Freeing the whales

Three whales get trapped in pack ice in Alaska. A real life drama that inspired a book and later a movie. A must watch for those who love nature and action.

In real life

On October 7, 1988, an Inupiaq (an Alaskan native hunter) discovered three grey whales trapped in pack ice in the Beaufort Sea, near Point Barrow in Alaska, the U.S. He used his chainsaw to try and cut a path in the ice to allow the whales to get back into open water. Soon, people from the village joined him. Word spread and Inupiaq people, biologists from North Slope Borough, Alaska also joined in. A Sikorsky S-64 Skycrane heavy lift helicopter was used to create holes in the ice using a five-ton hammer.

The plight of the whales gained attention when journalists flew in. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration sent a team of whale biologists and the US Department of State requested the help of two icebreakers from the then Soviet Union. The icebreakers were Vladimir Arseniev and Admiral Makarov. While the whales remained in their initial area, they were given Inuit names Putu, Siku, and Kanik and English names Bonnet, Crossbeak, and Bone, respectively. The youngest whale (Bone), nine months old, died on October 21. On October 28, the

Admiral Makarov broke apart a ridge of Arctic ice that was 400 yards wide and 30 feet high. The

Vladimir Arseniev cleared the icy rubble to create a large enough path for the remaining two whales to escape.

After the path was cut observers could find no sign of the whales and the operation was declared a success. However, the remaining two whales were said to be in poor health at the time of the rescue and because radio tags were never attached it is not known if the animals survived.

This operation came to be known as Operation Breakthrough.

The book

Tom Rose, a journalist with a Japanese TV station, he covered the stranding of the whales. After the whales were set free he wrote a book about it — Freeing the Whales: How the Media Created the World's Greatest Non-Event.

Set in the time of the Cold War, the book tells the real story behind the rescue operations that captured the interest of the world. (The Cold War, refers to the time after World War II between the Eastern Bloc -the Soviet Union and its allies — and the Western Bloc — the US and its allies. It is referred to as “cold” because there was no large scale fighting between the two sides. But there were regional wars, supported by both sides.

In his book, Rose describes how oil company executives, environmental activists, Inupiat people, small business people and the US military worked together to rescue the whales. Also, in this group are 150 international journalists who reported the event, bringing it to the attention of the world.

Probably, one of the most remarkable actions of that time was Ronald Reagan joining hands with Mikhail Gorbachev to help free the whales.

The movie

In 2012, the movie “Big Miracle” was released. The movie is set in a small town in Alaska and Adam Carlson is reporting the event. He recruits more people to help the project. He names the adult whales Fred and Wilma, and the calf, Bamm-Bamm. Sound familiar? They are the characters from The Flintstones.

Brought together for a common cause, hostile factions work together. On one side you have Greenpeace working with oil giant Arco, on another, there is a chainsaw distributor with a guitar-playing whale-song writer, Minnesota fishermen with Inupiat whalers — all fighting to rescue the whales. Is rescuing the whales the big miracle or is it the fact that people can put aside differences to work for a common good?