Errant Whale Gliding Slowly Toward Ocean

Gliding slowly past cornfields and giant oil refineries, an errant humpback whale swam steadily down the Sacramento River on Sunday, driven by a fleet of about 25 vessels.

For the first time in two weeks, the 40-ton whale reached water that is about one-sixth saline--encouraging its rescuers who had feared it would perish if it remained in fresh water for too long.

Thousands of people lined the banks of the river to watch as the whale, increasingly known as Humphrey, swam past this industrial city toward San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. The hope is the whale will ultimately resume its normal migration to Hawaii.

By nightfall, the whale had traveled a total of 15 miles down the river from the Rio Vista drawbridge--the farthest it has gone in a single day since the rescue operation began.

“Humphrey is in Honker Bay west of Pittsburg moving along at about 1 1/2 miles an hour,” said state Sen. John Garamendi (D-Walnut Grove), who has played a key role in organizing the rescue effort. “We’ll pray a lot tonight that he floats westward instead of eastward.”

Headed for Capital

The rare whale’s journey up the river began 19 days ago, when it headed through the Golden Gate and swam about 60 miles north and west toward the state capital.

On Friday, rescuers drove the 40-foot whale out of little Shag Slough, where it had lived for nearly a week, and began herding it slowly downstream, crossing under the Rio Vista drawbridge on Saturday.

To the relief of the rescue team, the whale was discovered several miles south of the Rio Vista drawbridge shortly after dawn Sunday.

During the night, the whale was reported swimming back and forth under the Rio Vista bridge, which it had balked at crossing in the daylight.

People aboard boats assigned to block the bridge during the night by making noise were called in at about 10 p.m. Saturday, when it appeared that the whale had passed under and was headed north to the slough.

Todd Hause, a volunteer aboard a houseboat, stayed by the bridge, and when he heard the whale cross back to the south side, he began banging on a pipe suspended in the water to drive it downstream.

After daylight, the size of the flotilla herding the celebrated whale grew to about 25 as military transport vessels, Coast Guard crafts and county sheriff’s deputies joined the small private boats in driving the animal downriver.

The whale frequently attempted to circle back and evade the line of boats. But rescuers continually headed it off with the noise of clanging pipes and the transmission of a low-frequency electronic buzz.

As darkness neared, the fleet pulled back for the night and left the animal on its own. With the tide going out, rescuers hoped that the whale would continue to move downriver. Organizers of the rescue effort scurried to move their command post to Pittsburg from Rio Vista so they could continue to coordinate the efforts of federal, state and local agencies and scores of volunteers from the California Marine Mammal Center.

“Humphrey is well ahead of the logistical support of the operation,” Garamendi said. “He’s outrun us.”

Biologists Sunday were unable to place a homing device on the whale as planned because the transmitter did not appear to be working.

Mark and Debbie Ferrari, two marine biologists who had left the fleet in anger Saturday, rejoined the rescue effort Sunday after attempting to iron out their differences with the National Marine Fisheries Service.

The husband-and-wife team, who had helped inspire the whale rescue operation, threatened to quit after the federal agency fired explosives to scare the whale without warning volunteers on boats close to the animal.

Mark Ferrari said the two explosions could have deafened the animal, interfering with its navigational ability, and may have caused it to temporarily beach itself about 40 minutes later.