Captain Nolan

Captain Nolan (simply known as Nolan) is the main antagonist of the film Orca. He an Irish Canadian who catches marine animals to pay off the mortgage of his boat, and returns to Ireland. Nolan's crew is looking for a great white shark for a local aquarium, but a scientist named Ken, is targeted by the shark. An orca comes and kills the shark, saving Ken. This switches Nolan's target to the orca. While Nolan is on the journey with his crew, he tries to capture what he believes to be a bull orca, but mistakenly harpoons a pregnant female. Nolan and his crew get the orca on board, where she subsequently miscarries. The captain hoses the dead fetus overboard as the male orca looks on screaming.

Nolan manages to harpoon the whale just before he and Bedford escape from the boat, while Umilak is crushed beneath an avalanche of ice just after sending out an SOS.

Nolan and Bedford hide in an iceberg, although Nolan slips onto another. The orca separates the icebergs, trapping Nolan. The whale jumps onto the ice, causing it to tilt and sending Nolan into the water. The whale lifts Nolan up with his tail and throws him onto another iceberg, killing him. Bedford looks on as Nolan slips into the water in a cross shape. With his revenge complete, the whale swims southward under the ice, while a helicopter is seen rescuing Bedford.

He was portrayed by the late Richard Harris.