Skegness Magazine

Mr. Fred Smith, of Compass House, Riby Street, Grimsby, purchased the three-ton killer whale which stranded on the beach at Gibraltar Point, three miles south of Skegness, on Oct. 19th.
The tremendous task involved in cutting up this 22-ft. 3 -in. monster into sections sufficiently small to permit conveyance along the three miles of beach by lorry, is graphically illustrated in these subsequent pictures taken by Wrates Press and Commercial Department, of Skegness.
BREAKDOWN VEHICLE
The whale was towed to a loading point by a four-wheel drive breakdown vehicle sent to Gibraltar Point with a special crew by Mr. Kenneth T. Green, well-known local motor engineer. This vehicle, which also helped in separating the sections, is shown in the upper Picture, in which Mr. Joe Dickson, of Horncastle (extreme left), watches three of his skilled slaughterers striving to remove the head. One of the previously severed flippers is discernable in the right foreground.
Mr. Dickson undertook, for Mr. Fred Smith, the task of not only reducing the carcase to components, but also of conveying it to Grimsby.
The head—its formidable array of teeth are visible in the upper picture—and certain of the internal organs were accepted from Mr. Smith by Hull University, which sent down a team of four post-graduate research workers to take charge of these parts of the whale’s anatomy.
USED FLENSING IRON
The leader of this party, Mr. A R. Clarke, who has worked on whaling expeditions from South Georgia -with the ” Southern Harvest,” is seen using a flenshing iron on part of the carcase in the lower picture.
The success of the operation was a tribute to some really excellent team work on the part of the various parties concerned, skilfully co-ordinated by Mr. Smith, who, in planning removal from the beach, sought the advice of the Skegness Lifeboat Coxswain (Mr. W. Perrin) and officers the Skegness Lifeboat Station 6.

Source: Skegness Standard 1957

Pictures: Wrates of Skegness