On January 17, 2021, the Italian Coast Guard found the body of a fin whale 20 meters long and weighing 77 tons near the port of Sorrento. When it was discovered, the body of the fin whale had swollen into a huge bulge. , Just like a huge pufferfish, just as people from all walks of life speculated that a whale explosion was about to happen, the Italian police successfully eliminated this hidden danger, which was disappointing!
Whale Burst: The world’s most smelly biochemical weapon
I believe that the onlookers must not be too serious, and the rare scene of whale explosions is not likely to happen globally. There have been two famous whale explosions in history, one was underestimated, the other was I didn’t expect it at all!
Oregon Whale Burst: The Operation of Genius
In November 1970, a 14-meter-long sperm whale weighing about 8 tons ran aground on the coast of Florence, Oregon. Whether it was washed up on the coast or stranded after it died is difficult to verify, but the Oregon Expressway The bureau attaches great importance to this, because this place is close to the Oregon Highway, and they have the right and more obligation to deal with this huge “whale”.
How to deal with it? There are several ways, one is to dig a big pit and bury it on the spot, the other is to contact a local museum or university to make a specimen, and the other is to blow it up because someone muttered at the seminar, and in the end there was no specimen. Because of the need, and also found it troublesome to dig a big hole, I decided to use explosives!
After consultations between the Highway Administration and the U.S. Navy, this super nasty idea quickly became a model of military-civilian cooperation. After all, it is rare for the Navy to perform this kind of “live ammunition blasting” mission in peacetime, and assisting local areas to deal with whale carcasses has become a military mission. And because the sperm whale’s carcass is beginning to swell, the hydrogen sulfide and methane produced by protein corruption have caused the whale’s belly to swell, and it must be dealt with as soon as possible.
Super blasting, Americans never want to do stupid things a second time
The engineer of the highway management team, George Thornton, assessed that it might require multiple blasting. The first time required half a ton of explosives. On November 12, the explosives were in place, and they were quickly deployed around the whale carcass. And because it was a military-civilian cooperation project, TV news reporter Paul Linnman was also invited to record it on the spot. As a result, this shameful incident to the whole world was completely recorded.
The plan is perfect. George intends to bury half a ton of explosives on the side close to the coast. After the explosion, the air wave will throw the whale’s carcass into the sea. The next thing is simple. The seabirds and fish will eat the leftovers. The dead body, everything is so perfect!
Engineer George Thornton was hiding in a simple bunker not far away. Not far behind him was a large crowd of onlookers. They were still crowded forward and were driven to a safe distance 400 away from the whale. What a good thing? Can the important role of onlookers be eliminated? George turned around to look at the eager expressions of the audience and was very satisfied. He pressed the detonation button fiercely!
An instant red and yellow smoke rose into the sky, and the shock wave swept across the face, and there was still pain. Just as the audience was about to cheer, an accident happened. The fragments of the whale carcass that were blown up to the sky fell like raindrops on the audience and not far away. On the highway, the bloody smell is accompanied by a stench, just like the smell of seafood in the refrigerator that has been disconnected for half a month in summer.
The onlookers exclaimed for a while, and then one after another retching. Of course, even if the audience suffered a bit of disgusting whale carcass material, the most troublesome thing was the moving car on the highway, not only was shocked by the explosion. , And a large piece of whale carcass fell and smashed several cars.
The reason is very simple. There are two reasons: too much explosives are buried, and there is not a correct understanding of the whale explosion. A large amount of gas has accumulated in the whale body and it is already in a state of being about to explode. The whale explosion occurred at the same time during the explosion, and the two were superimposed. , Making it more powerful than expected, but in the end there was still a large piece of whale carcass that did not blow up, and had to find a bulldozer to dig a hole and bury it again.
“Explosive” George Thornton never mentioned it again, and it was changed to Exploding Whale Memorial Park after 2003.
Whale explosion in Taiwan Province of China: completely unexpected
On January 14, 2004, a sperm whale ran aground off the coast of Taixi Township, Yunlin County, Taiwan Province, China. Professor Wang Jianping of Chenggong University originally planned to transport the whale to the school for anatomical study. However, the school rejected the school’s decision. Yingming, because of this decision, Chenggong University escaped.
In order to prevent the decay and smell of the carcasses from affecting beach sightseeing, it was decided to transfer the whale carcasses to the Si Cao Wildlife Reserve in Annan District for further treatment. After the Taoist organization in Yunlin County organized the whales to overtake the whales, the local government organized a flatbed truck, 3 A crane and more than 50 workers loaded the sperm whale on the truck and started the transfer.
In order to reduce the impact on nearby residents, the transfer time was set in the early morning, but when passing near the Xiaobei Night Market on Ximen Road, Tainan City Center, an earth-shattering whale explosion occurred. Although it did not cause casualties, it rotted more than ten tons. The internal organs and blood sprayed out and poured out on the main road. The facades and windows of nearby shops, and the cars parked on the roadside were covered with a layer of whale blood and internal organs that had foul smelling.
The people went out to watch. The road was cleaned until the sun came out in the morning. The only impression left by the people was that it was really stinking. The other was that everyone smiled at the 1.6-meter sperm whale Ding Ding without saying a word. Take pictures as a souvenir.
