Four sailors survived a violent collision with a pod of whales in the South Pacific after a long struggle to delay the sinking, they told AFP on Thursday. The crew members of the Tai Tam, a 16-meter sailboat that sank after a violent collision with whales, were found safe and sound on Saturday, September 26, more than 300 kilometers from Nouméa, New Caledonia. The incident occurred last weekend 250 nautical miles north of the small island of Norfolk. The entire steering system was shattered on the starboard side, according to the crew members. A loud, dull noise was heard, and the boat was pushed to the side. Australian Jemma Cooper, who was thrown away from the helm by the force of the impact, said they looked to port and saw six to eight whales. Her husband, Jeremy Cooper, was sleeping under the deck when the impact woke him. He said he quickly realized it was very serious, noting that the entire steering system was shattered on the starboard side and a large amount of water was entering the boat. Thirty minutes after the collision, Saturday at 1 p.m. New Zealand time (24:00 GMT Friday), they activated a distress beacon and "launched a full mayday," continued a New Zealand crew member, Terry Hetherington, describing the following hours spent bailing water. Frenchman Martin Jaffré, a carpenter and crew member, said the collision had left "three or four holes" which also "cracked the fiber of the hull" and the impact "broke all the steering." The sailors tried to stay aboard as long as possible, attempting to prevent the engine from clogging and bailing by hand. Late in the night, they abandoned the boat and reached a life raft, through calm seas and under the full moon. In the early hours of Sunday morning, they cut the yacht's mooring, fearing it would drag them to the bottom. Shortly after, it disappeared under the waves. A 143-meter container ship, the MV Sofrana Surville, rescued the sailors at 6 a.m. Sunday (17:00 GMT Saturday), said the New Zealand army — about 18 hours after their unfortunate encounter with the whale. This cruise was "wonderful, wonderful, with just a terrible, terrible ending — but fortunately, no human loss," concluded Jeremy Cooper.