A man and his family nearly drowned after their boat hit a sleeping whale in the Atlantic ocean.
Zach Small, 33, his partner Kimberley Pelletier Girard, 29, and his daughters Anua, eight, and Willow, five, were sailing their catamaran from the Azores to the UK when disaster struck.
He heard a bang and saw water gushing in under the bed, and realised they'd struck a whale when he found a chunk of blubber.
Zach sent out signals in the hope a nearby boat would come to the help - and after hours in the pitch black, an oil tanker came to their rescue.
But all their possessions were gone - including Zach's late wife's ashes - along with their boat.
They made it back to England three days later - and are now rebuilding their lives.
Zach is the son of former England fast bowler Gladstone Small, who played in the winning Ashes tour of 1986-87.
Builder and seaman Zach, from Birmingham, said: "We poured everything we had, physically and financially, into the catamaran.
"I wanted to show the kids the world. It was our home, our life and our dream.
"Then one night I heard this huge bang and Kim shouting my name - and water was gushing in from under the bed.
"I came across a jaggedy piece of wood and when I flipped it over, there was a shred of dark grey skin and pink blubbery flesh.
"That's when I knew we hit a whale. We were both in fight or flight mode.
"We tried to keep the water out but I very quickly accepted we were going down. At this point I was 100% concerned for our lives.
"When we were rescued and got back on the boat, it sank in what had happened. I became very aware of how fragile life is.
"We're safe now, and it is what it is. Once you're at the bottom, you can only look up."
Zach bought the catamaran, called Satori in November 2021.
He spent eight months in Portimao, Portugal, renovating it and making it seaworthy with partner Kim, before they set out to sea in June.
But on the night of September 2, after around two months at sea, the family were all in bed except Zach, who was on lookout.
After hearing a huge bang, he heard Kim yelling his name - and when he went into the room, she pointed to water coming in from under her bed.
He said: "It was ankle-deep in seconds. I started fishing around in the water and just stuck my hand out of the side of the boat into the sea.
"I saw this dark grey skin and pink blubbery flesh and that was when I knew we hit a sleeping whale."
In a matter of minutes, the water was knee-high as Kim desperately tried to scoop it back out with a bucket.
As soon as Zach saw how bad the situation was, he set off the EPIRB (emergency position indicating radio beacon) and a VHF radio distress signal.
As time passed and Zach began fearing the worst, he used silicone to plug leaks with bits of wood.
He said: "In emergency situations you don't really have time to panic, you just have to deal with it. I knew that people do get hit by whales - it's something you hear about, but not often.
"Mainly because most people whose ships are hit by whales aren't around to tell the tale."
At around 1am as they tried to keep their boat afloat for long enough to get help, they spotted a plane circling over them.
They packed four days worth of food and blew up their dinghy ready for a getaway if needed.
But luckily, around 6am, an oil tanker boat was seen nearby - and stopped around 100m from them, enabling them to get there in their dinghy.
Zach said: "I have heard horror stories about life rafts where people are stuck out at sea and see a boat, but it passes them by without ever seeing them.
"So we got in the dinghy and paddled over, leaving the catamaran behind us."
When Zach, Kim and the children arrived on the oil tanker, they had nothing but the clothes on their backs.
The crew onboard the Golar Seal provided them with everything they needed.
Zach said: "We had lost everything. The kids had lost everything too.
"It was only when we got on the boat that I started realising that. My late wife's death certificate and ashes were gone.
"We threw all our worldly possessions overboard."
Three days later, the tanker - which had completely re-routed its journey to Poland to help them get to safety - dropped them back in Falmouth.
Now the family are staying in Zach's mother's home in Malvern in Worcestershire, while Zach earns money to get a new home.
Working alongside his brother as a bricklayer, he hopes his Go Fund Me page will help get the family back on their feet again.
But despite the terrifying experience, Zach said he wants to get back out on the water as soon as he can.
He said: "The kindness of the Captain and his crew was incredible. The efforts they went to keep us safe restored our faith in humanity."
To donate, visit: ”We hit a whale and lost everything tail”, organized by Zachary Small.
