Sadly, a beached humpback whale that rescuers had initially succeeded in returning to open water in Namibia, Africa, came ashore again and is now expected to die soon. Named Humphrey by the rescuers that kept the whale alive for two days before towing him back to sea, the humpback has suffered severe burns and possibly [...]

On November 20, 1820, the American whaler Essex was attacked by an 80-ton sperm whale 2,000 miles off the western coast of South America. The 238-ton Essex was hunting sperm whales for the precious oil and bone that they possess when an angered bull whale rammed the ship twice, capsizing it. Twenty crew members [...]

Happy 35th anniversary to Oregon’s Exploding Whale! I think Bob Welch put it best in his recent column: This story isn’t about death. It’s about a whale that refuses to die. A whale that lives on.
Lives on indeed! News coverage of the anniversary continues…

Bob Welch: Tale of flying blubber keeps bubbling up - RegisterGuard.com [...]

We just want to extend a warm welcome to our fellow Oregonians who are visiting our new and improved Exploding Whale website after reading Bob Welch’s column in today’s Register-Guard newspaper. The column profiles this website in honor of this Saturday’s 35th anniversary of Oregon’s Exploding Whale (November 12, 2005). We’re very excited that you [...]

Bowhead whale
Eskimos are being armed with a new type of harpoon-mounted grenade that is supposedly more “effective” at killing the Bowhead whales they hunt. The new Penthrite grenades, which replace 19th century “black powder” grenades, supposedly reduce the time it takes to “humanely” kill one of these massive creatures — which grow to be 50-60 [...]

On this day in 1952, the United States detonated the world’s first thermonuclear weapon on Eniwetok atoll in the Pacific Ocean. More commonly known as the hydrogen bomb, this new weapon was approximately 1,000 times more powerful than conventional nuclear devices. Testing the weapon gave the United States a short-lived advantage in its nuclear arms [...]