A 30-foot female humpback whale washes up on the shore of New Harbor near Thompson House & Cottages, at 95 Southside Road, on Friday, Sept. 26. Katherine Thompson, who owns the business, said the whale washing up on the shore occurred just six days shy of the 50th anniversary of when her grandfather, Daniel Thompson, discovered a whale in almost the exact same spot. (Photo courtesy Charlie Hudson)
Almost 50 years to the day since Daniel Thompson found a whale washed up on the shore of New Harbor, his granddaughter, Katherine Thompson, found a whale washed up in almost the exact spot.
Katherine Thompson, owner of Thompson House & Cottages, checked her business email on Friday, Sept. 26, to find that a guest staying in one of the cottages had mailed her a picture of a whale washed up on the shore near their business at 95 Southside Road.
“The Marine Mammal Protection Act protects any marine mammals and sea turtles pretty strictly,” Thompson said. “So I called the Marine Mammal reporting hotline right off, maybe around 7 a.m., and they said they would come and sample the animal.”
Scientists from the Marine Mammals of Maine, an organization dedicated to marine mammal and sea turtle rescue, care, research, and education, came around 10:30 a.m. to measure the whale and take samples for laboratory analysis. It was identified as a 30-foot humpback female, and the cause of death could not be determined, Thompson said.
“The top of the whale was facing down, so they couldn’t see the part they thought had been predated on,” Thompson said. “It’s possible that … it could have been a ship strike that killed the whale … or it could have been that it was malnourished.”
Thompson said the whale, which was much bigger than she imagined from the guest’s photos, had large, still-living barnacles attached to it, meaning the whale had recently died.
Daniel Thompson stands next to a washed up Minke whale on the shore near Thompson Inn & Cottages in New Harbor on Oct. 2, 1975. Almost 50 years later, his granddaughter, Katherine Thompson, found a whale washed up in almost the exact same spot on Friday, Sept. 26. (LCN file)
The whale was hauled offshore by a local fisherman the morning of Sunday, Sept. 28, according to Thompson.
“It was getting pretty smelly by then,” Thompson said. “It was really interesting to see it while I was there, but we were glad to see it gone.”
The washed-up whale happened just six days shy of the 50th anniversary of when Thompson’s grandfather, Dan Thompson, found a whale washed up on the very same shore.
“I saw in The Lincoln County News’ magazine that was just published a few weeks ago, a picture of my grandpa and the whale,” Thompson said. “I was looking at that article this morning, and I saw that it was on Oct. 2, 1971. This was just six days before the 50-year mark.”
In his column “50 Years Ago in Lincoln County” in the “Back to Lincoln County” magazine, LCN Publisher John Roberts detailed the article, which appeared on the front page of the Oct. 9, 1975 edition of the newspaper. At the time of publication, neither Thompson nor the photographer knew what type of whale it was, so the newspaper put out a call for readers to assist with the identification.
After an autopsy, the whale 20 and 1/2-foot whale was identified as a Minke whale, or Balaenoptera acutorostrata, according to LCN archives. The U.S. Coast Guard towed the whale to McKown Point, where a whale expert from the College of the Atlantic identified it.
The whale Dan Thompson discovered was ultimately buried at the Boothbay town dump, according to LCN archives.
“Back to Lincoln County” was distributed in the Aug. 28 edition of the newspaper.
Katherine Thompson said she thinks the whale her grandfather found was just 100 feet away from the humpback she found 50 years later.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing to have a whale show up right there on our doorstep,” she said.