The
Orca is an infamous shark fishing vessel owned and captained by Captain Quint from the 1975 film, Jaws. It also appeared in Jaws 2, as a sunken wreck.
Role in the Film[]
Captained by the misanthropic, eccentric war veteran known simply among island locals as Quint, Orca was sunk off the coast of Martha's Vineyard following an extended fishing excursion in the summer of 1973.
On its final voyage, Orca was crewed by Martha's Vineyard chief of police, Martin Brody, and a schooled oceanographer from Woods Hole, Matt Hooper. A game fisherman in every sense, Quint was steadfast as the boats' beleaguered captain to the very end, with machete and blood flying in dramatic recoil.
The demise of the Orca was due in part to structural damage resulting from relentless attacks by a now infamous maniacal rogue shark. Although the boat had been designed to seek out and catch sharks, it was ultimately no match for the overtly cunning, pursuing predator Quint was hired to catch. Attempting to draw the monster in to the shallows, the Orca was eventually over revved and inadvertently scuttled. After listing to port, Brody was able to fire one final explosive shot from the sinking mast at a compressed air tank in the jaws of the attacking shark, killing it and ending the menace to the beaches of Amity.
Conspiracy theory
It was well known by most Islanders that Chief Brody had been at odds with the mayor which thereby cast doubt as to the validity of the subsequent police report filed upon his return. The town council also steadfastly refused to pay the agreed bounty ($10,000) as promised, claiming there was still no verifiable proof the shark had either been caught or killed per the terms of the contract.
Members of the council claimed the mayor had reluctantly been coerced into signing, citing fraud on the part of the chief. The town council believed that ORCA was purposely sabotaged, rather than having been sunk by the shark which had been terrorizing the island. Their official claim on record stated the ORCA had merely been scuttled as part of an insurance scheme, cooked up by Brody in order to appropriate the bounty. In addition, it was claimed that Quint had gone into hiding in collusion with Chief Brody to avoid tax revenue and fines due in part to civic ordinance violations, and zoning laws.
As a result, an investigation was launched and Brody was removed from his post as chief of police rather than being lauded as the islands savior. Brody subsequently fled his place of residence, and while evading local authorities was entangled in an altercation with a pair of amateur nature photographers who encountered Brody on a trail. One of the pair were able to take a photo of Brody at gun point before fleeing down the mountainside.