It was an ugly mess when this large Princess Cruise Line ship arrived in the port of Vancouver to discover that it had a 70 ton dead whale attached to the bow of the ship. The ship had clearly hit the whale at some part of the boats cruise through Alaska and back.

The whale was 70 feet (21 meters) long and had been stuck to the bow to such a degree that it was dragged an unknown number of miles through the sea. The whale was most likely dragged hundreds of miles. Craig Delahunt of AP television news inspected the site and went on to describe the scene saying “Basically like a train coming through, it just hits them. That bow is kind of like a spear. And once they’re hit by it, it probably breaks their back, kills them almost instantly”

Princess Cruises has insisted that they follow strict procedures to avoid harming any whales.”It is unknown how or when this could have happened, as we have strict whale avoidance procedures in place when our ships are in the vicinity of marine life,” the cruise line said in a statement. “We … have clear guidelines for our ships on how to operate if whales are sighted nearby, which include altering course and reducing speed as required.”