Whales Were Out to Kill Him, Racer Says After Sloop Is Sunk

LONDON — A British yachtsman today said his 30-foot sloop was surrounded and sunk in the Atlantic by 50 whales that were out to kill him.

David Sellings told his story to the British Press Assn. in a radio-telephone interview from a West German freighter that rescued him.

Sellings said he was 1,000 miles into a single-handed transatlantic race from Plymouth, in southern England, to Newport, R.I., when the whales attacked.

“They were trying to kill me,” he said.

Sellings said his sloop “Hyccup” sank in seconds when the biggest whale smashed a huge hole in its side and he just had time to send a Mayday distress call and get into a life raft.

“They had been squealing and snorting and jumping wildly,” he said. “Now they were quiet. They just circled around me in my life raft a couple of times and then dispersed.”

British coast guard officials said whale attacks are rare but it was possible the mammals felt the boat posed a threat to their young.