Albany Day 3 – The Whaling Station

Whaling was conducted in Albany until 1978 and when Keith first visited in 1972 this was an active Whaling Station. With much effort from locals and some financial support it has been converted into a first class tourist facility with the Cheynes IV Whalecatcher having also been preserved and put on display.

All the buildings and equipment are still in place and an audio “tour” of 15 minutes happens twice daily to explain the process from landing the whales through the factory process. A gift shop and cafe complete the premises.

The whole ship is open for visitors to wander through with volunteers on hand to answer your questions. Unlike deep ocean whaling where a “mother ship” was used, the Albany whaling took place at relatively short distance in an area only around 50km offshore where Sperm Whales live all year round. By these means the Whalecatchers, using spotter aircraft, each caught and killed whales and attached an anchored buoy to each one leaving them to float. At the end of each “round” designated ships would retrieve these and tow them to the whaling station for processing. Leading up to the end of whaling the company had a quota of around 700 whales a year from the International Whaling Commission and in their last year caught 698 SPerm Whales. Originally they also hunted Humpbacks but killing of humpbacks was banned internationally in 1963.