NATION : Whale’s Release No Fish Story

ABOARD THE YANKEE CAPTAINS —  Rescuers perched in dinghies worked for three hours to untangle a whale from a fishing net, then whooped and cheered as the humpback swam free.

The rescuers were nearly capsized Monday when they came within inches of the 38-foot whale’s breathing hole. The whale named Mallard was discovered earlier in the day thrashing in the Atlantic Ocean, 30 miles from Boston.

“Boy, did these guys have guts,” said Capt. Tom Hill of the Yankee Captains, one of the vessels dispatched to try to save the 5-year-old whale. “All it would take is one good swipe with a flipper to kill them.”

But with patience and daring, the rescuers untangled the net from Mallard’s flippers, mouth and tail. The 25-ton humpback, spouting and breaching, joined a throng of whales that had remained nearby.

Rescue workers attached buoys to the trailing ends of the net wrapped around Mallard and waited for the humpback to tire and rest on the surface. The other whales kept a safe distance, except for one that came up alongside the entangled mammal and rubbed its head.