However, the Australian Defense Force said the two ships were anchored far to the west in Hobart when the first stranding occurred and their presence had no bearing on the second.
"The later presence of the two ships in the stranding area is purely coincidental and is considered unrelated to the cause of the strandings, which are considered by many to be a natural phenomena that occurs regularly in the Tasmanian area at this time of year," he said.
Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service spokeswoman Liz Wren said dozens of volunteers and wildlife officials were involved in the rescue effort.
"When we got here this morning there were about 70 dead whales scattered over a stretch of about a kilometer (half a mile) of beach," she said on Wednesday.
"We've been able to put eight back in the water, but I'm afraid the rest died," she told AFP by mobile phone from the beach. "It's really terrible."
Pilot whales, which are actually a large species of dolphin that can grow up to six meters (20 feet) long, frequently beach themselves in a phenomenon that remains a mystery to scientists.
Another parks and wildlife official, Ingrid Albion, said it appeared that one disorientated pilot whale in the first group may have led the entire pod to a stranding.
"Maybe they've come in close looking for food, maybe the tide's been a bit different," she said on Australia Broadcasting Corporation radio.
"They use sonar so they can get confused when they come into sandy beaches," she said. "Only one of them has to get in trouble and make a wrong turn, and they'll actually call the rest of the pod to them."
On Tuesday, rescuers managed to push 10 of 67 stranded whales back out to sea.
Tasmania's rugged coastline has one of the highest stranding rates in the world.
Name: Long-Finned Pilot Whale (
Globicephala melaena)
Primary Classification: Odontoceti (Toothed Whales)
Location: Northern Atlantic and Arctic oceans, as well as southern Indian, Atlantic and Pacific oceans
Habitat: Cool temperate and sub-polar waters
Diet: Mostly squid and cod
Size: Up to 28 ft in length and 3.5 tons in weight
Description: Black with a white belly; bulbous head with up-curved mouth; robust, cylindrical body with long, tapering trunk; long, sickle-shaped flippers
Cool Facts: It is the most commonly mass-stranded whale in the world. It displays intelligence equal to that of the bottle-nosed dolphin. Among the toothed whales, it is second only to the killer whale in size.
Conservation Status: Not listed by the IUCN
