Officials in Oregon had a problem. A 45′ long sperm whale washed up on Florence beach on 9 November 1970. The deceased whale, as they do, began to smell. Badly. It was up to the Oregon highway division to figure out how to remove the odiferous beast.
After consulting with the US Navy, who had little to no experience with removing whales from beaches, it was decided the best way to get rid of the whale was to blow it up.
George Thornton, the engineer in charge of the operation, told KATU newsman Paul Linnman that he was not sure how much dynamite would be needed. A charge of one-half ton of dynamite was selected. A military veteran with explosives training who happened to be in the area warned that the planned twenty cases of dynamite was far too much, and that 20 sticks (8.4 lb) would have sufficed, but his advice went unheeded.
The 20 cases of dynamite were detonated at 1545 on 12 November. The resulting explosion was caught on film by KATU cameraman Doug Brazil. The blast caused large pieces of blubber to land near buildings and in parking lots some distance away from the beach. Only some of the whale was disintegrated; most of it remained on the beach for the Oregon Highway Division workers to clear away. The explosives-expert veteran’s brand-new automobile, purchased during a “Get a Whale of a Deal” promotion in a nearby city, was flattened by a chunk of falling blubber. Fortunately, his insurance covered the full retail cost of the car.