Port of Tacoma. Biologists believe that whale was killed by a collision with a ship, although possibly not the one it was found on, the News Tribune of Tacoma reported.

In January, Royal Caribbean’s Radiance of the Seas arrived at Puerto Montt, Chile, with a whale’s decomposed carcass caught in the prow. Biologists later said the whale was dead when the ship hit it.