Titan of the Thames: Resurfacing after 200 years, the whale that met a bloody end



At 52 feet long and weighing 60 tons, it was truly a giant of the deep.

Some 200 years ago, however, the magnificent whale made a fatal wrong turn.



Maybe it simply lost its way. More likely, it was ailing and easy prey as it veered off course to be speared on a whaler's harpoon and dragged from the open sea to the Thames.

Tracey Heath from the Natural History Mammal unit inspects the bones before it is taken to the Museum of London to go on display

And there on the riverbank, the North Atlantic right whale - thought to be more than 50 years old - was stripped bare, its head removed and its carcass left to slowly sink into the mud.

Two centuries on, the skeleton of the whale, preserved in its rich muddy grave, has been uncovered by archaeologists. And now the bones, discovered two months ago, are on show at the Museum of London Docklands.



The 23ft headless skeleton, weighing half a ton, was dug up at Bay Wharf, Greenwich, an area of South-East London once home to a thriving whaling industry.



The gigantic skeleton of the whale which was left on the banks of the Thames near Greenwich and would have been used for its oil

The skeleton was found headless but otherwise remarkably intact. It is the largest object ever to be discovered in an archaeological dig by the Thams

Adding weight to the theory that the creature met a bloody end is the position in which it was found.

Whales generally beach head-first, or lie parallel to the shoreline. But this one was probably dragged tail-first on to the foreshore.

Nicks on the bones indicate that hooks or harpoons had been inserted into the creature. If it was harpooned and dragged to the Thames, it would have met a brutal end because whalers would have wanted to cause as much blood loss as possible before bringing their catch to shore.

Whale meat was prized in the late 17th and 18th century, but of even greater value was whale oil, which was used for burning in lamps, machinery and even manufacturing cosmetics.



It is thought the head would have been taken away to gain access to the baleen, or whalebone, used in corsetry.

The skeleton is an Atlantic Right Whale, pictured, which are now endangered

Francis Grew, senior curator of archaeology at the museum, said: 'Whales occasionally swim into the Thames, and there are historical accounts of the enormous public excitement they engendered.



'To have found a skeleton which just possibly might be linked with one of those sightings is quite incredible.'

The skeleton will later be moved to the Natural History Museum, where scientists will extract DNA in the search for information about the creatures' genetic diversity, distribution in the ocean and feeding strategies.

Richard Sabin, senior curator of mammals at the Natural History Museum, said: 'Although once common in British waters, North Atlantic right whales are now endangered, making this discovery particularly fascinating.

'It offers us a snapshot into the past of these amazing mammals, while providing a valuable scientific resource for contemporary zoological studies.'

The right whale - its name refers to the fact that it was literally the 'right whale' to kill in terms of the oil it would supply - was hunted until the first half of the 20th century. It is thought there may be only 300 to 350 surviving animals in the western North Atlantic.

A 16th-Century woodcut etching of a whale being butchered on the shore. The London whale would have been stripped bare by local people



