Death of the Orca
As integral a part of Jaws as the shark, Brody, Quint and Hooper is the Orca. She's to Jaws what the DeLorean is to Back to the Future or the Aston Martin DB5 is to James Bond.
She's also arguably the most famous boat in cinema (bigger or otherwise) history, but although she was a part of the first film to make over $100 million at the US box office, and became an icon of cinema, she had a tragic end, one that even Steven Spielberg was unable to stop.
Orca Origins
Orca was originally used as a lobster boat, and was called Warlock, but that was before Production Designer Joe Alves and his crew got their hands on the 29 foot trawler, revamping it with a lick of paint and adding a mast pulpit, turning it into Quint's boat that we know and love.
This was used for most of the fishing scenes and the iconic shot of the boat leaving Amity Island as it sails 'through' a set of shark's jaws - distilling the movie in a single shot.
The Warlock before being rebuilt into the Orca
There was also a second Orca, this was made from fibreglass and was used for the Orca sinking scenes, making it easy to be raised and sunk on command. This was known as Orca II.
The stern was able to break away during Quint's final scenes when the shark jumps on board the boat and was rebuilt multiple times until Spielberg was happy he got it just right.
Although Orca II could sink on command, it also sank properly twice, almost taking film cameras with it. Roy Scheider was so concerned at getting trapped inside the sinking vessel that he hid axes around the submerged cabin in case he needed to break out.
Orca Demise
Post filming, Orca was shipped back to Hollywood, but them was sold for $13,000 to a special effects technician in LA, but that was before the film and the boat would become huge box office.
Universal obviously wanted their boat back, but to paraphrase Quint, it wasn't going to be easy. It reportedly cost them ten times what they sold it for to get it back. Obviously something so sought after would be taken special care of and protected. Universal wouldn't let it slip through their fingers again would they?
For many years Orca sat on the Universal Studios at the back of the Jaws section of the backlot tour, shadowing the shark after all those years. The lake it sat on and the Jaws attraction also featured as background to many TV shows, including Columbo, Knight Rider (pictured) and The A-Team, Orca even making a cameo for the eagle eyed.
Even though Steven Spielberg couldn't wait to get off Martha's Vineyard in 1974, leaving before the shark met his maker, it has been reported that the director would often sneak on board Orca on the backlot to mull over current and future projects. Until one time, when it had vanished.
Some report that it was rotted and beyond repair and smashed up on the order of Executives, an unnecessary and sad ending to such an important part of film history.
Destroying props is nothing new in Hollywood, but to show such little respect to something that is a part of film history seems beyond belief.
Not that Orca II's fate was any less unpleasant. She was sold for just $1 to an islander and left on their private beach. Soon, the film opened to grest success and the trophy hunters came swarming and virtually stripped Orca II bare. The final fibreglass sections were chopped up and sold as part of special editions of the Memories of Martha's Vineyard book.
Both chewed up and spat out by Hollywood, but then Bruce didn't fare any better. He wound up like many a Hollywood star, all washed up and thrown on the scrapheap. Except this was an actual junkyard: https://thedailyjaws.com/blog/junkyardjaws
