Devilfish

The Devilfish is the Zodiac that carries Tom Shoemaker, Leon Anawak, and Jack Greywolf into the whale attack in Clayoquot Sound. Small enough to turn quickly but exposed to the same rising swell as the sinking Lady Wexham, it is at once their way into the emergency and the unstable platform on which the rescue depends.

Design and role

The Devilfish is described through its practical capabilities rather than elaborate equipment: it is the same size as the Blue Shark and has the same horsepower, making it small and easy to turn. That maneuverability matters because the whales can attack without warning, and the motorboats have little time to react. Anawak hopes the Zodiac’s agility will provide an advantage, but the narration makes clear that nimbleness is no guarantee of safety; the creatures retain the element of surprise.

Its role is not that of a purpose-built rescue craft arriving with control of the situation. Shoemaker proposes taking the Devilfish to see for themselves, despite another skipper’s insistence that they should leave the response to the Coast Guard. Shoemaker answers that there is no Coast Guard. The boat therefore becomes an improvised answer to an emergency in which ordinary help is unavailable: it lets the group move toward danger, but offers little protection once they reach it.

Into exposed water

As the Devilfish speeds across the lagoon, Anawak tries to understand the attacks. He considers whether infection could explain the behavior, but the range of species involved—humpbacks, orcas, and grey whales—leaves him without a workable explanation. His uncertainty shadows the boat’s journey: it is moving toward an incident that the people aboard cannot yet interpret, much less predict.

Shoemaker insists on steering, Anawak takes the wheel alongside him, and Greywolf scans from the bow. Their progress carries them past the tree-covered shores of small islets and sea lions resting on the rocks, then beyond the lagoon’s shelter into open water. There the swell is higher. The Devilfish bounces noisily over the waves as dark clouds gather and conditions deteriorate; Anawak searches for the Lady Wexham and fears it may already have sunk. The sea is not a neutral gap between the rescuers and their destination: its changing surface dictates what the little boat can do and how much time the group has.

When they reach the Lady Wexham, the immediate danger shifts. The whales have lost interest in the larger vessel and regrouped farther out, targeting the two motorboats as they try to evade them. Meanwhile, the Lady is sinking fast. A steep wave lifts the Devilfish alongside it. Greywolf jumps from the Zodiac and catches a ladder on the ship, briefly hanging between the two craft with one hand while the water rises to his armpits and then drops away. The boat’s movement has put him within reach of the people aboard, but the same swell makes every transfer uncertain.

The rescue and the return

Greywolf calls for the stranded people to climb onto his shoulders one at a time, cling to him, and wait for the Devilfish to come alongside so they can jump. The Zodiac rises and falls beneath them. Anawak pulls aboard a woman who has climbed onto Greywolf’s back; others leap after the boat as it surges up beside the railings, landing on top of one another amid cries of pain. Some fall into the water before being fished out. Eventually the people on the railings are aboard, but a crying boy remains behind.

The Devilfish turns back. Shoemaker brings its bow against the Lady Wexham’s deck as the ship sinks, while Greywolf pushes toward the stern to reach the boy. A wave washes over the Zodiac’s rails; as Greywolf leans out, the boat tips and he crashes onto its deck. He nevertheless holds on to the boy, supporting him in his arms as the Lady Wexham disappears beneath the water. The rescue depends not on the Devilfish’s size or speed alone, but on the crew using its limited reach at the precise moment the rising water permits it.

Shoemaker then thrusts the throttle forward and takes the overcrowded boat toward shore. The waves rolling in from the Pacific Ocean are long and regular, and the narration notes that they do not threaten the Zodiac so long as its skipper is careful. The danger has not vanished: the other motorboat is nowhere to be seen, and a humpback’s fluke plunges into the water behind them. Anawak’s return in the Devilfish carries the rescuees out of immediate danger, but leaves him unable to see a whale’s tail without foreboding.

Narrative significance

The Devilfish’s importance comes from the tension between its usefulness and its vulnerability. Its small size and turning ability make it suitable for reaching a ship under attack; its open, low position also leaves its occupants exposed to whales and waves. During the rescue, it repeatedly rises into reach and drops away again, turning its motion into a narrow opportunity for people to cross from the sinking vessel to safety.

The boat also concentrates the episode’s uncertain knowledge into a concrete action. Anawak boards it with questions about why whales of different species are attacking, while the people aboard must act before those questions can be answered. The Devilfish cannot explain or master the crisis. It can carry the rescuers toward it, hold the group beside the Lady Wexham, and—through maneuvering, timing, and the people who use it—help bring survivors back toward shore.