Suspected upturned boat is whale’s carcass

After a member of the public spotted what they thought was a white, overturned hull drifting in Looe Bay, the RNLI discovered it was the carcass of a whale.

“As our crew approached the object, which was drifting half a mile south east of the Rannies cardinal marker, they were able to see it was the decomposing carcass of a whale,” says a Looe RNLI spokesperson.

“The decomposing carcass of the whale was approx. 8m in length. At least 1.5m of the carcass was out of the water. After reporting their find and current position to the coastguards, our crew were stood down and returned to station.

“Whilst washing down and refuelling the Atlantic 85 for its next service, our crew commented that they were preparing themselves for the worst, as from a distance the object looked like the upturned hull of a yacht. Whilst they were relieved that there were no persons in difficulty, they were saddened to find a dead whale.”