Dead whale poses shipping threat
Sailors are being warned to be on the look-out for the body of a large dead whale seen floating in the Solent.
The 80ft (25m) creature poses a danger to vessels in one of Britain’s busiest shipping areas, coastguards say.
The mammal has been sighted off Stokes Bay, near Gosport, Hampshire, and about six miles (10km) away at Bembridge, the Isle of Wight’s most easterly point.
“We are concerned nobody hits it, although they should smell it someway off,” a spokesman said.
The Natural History Museum has preliminarily identified the creature on its size and image as a Fin Whale.
It says it may be interested in conducting a post-mortem examination once the body is washed ashore.
Raymond Brettle, 54, a retired airline operations manager, was out fishing in a dinghy on Sunday morning when he and a friend spotted the whale about half-a-mile away, thinking it was an upturned boat.
He told BBC News Online: “We thought, ‘oh crikey, we better go and take a look’, despite it being calm waters.
“So we motored across, it was about half-a-mile away, and realised it was a whale.”
Mr Brettle, of Harpenden, Hertfordshire, said he was not sure at first whether the mammal was dead.
Local warning
“I have to say we did hold back a little bit but it did look pretty bloated,” he said.
“The tide was drifting back towards Portsmouth but I don’t know whether when the tide turned it would have been dragged back out to sea.”
Solent coastguards said it was unusual to have the body of a whale in the Solent.
“We are more used to trees floating down the river at Lymington or 40ft containers in the Channel as hazards,” the spokesman said.
“We have put out a local navigation warning.
“The Receiver of Wreck has had preliminary discussions with local emergency planning officers in the area regarding possible courses of action once the whale comes ashore.”
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/england/hampshire/3527212.stm
Published: 2004/08/02 12:15:42 GMT
© BBC MMIV
Probably get Japanese and Norwegian whalers down there now, all desperate to scientifically test how many whales they can catch to save them dying off in the wild…
Flood.™
By: Flood - 3rd August 2004 at 18:59
If you take out a loan to purchase the Jetski, then yes you can claim back the tax against the interest, here in Jersey that is.
Uou can only claim wear and tear if it’s through a business, apart from giving pleasure rides what sort of business would use a jet ski?????
I was talking about the whale… :rolleyes:
Flood.™
By: Snapper - 3rd August 2004 at 18:42
Game fishing, boat cleaning, bouy testing…..
By: EN830 - 3rd August 2004 at 12:55
If you take out a loan to purchase the Jetski, then yes you can claim back the tax against the interest, here in Jersey that is.
Uou can only claim wear and tear if it’s through a business, apart from giving pleasure rides what sort of business would use a jet ski?????
By: Flood - 3rd August 2004 at 12:38
Reasonable wear and tear?
Flood.™
By: Arabella-Cox - 3rd August 2004 at 12:36
He can claim the tax back on ANYTHING, that lad!
By: Flood - 3rd August 2004 at 12:31
Stick a mast on it and sail it around the world.
Could you claim the tax back?
Flood.™
By: EN830 - 3rd August 2004 at 12:09
If we can rid the world of a few pointless Jet Skiers, I think we should encourage them to use the Solent 🙂
By: Ren Frew - 3rd August 2004 at 10:00
Massive dead whale floating in The Solent ?
I thought they fished Robert Maxwell out of the brine years ago ?? :confused:
By: Snapper - 3rd August 2004 at 07:33
Thanks for that Flood, I might have hit that in the dark.
By: kurmitz28 - 3rd August 2004 at 00:01
im sure last time i went sunbathing the rspca tried rolling me back in!
By: Flood - 2nd August 2004 at 23:53
As long as you don’t need fishing out of the Solent…
Flood.™
By: kurmitz28 - 2nd August 2004 at 23:51
dont think i will sink anymore, if i have anothre i will look like the whale soon
By: Flood - 2nd August 2004 at 23:49
Sink another one, we are all a long time dead.
Flood.™
By: kurmitz28 - 2nd August 2004 at 23:47
Have you heard from CAT?.
Nah I aint heard a thing since i dissapeared (sorry bout speling, nearly very drunk) pity really as she seemed nice
By: Mark9 - 2nd August 2004 at 23:42
wow, those planes are really something cheers Flood
Long time , welcome back 😉 Anna 😉 Have you heard from CAT?.
Anna 😉 😀 😀
By: kurmitz28 - 2nd August 2004 at 23:41
and i think you were right to post this in here, as this is the general discussion and not a dedicated dead-whale-dangerous-to-jetskiers forum
By: kurmitz28 - 2nd August 2004 at 23:40
and i think you were right to post this in here, as this is the general discussion and not a dedicated dead-whale-dangerous-to-jetskiers forum
By: kurmitz28 - 2nd August 2004 at 23:37
wow, those planes are really something cheers Flood
By: Flood - 2nd August 2004 at 20:30
Planes?
Here is a lovely pair of planes…
And here is an old plane…
And here, for comparision, is a an illustrative dead whale (but not the one in the story)…
Flood.™
By: Mark9 - 2nd August 2004 at 20:07
😀 Well thats cool, but thought you liked planes 😀 😀 😀 Anna 😀
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August 2, 2004 at 7:38 pm