TheBanyanTree: The night before Christmas approaches.

[peter macinnis]

Blessings may be differently perceived by different people.  I used to 
work at the Australian Museum, where a favourite exhibit was a whale 
skeleton, slung over the entrance foyer.  Last night I came across an 
account of how it was acquired.

Wear a nose-peg while reading.  As it happens, I can relate to this, but 
that's another story.

*The case of the smelly whale, 1849 *

It was announced in the 'Sydney Morning Herald/’/of the 5th of December, 
1849, that a dead Sperm Whale had been found floating upon the water at 
sea, by the schooner 'Thistle,' and towed into the harbour of Port 
Jackson. It was suggested to the Committee by Mr. W. S. Wall, Curator of 
the Australian Museum, that the skeleton would form a valuable addition 
to the osteological collection, if it could be procured.

This proposition appeared full of difficulties, both from the gigantic 
size of the creature, as well as from the labour that would be required 
to clean and prepare the bones of an animal so oily, and rapidly 
putrefying during this, the hot season of the year. At the request of 
some of the Committee, Mr. Wall visited the schooner, which was at 
anchor in Neutral Bay, with the carcass of the whale alongside, which 
they were cutting up for the oil.

Having introduced himself to Mr. Williamson, the master of the vessel, 
he explained the object of his visit, when he gave him permission to 
take the whole of the bones. As soon, therefore, as all the blubber had 
been removed from the whale (that is, the portions of it required for 
/“/trying down/”/for the oil), the carcass was given up to Mr. Wall, who 
then commenced the arduous and disagreeable task of preparing the bones 
for the skeleton.

There was considerable difficulty in obtaining men willing to undertake 
so unpleasant, and, as they considered, unhealthy an employment, during 
the heat of summer. On the following day, however, four sailors were 
hired who had been in the whale-fishery: after engaging them on their 
own terms, he found that, owing to previous employment, they would not 
be able to commence their work for four days: this was to be regretted, 
as decomposition takes place rapidly in the hot month of December in 
Australia; but as these were the only men willing to undertake it, he 
was compelled to submit.

In the meantime the Curator received a notice from the water-police 
magistrate to remove the putrefying carcass from Neutral Bay, as it was 
a nuisance to the residents in the vicinity. The removal of the whale to 
a secluded bay in the harbour being accomplished, it was secured by a 
strong cable to a projecting point of rock.

It was now discovered that a portion of the tail, consisting of ten 
bones of the caudal vertebrae, was deficient: this was of importance for 
a complete skeleton, and, after many inquiries, it was ascertained that 
the missing part had been sent to Sydney with the blubber.

The exact place was not found for some time, as the schooner had sailed 
from Sydney; but, after much anxious search, it was discovered lying on 
a wharf in Sussex Street. This was fortunate; for on the return of the 
men from dinner, in half an hour, it had been ordered that the whale’s 
tail, the object of so much anxiety and search, was to be sunk in the 
harbour to get rid of the disagreeable effluvium arising from it.

The tail being recovered, all difficulties appeared at an end, when the 
head of the monster was missing from the rock on which it had been 
deposited, separate from the body. The Curator had now to seek for this 
important portion of his truant whale, which perplexed him exceedingly 
by flying away in portions—although of some tons’ weight each—in a very 
troublesome manner.

At last the head was found in an inlet at Neutral Bay. This valuable 
portion of the animal was only saved by chance/;/for the head having 
been left near the residence of the Collector of Customs, to whom its 
smell became disagreeable, the coxswain of the Custom-House boat was 
ordered to tow it out of the harbour.

Fortunately I was in the boat on that day, and seeing the enormous head 
on the rocks, he informed me of the order he had received/;/but on my 
expressing a desire to preserve the skeleton for the Museum, he said it 
should be secured in some part of the bay where it would be no 
annoyance. On the following day he told me he had lashed it to a rock in 
one of the bays in the harbour; adding, that /“/he had left two blue 
sharks helping to dissect it beautifully/”/

This information respecting the head was conveyed to the disconsolate 
Curator, who was delighted at the discovery of his missing treasure. The 
head was still doomed to more troubles: the sharks had performed on 
their part a beneficial operation; but the huge jaws, lying out of the 
water, had attracted some of those creatures (mischievous all over the 
world) called ^// "small boys," who were caught labouring hard at the 
lower jaw, endeavouring to extract the teeth; fortunately they were 
discovered before any material damage had been effected.

The men engaged having now commenced cleaning the bones, began with the 
lower jaw, from its being a great attraction to depredators for the sake 
of the teeth. When this was completed, it was removed to the Museum 
without the loss of a tooth. The preparation of the skeleton was 
proceeding with as much expedition as possible, and was nearly 
completed, when one of the fins was missing, which, if not recovered, 
would have necessitated the replacement of it by artificial means, 
rendering the skeleton incomplete.

The disagreeable task of cleaning the huge bones of this animal, in a 
highly putrid state, occupied four days. It may be observed, that when 
the men were about to tow the viscera to sea, they were, fortunately, 
previously examined, when two separate bones were discovered, forming 
the os hyoides.

>From the quantity of oil still remaining in the bones, and the offensive 
smell emanating from them, they could not be removed, but were placed on 
one of the small islands in the harbour, where they remained for two 
months, under treatment with lime and other preparations, until they 
were properly bleached, when they were deposited in the Museum.

Every part of the skeleton was now complete excepting one fin. One 
morning the Curator was informed that a strange fish was lying upon the 
rocks near the Baths, at Wooloomooloo Bay; this, fortunately, was the 
lost fin, and was the more interesting from being the right one, the 
bones of which are considerably larger than the left, and more perfect.

It was subsequently ascertained that the fin had been removed, for the 
oil, by the crew of a coasting vessel, while wind-bound in the bay; but 
a fair wind springing up, it was cut adrift, and must have floated to 
the spot where it was found. All obstacles being at length overcome, the 
skeleton was articulated in a masterly manner, and became an object of 
great attraction to the public.

The only parts deficient were two little, loose pelvic bones, which, not 
being articulated to the rest, were likely to escape notice. But the 
Curator now heard that another whale had been cast ashore on an open 
sandy beach between Port Hacking and Botany Bay.

Although in an advanced stage of decomposition, and in spite of the 
danger from the heavy seas which rolled upon the beach and dashed over 
the whale, he succeeded in getting into the carcass of the animal, and, 
after repeated attempts, having been washed out several times by the 
heavy surf, in procuring the pelvic bones, which are found suspended in 
the soft parts.

The skeleton, when set up, was 33 feet 6 inches in its entire 
length/;/the length of the head from the snout to the occiput was 9 feet 
6 inches. Although a complete skeleton of a Sperm Whale is rare in 
museums, the value of this specimen was much increased, when it was 
found, on examination of its osteological structure, to be a new 
species. It has been named /Catodon Australis;/and a valuable account of 
it was published in Sydney by that distinguished naturalist, Mr. W. S. 
M'Leay.

– George Bennett, /Gatherings of a Naturalist in Australasia/, London, 
1860, 159 -162.


peter

-- 
Peter Macinnis         petermacinnis at ozemail.com.au
manufacturer of automated parakeet flensing systems
at Manly NSW, the birthplace of Australian surfing
http://oldblockwriter.blogspot.com/