A whale on the beach
8tonswas roughly the sperm whale's weight, 14 metres long
On 9 November 1970 a dead sperm whale washed up near Florence on the Oregon coast. At the time, beaches were the job of the highway department. It asked the Navy for advice and decided: blow it up. The pieces were to be small enough for seagulls and other scavengers to eat.
Your guess
How much dynamite was set off?
The blast
On 12 November at 15:45 the charge went off, filmed by a TV crew. Whale flesh flew up to 240 metres, and big chunks landed near buildings and in parking lots. One hit a new car – bought in a promotion called "Get a Whale of a Deal".
And the rest?
The seagulls didn't come, probably scared off by the noise. Most of the whale was still on the beach and had to be cleared away. The reporter concluded: with the next whale, they'd surely remember what not to do. When 41 sperm whales beached nearby in 1979, they were burned and buried.
