![]() ![]() ![]() The explosives-expert veteran's brand-new automobile, purchased during a "Get a Whale of a Deal" promotion in a nearby city, was flattened by a chunk of falling blubber. ![]() In his report, Linnman also noted that scavenger birds, who it had been hoped would eat the remains of the carcass after the explosion, did not appear as they were possibly scared away by the noise. Only some of the whale was disintegrated most of it remained on the beach for the Oregon Highway Division workers to clear away. for the blast blasted blubber beyond all believable bounds." The explosion caused large pieces of blubber to land near buildings and in parking lots some distance away from the beach. In his voice-over, Linnman joked that "land-lubber newsmen" became "land- blubber newsmen . The resulting explosion was caught on film by cameraman Doug Brazil for a story reported by news reporter Paul Linnman of KATU-TV in Portland, Oregon. The dynamite was detonated on November 12 at 3:45 pm. Ī military veteran with explosives training who happened to be in the area warned that the planned twenty cases of dynamite was far too much, and that 20 sticks (8.4 lb or 3.8 kg ) would have sufficed, but his advice went unheeded. A charge of one-half short ton (450 kg) of dynamite was selected. George Thornton, the engineer in charge of the operation, told an interviewer that he was not sure how much dynamite would be needed, saying that he had been chosen to remove the whale because his supervisor had gone hunting. At the time, Oregon beaches were under the jurisdiction of the state's Highway Division, which, after consulting with the United States Navy, decided to remove the whale using dynamite – assuming that the resulting pieces would be small enough for scavenger animals to consume. The weight of the carcass was estimated at 8 short tons (16,000 lb 7,300 kg). On November 9, 1970, a 45-foot-long (14 m) sperm whale washed ashore at Florence on the central Oregon Coast. United States Event External videoĮxploding Whale 50th Anniversary, Remastered!, KATU However, it has also been criticized for its long-lasting odor. Artificial explosions have also been imposed by governments, and approved by the International Whaling Commission in emergency situations. Other cases, natural and artificial, have also been reported in Canada, South Africa, Iceland, Australia, Denmark, and the United Kingdom. It was also parodied in the 2007 American film Reno 911!: Miami and in the 2018 Australian film Swinging Safari.Īn example of a spontaneously bursting whale carcass occurred in Taiwan in 2004, when the buildup of gas inside a decomposing sperm whale caused it to burst in a crowded urban area while it was being transported for a post-mortem examination. American humorist Dave Barry wrote about it in his newspaper column in 1990 after viewing television footage of the explosion, and later the same footage from news station KATU circulated on the Internet. The explosion threw whale flesh around 800 feet (240 metres) away, and its odor lingered for some time. It was reported as early as 1928, when an attempt to preserve a carcass failed due to faulty chemical usages.Ī widely reported case of an exploding whale occurred in Florence, Oregon, in November 1970, when the Oregon Highway Division (now the Oregon Department of Transportation) blew up a decaying sperm whale with dynamite in an attempt to dispose of its rotting carcass. Actual explosives have also been used to assist in disposing of whale carcasses, ordinarily after towing the carcass out to sea, and as part of a beach cleaning effort. This would occur if a whale decides to strand itself ashore. There have been several cases of exploding whale carcasses due to a buildup of gas in the decomposition process. This screen capture comes from a 4K resolution remaster of the original 16 mm film source, released to commemorate the footage's 50th anniversary. Filmed by the news station KATU, it became among the most widely-reported cases of exploding whales. Explosion of a whale using a dynamite in Florence, Oregon in 1970. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |