6. December

Whale WorldAustralia was a whaling nation and many cities hat their own whaling fleet and whaling stations – like Albany. The Southern Right, Humpback and Sperm Whale were hunted and all live in the waters surrounding Albany. The Sperm Whale prefers the deep waters of the Continental Shelf which lies at around 30 nautical miles from Albany. It was not so profitable to hunt Sperm Whale probably one reason it could be hunted longer than the other whales. In 1978 all whaling was forbidden in Australia and several cities lost part of their industry and most whaling stations closed and got demolished. The whaling station in Albany was re-formed into a museum and we had a look at it. The area is quite small but anyway we spent several hours there – there was so much to see, discover, explore and learn.

And our visit begun. First we had a look at the Colin Green Heritage Gallery which shows some photos of the whaling operation as well as displaying some whaling artefacts like flensing boots. Just after 10 minutes it was time to join the tour guide. Most times you get more  information with a tour guide than just visiting on your own. The tour started at the Boiler House where a working triple expansion steam engine is. The engine is still in working conditions as the demonstration showed.

Next stop was the Flensing Deck where the dead whale was towed on deck and the blubber stripped off. The whales were hunted during the day and towed into the bay where they stayed overnight. If the hunt was  successful they would radio in and the Flenser could be contracted for the next day. They started early and had to get the whales onto the deck (beating the lurking sharks). On the deck the real fun started – to stripe the blubber. We listened to an audio broadcasting the atmosphere and noises. I don’t think that to be a Flenser was a sought after job – it was very dangerous and no insurance cover possible at all. They had to climb onto the whale wearing the gum-boots with the spikes and use their knifes. Don’t think of a knife for cutting meat or bread it looks more like a golf-club but completely of metal and a sharp cutting edge. They were never able to get the smell of their clothes…

Then we moved to the Cutting-Up Deck. The blubber had to be cut into smaller pieces otherwise it couldn’t be thrown into the cookers. In the cookers the whale is reduced to a liquid and the oil is extracted. They tried to use as much as possible of the whale including the bones. The bones were crushed down. Of course they had to separate the head from the body using the head-saw. The extracted oil was stored in the huge oil tanks before it got to the oil tanker. The tanker were filled by a huge pipeline which was checked for leaks before any filling. The oil was too valuable and too much hard work involved to waste any. Of course did the dead whales attract sharks and they would have a feast. But that never lasted long as the sharks were killed then. Any shark bite could tear 1/5 of the bladder so the whaler tried to ‘recover’ it by killing the shark.

We also looked into the engineering and blacksmith workshop which now houses whaling artefacts and other equipment (boats, flensing knifes, flensing boots…). Some pictures are also displayed mostly about the whaling operation and how busy the flensing deck looked like but I preferred the picture of the Giant Squid. The squid was eaten by a Sperm Whale. The Panorama Tower Gallery was an interesting place. I nearly got lost as it had 4 entrances. The gallery provides an pictorial and graphical insight into the antics of the whalers from 1950 to 1978. The pictures showed several crew members as well as some history about this whaling company. We learnt that they originally only owned one boat but were able to get two of a Queensland company which had to close in 1963 when the Humpback Whale came off the hunting list. Later they were able to purchase the fourth vessel. All boats have a different story how they “ended” their life – Cheynes I was destroyed and used as a spare-parts, Cheynes II was sold to a private investor who wanted to establish a restaurant (but nothing happened and the vessel sunk), the Cheynes III is tourist attraction in its own as it’s a diving wreck and Cheynes IV is still at the whaling station included in the exhibits.

Four buildings are used as a movie theatre. One workshop is now housing the Spectravision Theatre which explains the life of a whaler and his family – how the normal day of life was. They also feature how the information of the whaling station closure effected the families. The other movie theatres are in the oil storage tanker. One is about the history of Australian Whaling, one about the relation between sharks and whalers and the third is about the whales. It’s called “Giants exist” and is a 3D-movie. I really liked it and of course everyone tried to touch the whales.

Then we went into another “Giant” shed – we had to walk underneath a gigantic skeleton – ok it was only the jaw bones of a blue whale but really big. Inside the building were more skeletons to see. We had a look at a 22m Pygmy Blue Whale (the jaw bones were much smaller). There are more skeletons from whales and dolphins. All animals are found in the waters nearby. A head of a Humpback Whale was on display as well – the “teeth's” were visible – this material was used for corsets.

Our final look took us onto the vessel Cheynes IV. It was possible to walk into many rooms except of the engine compartment. We had a look at the different quarters from captain, second mate to standard crew and of course there were lots of differences. And K-Leun was in action again – he spotted a whale and the 1. WO had to hurry down the catwalk to assist the harpunists. Yeah, I know someone has to stay in control of the vessel ;-)

Thar she blows,

Ahoi, MaPa, Tom and Anja