Rescuers Tow Humphrey the Whale to Safety

In a spectacular rescue of Humphrey the whale, dozens of volunteers and members of the Coast Guard on Tuesday towed the lethargic humpback from the muddy tidal flat where he was stuck overnight and herded him out into San Francisco Bay.

By nightfall, the Coast Guard reported that the whale was last sighted north of San Francisco and was swimming on a course that could take him under the Golden Gate Bridge and back into the ocean.

An estimated 4,000 cheering people lined the shore at the midafternoon high tide to watch as rescuers slipped a harness over the errant whale’s head and a Coast Guard boat pulled him backward into deeper water.

The 40-ton whale welcomed his new-found freedom by promptly beaching himself on the muddy shore several hundred yards away.

“You’re going the wrong way,” shouted one man in the crowd, capturing the essence of Humphrey’s exploits inside the Golden Gate.

But rescuers, racing against the changing tide, once again used the harness--a cargo net--and this time were able to haul him to safety.

When he reached open water minutes later, Humphrey characteristically tried to head south, toward San Jose, but a fleet of eight boats succeeded in steering him northward in the proper direction. The rescue boats stayed with him until dark, but gave up when they could no longer track his movements.

“This is a very positive turn of events,” said Marc Webber, a marine biologist with the Marine Mammal Center who helped coordinate the rescue. “We’ll just have to resume the search tomorrow morning and hope that he’s not beached himself again.”

Humphrey, who swam into San Francisco Bay and up the Sacramento River in 1985, apparently returned to the bay on Sunday. He beached himself Monday afternoon in the mud near Candlestick Park and was stuck there for more than 24 hours before rescue crews were able to dislodge him.

Five years ago, Humphrey was trapped in a small slough of the Sacramento River 25 miles south of the state capital. In an equally dramatic rescue, volunteers were able to coax him to safety through a small opening in a bridge that had blocked his path.

On Tuesday, scientists said the 40-foot whale apparently suffered no serious ill effects from his latest misadventure--despite having spent nearly four hours completely out of the water at low tide Monday night.

Whale experts had worried that, while Humphrey was stranded on land, the weight of his body could crush his bones or exert such pressure on his lungs that he could not breathe.

But after examining him Tuesday morning, Marine Mammal Center veterinarian Laurie Gage said she could detect no health problems from his overnight stay at the beach. In addition, she said, blood tests indicated that Humphrey had no serious infection, a problem that sometimes causes marine mammals to beach themselves.

“It could just be that he’s wayward again,” said Gage, who participated in the rescue of Humphrey five years ago.

Since that first rescue, the humpback has been sighted each year by researchers studying whales off the Northern California coast. Repeatedly he has shown a propensity to hang out in shallow water, and he once swam in close to the shore of Bodega Bay.

Two years ago, researchers took a skin sample from Humphrey, conducted a DNA analysis and proved conclusively that he is a male.

After Humphrey beached himself Monday on a small island 100 yards offshore, dozens of volunteers from the Marine Mammal Center worked through the night to keep him wet and prevent him from overheating. At high tide, about 3 a.m. Tuesday, they attempted to push him off the mud, without success.

At the next high tide Tuesday afternoon, volunteers freed him from the gooey muck by pumping compressed air into the mud beneath him. At the same time, other rescuers dived down into the murky water and placed the harness over his head so that the 41-foot Coast Guard boat could pull him free.

The huge crowd cheered as Humphrey swam free. But only moments later, the Coast Guard boat appeared to cut him off and he beached himself again just 40 yards from shore.

Rescuers jumped back into the water from their small rubber boats and replaced the harness. To shouts of “Go, go, go,” and an immense ovation, the Coast Guard vessel again towed Humphrey to safety.