At one point, the production team filmed the scene in which the boat the Orca gets tipped to the side after the shark slams into it multiple times underwater. However, when everything was ready for the scene to be filmed with everyone aboard, the boat suddenly began to sink – one of the restraints on the boat had come off, leaving a hole in the side. "Someone shouts, 'She's going over!' and everyone starts to bail out," Gottlieb writes. "Jim Contner, Peter Salem, and Michael Chapman are trying to save the cameras with their priceless film inside. [Richard Dreyfuss] and Robert [Shaw] jump into the ocean, and the rest of the crew is right behind them. Roy Scheider is trapped in the cabin, since that's where he's supposed to be for that part of the shot, only now he's really trapped in the cabin, but he manages to fight his way clear. In another minute, the boat capsizes and sinks, and the sea is full of swimming men, small boats maneuvering to effect rescues, and a lot of debris and parts of tripods, slates, scripts, coffee cups, lights, cameras, and action." (The film in the camera was saved.)
