Beached humpback whale
Date
1887
Creator
Andrew Gibb (British ) , Lithographer
After
George Washington Wilson (1823 - 1893, British) , Photographer
Object type
Material
Technique
Dimensions
height (print): 135mm
width (print): 215mm
width (print): 215mm
Subject
Content object
Description
Landscape showing a male humpback whale Megaptera novaeangliae (here referred to as Megaptera longimana) beached at Stonehaven in Scotland – an animal sometimes referred to as the ‘Tay Whale’. The figure of a man is included for scale and commercial shipping may be seen in the Firth behind.
Plate 1 from the book Memoir on the anatomy of the humpback whale Megaptera longimana by John Struthers (MacLachlan and Stewart, Edinburgh, 1889). The volume was reprinted from a paper published in the Journal of Anatomy and Physiology.
The illustration is inscribed above ‘Journ. of Anat. & Phys. Oct. 1887. Vol. XXII N.S. Vol.II. PL.I’. Inscribed below: ‘Fig.1 MEGAPTERA LONGIMANA. (FROM A PHOTOGRAPH, AT STONEHAVEN, near ABERDEEN, 1884.) length 40 feet. Andrew Gibb & Co. Lithographers, 3, Queen Street, Aberdeen.’
The author states that this whale was observed for several weeks feeding in the Firth of Tay off Dundee in Scotland in late 1883. The cetacean was harpooned on 1 January 1884 and fought for 21 hours, parting the harpoon line. The whale was mortally wounded and was found afloat dead one week later and towed into Stonehaven. The author dissected the creature after it had been exhibited at Dundee.
The accompanying explanation to the plate describes this as a ‘View of the whale as it lay on the back at Stonehaven, drawn by Mr A. Gibb, from a photograph by Mr George W. Wilson, of Aberdeen, taken on the day after it beached there.'
Sir John Struthers (1823-1889) Professor of Anatomy at the University of Aberdeen.
Plate 1 from the book Memoir on the anatomy of the humpback whale Megaptera longimana by John Struthers (MacLachlan and Stewart, Edinburgh, 1889). The volume was reprinted from a paper published in the Journal of Anatomy and Physiology.
The illustration is inscribed above ‘Journ. of Anat. & Phys. Oct. 1887. Vol. XXII N.S. Vol.II. PL.I’. Inscribed below: ‘Fig.1 MEGAPTERA LONGIMANA. (FROM A PHOTOGRAPH, AT STONEHAVEN, near ABERDEEN, 1884.) length 40 feet. Andrew Gibb & Co. Lithographers, 3, Queen Street, Aberdeen.’
The author states that this whale was observed for several weeks feeding in the Firth of Tay off Dundee in Scotland in late 1883. The cetacean was harpooned on 1 January 1884 and fought for 21 hours, parting the harpoon line. The whale was mortally wounded and was found afloat dead one week later and towed into Stonehaven. The author dissected the creature after it had been exhibited at Dundee.
The accompanying explanation to the plate describes this as a ‘View of the whale as it lay on the back at Stonehaven, drawn by Mr A. Gibb, from a photograph by Mr George W. Wilson, of Aberdeen, taken on the day after it beached there.'
Sir John Struthers (1823-1889) Professor of Anatomy at the University of Aberdeen.
Associated place