About two miles off the South Shore, they sighted a lone baby humpback whale tightly ensnared in what looked like a piece of a fishing net.

As the 25-30-foot calf rose out of the water, it made a noise which one member of the group described as a cry for help.

"It was the first time I have ever heard a whale make that kind of noise,'' longtime scuba diver and whale watcher Mr. Peter Haynes said. "It was as if he was saying, `I've got a problem, help me out'.'' The whale had a long piece of thick, dark-red coloured rope wrapped tightly around its snout, back and flukes.

A white float was attached to the top of the rope.

Mr. Haynes guessed it was part of a large fishing net.

"It was not from around here I don't think,'' the US Navy Base employee said.

Apart from making the usual sound when vapour and air gushes out of a whale's blow-hole, it made an "unusual, distinct noise'', Mr. Haynes said.

He and another diver, Mr. Campbell O'Connor, decided to change back into their diving gear and go overboard to try and set the calf free. It had appeared less frightened of the boat.

But after rising once more, it disappeared into the depths of the Atlantic Ocean.

"We waited for about another hour but he didn't come back,'' Mr. Haynes said.

"We turned the engine off at one point hoping it would come back, but there was no sign of it.

"It was a real shame. It had come up to the surface several times, during which it once turned around as if to come back.'' He added: "Whales are very gentle, intelligent creatures and they won't hurt you unless they are really threatened.'' Fantasea Diving owner Mr. Michael Heslop, who organised the expedition, was going out again yesterday and would be looking out for the entrapped whale, he said.

Another dive boat had also been alerted.

Mr. Haynes guessed the whale had swam through a hole or punched its way through a fishing net off the coast of Maine or Newfoundland and been unable to shake a part of it off.

Or it might have swum into a portion of fishing net that had previously broken away in rough seas.

The rope did not appear to be causing any broken skin on the whale, but it might have been retarding growth and hindering its efforts to feed, he said.

"It was really sad,'' he said.

A 30-foot whale would be approximately one year old, said US whale expert Dr.

Steve Katona, who visits the Bermuda Biological Station every April for whale watching expeditions as the huge mammals migrate to the northwest Atlantic after spending winter in the warm waters of the Caribbean. They stop briefly to feed in Bermuda.

Dr. Katona said whales were often caught in fishing nets, but they were usually powerful enough to break free of them.

Out of an average 140 whales caught in nets in a year in the northwest Atlantic, about 15-20 would be unable to break free, he said.

"Being caught in nets can do anything from causing them to drown to compromising their survival and growth over a long period of time,'' he said.

Nets have been found to be a major source of mortality for some whale species, but not humpbacks.

There was an active programme at University College in Newfoundland to find whales entangled in fishing nets and release them, he noted.

The new dolphin-safe tuna nets were unfortunately not whale-safe as well.

There were also moves to attach warning devices such as noise makers to fishing nets, he said.

Dr. Katona is due to arrive in Bermuda on Friday.

His colleague Mr. Peter Stevik, who has taken part in the whale and porpoise-freeing programme off Newfoundland, arrives next Tuesday and will be conducting lectures along with Dr. Katona.

On a happier note, Agriculture and Fisheries Department assistant conservation officer Mr. Steven DeSilva said that from Paynter's Hill on Castle Harbour yesterday, he saw two adult humpback whales "happily'' staying in an area of about 1,000 square feet of sea.

TRAPPED WHALE -- Scuba diver Mr. Peter Haynes photographed this baby humpback whale caught in what appeared to be part of a fishing net while he was whale watching a few miles off South Shore with Fantasea Diving on Sunday. It disappeared before Mr. Haynes and others on the expedition could go overboard to set it free.