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meat from two Bottlenosed whales that had been taken. Bottlenosed whales are also known as

‘Keelers’.

By 1913 the whaling industry had deteriorated to such a degree that the Resident Magistrate of
Simon’s Town, Mr G. J. Boyes, observed:

“There is a whaling station at Stony Point, [Cape Hangklip] and a large number

of whales are caught in False Bay by two whalers. In view of the rapid

extermination of whales I strongly recommend a close season to give the
animals a chance to breed.”

Whales

Now let’s have a look at these wonderful creatures.

The Southern Right whale was the called the Right whale by the old people because it was rich
in oil, and they also received a lot of money for the whale ‘bones’ which is the baleen that hangs

in the mouth of the whale.

The mouth is of an extremely strange shape and filled with baleen plates which can be as long as

two and a half metres. These plates are made of the same material as your finger nails which is
called keratin. They are long and narrow with a fringe on one side. 200 to 240 of these plates

hang from each side of the upper jaw.

The Southern Right is black in colour with white patches on its stomach. It is between 13 to 15

metres long and weighs between 41 - 54 tons. The most identifiable thing about the Southern
Right whales is the warty growths on their heads which we call callosities. They are born with

these patterns on their heads. In actual fact they are the fingerprints of the whale and every whale
has a different pattern. This is how Dr Peter Best is able to distinguish one whale from another.

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