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A Whale is landed by Seattle Dockworkers
By Jon Halgren
“OK,
Bill, I will tell you how it happened”. It
was about 2:00 when over the radio came “There is a whale in the waterway.”
We all started flipping channels to get more information. We were still trying
to clear the back up from lunch. Just like now, at our lunchtime the trucks wait
so there is maybe 100 rigs trying to get loaded or unloaded. Carl, my partner,
walked over to the apron for a close look at the
whale. He kept me informed as to what was happening ”Man it is big.” Carl
said.
The whale had wrapped, and twisted itself in the net and that caused
suffocation. Bill, “Do you
remember the fish house at Pier 24?” “The fisherman was going there to
deliver his catch. What could the fisherman do with the whale? That was the
question of the day.”
The Dock foreman offered assistance to get the whale out of the net and
allow the fisherman to deliver his load. “Maybe we can help clear the
whale.” ”That would be great”, said the fisherman. “I will even thro in
a couple of salmon if you can free me.”
It was close to coffee time and the foreman called the gear locker for:
one 5/8, by 20ft eye and eye sling, a 5 ton snap hook, and 2 5/8 by 8 ft straps,
and 2-5 ton shackles. The gear locker must have of heard what was happening as
they were there in a flash.
Hand held radios were relative new on the waterfront and the foreman
carried his in his chest pocket. Standing
upright his radio stayed in place. During the coffee break truck drivers and
office workers came out to marvel at the sight. It was very unique.
The boss hooked a 20 ft. sling to a 25ton lift and then went down hand
over hand. He was in the process of hooking up the sling when he bent over and
out of his pocket slid the radio. It did bounce twice and then slid down the
whale into the water. Never to be heard from again.The lift operator, oh so
gently raised the whale to clear the bull rail and then backed away from the
crane tracks.
Coffee was over and a superintendent reminded the foreman that the work
at Pier 25 was to move containers not whales. All the crane operators heard the
message and we put the Star-cons to moving containers. In about an hour the back
up was taken care of.
WHAT TO
DO WITH 6,000 POUNDS OF DECAYING WHALE? U. W. has a Department of Oceanography,
they can do research. NO, Do not bring it to us. The fish house in right
next-door. It is not fresh, and they do not want whales. City dump? No they do
not want the smell or the work of cutting it into small workable sizes. A
Rendering company is a place that cooks or renders animal pieces into fat. YES!
The next morning a Rendering Company truck was loaded with the whale. It stayed
in one piece and away the whale went. After a good Seattle rain the odor at PIER
25 returned to normal.
Now you know
why they have “No Fishing” signs on the docks.
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