The Longbranch Whale
On Saturday, February 23, 2019, three young girls on a birthday beach walk found a 29-foot gray whale washed ashore on Longbranch Beach, off the north side of Taylor Bay on the southern end of the Kitsap Peninsula.
The Longbranch Whale
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration granted SPU permission to retrieve and then display this whale’s skeleton for educational purposes. The necropsy performed by Cascadia Research Collective found this whale to be a juvenile, recently weaned. Though covered in orca teeth marks, she died of starvation. Her stomach was empty, so skinny her ribs were visible. She was one of over 200 gray whales that washed ashore in 2019-2020, part of what NOAA called an “unusual mortality event.”
Performing the Necropsy
Captain Vernon Moore towed the whale 17 miles into Gig Harbor aboard the Sea 3, the smallest surface vessel to reach the north pole. Hartwell Champagne and his crew at the Gig Harbor Marina & Boatyard lifted the water-logged whale from the water using his ship hoist. According to its scales, she weighed 16,000 lbs.
Hoisting the Whale
The whale was then taken to a farm for flensing. 27 volunteers—from Cascadia Research Collective, Highline College’s Marine Science and Technology Center, and Seattle Pacific University—worked seven hours to retrieve her bones, which were then buried in manure to leech out their oil over the next six months.
Flensing the Whale | Photo by Daniel Wright
In December, 36 volunteers exhumed the bones. All were recovered save for a handful of phalanges and the left flipper’s humeral head, stolen by coyotes. Bones from another gray (CRC-1587, washed ashore in May 2017) replaced the missing pieces.
Unearthing the skeleton | Photo by Joel Wiebe
Students arranged the bones winter quarter 2020. In April the bones were placed on Marston Hall’s roof to bleach in the sun, and in August, students articulated the skeleton as you see it now hanging in Eaton Hall. Her 250 bones weigh 518.3 lbs.
Students arranging the left scapula, shoulder, and flipper.
SPU English professor Peter Moe worked closely with Highline College’s Marine Science and Technology Center director Rus Higley to raise the Longbranch Whale. Higley notes that while grays were once decimated by whaling, they have since recovered to their historic numbers, with 27,000 of them now migrating along the coast each year. The death of this one whale actually testifies to the health of——and hope for——the species as a whole. As Higley says, “They can’t die here unless they’re here.”
158 volunteers——including faculty from Art, Biology, Communications, English, Family and Consumer Sciences, Philosophy, and Theology——and eight donors came together to build this whale, a true community effort that embodies SPU’s interdisciplinary commitment to the liberal arts.
A generous grant from the SPU Faculty Life Office supported this project, as well as donations from Western Prince Whale Watching, Five Corners Hardware Company, Erin and Sam Morrison, Justin and Jennifer Harold, David and Joyce Bartholomae, and Bobbie and John Clyde.
The volunteers who made it possible
From the community
Isaac Anderson, Ryan Bebej, Kyle Breneman, Kent Cardwell, Hartwell Champagne, Wes Dennis, Grant Harold, Tristan Lawson, David Moe, Eric Moe, Micki Moe, Stan Macumber, Lynda Mapes, Lyndsey Montgomery, Vernon Moore, Veronica Myrsell, Krister Persing, Mark Plunkett, Petra Radmanovich, Mark Rybin, Alan Scruggs, Nate Slater, Joel Wiebe, Kevin Yeadon
From Highline College’s Marine Science and Technology Center
Joseph Clift, Bri Gabel, Lydia Garas, Rowen Higley, Rus Higley, KC Johnston, Katy Kachmarik, Maddie Karns, Jessica Lotz, Joanne Park, Lelania Rodda, Avery Sandler, April Stout, Randi Weinstein, Randy Williams, Matt Wilson
From Cascadia Research Collective
Mackenzie Davidson, Jessie Huggins, Clay Wilburn
From the National Oceanic and Atmospheric ADministration
Kristin Wilkinson
From the King/Snohomish County Stranding Network
Rachel Mayer
From Seattle Pacific University
Peg Achterman, Grace Barthelmess, Jeff Bass, Matthew Benton, Betty Berhanu, Chelyn Bigornia, Samuel Black, Lisa Blanchard, LeeAnn Bowers, Jenn Brown, Elijah Cabiles, Molly Callison, Garland Cary, Jeremy Chieng, Meagan Clark, Tamyra Clark-Hoogstrate, Levi Clum, Madison Cooper, Sarah Daman, Ngan Dang, Sam Davis, George Douglass, John Douglass, Katie Douglass, Paul Douglass, William Douglass, Dawn Dubsky, Ryan Ferrer, Marcia Garcia, Beth Gebre, Claire Geiman, Josh Gere, Francesca Giraudo, Nick Glancy, Menna Hailermariam, Nikki Harasta, John Hemenway, Kathy Henning, Brianna Herron, Sami Hoiland, Hannah Hutchinson, Curt Jacobsen, Morgan Jenney, Caryn Ragin Johnson, Melanny Kanemitsu, Carly Kano, Kiersten Kauffman, Eilidh Keuss, Jeff Keuss, Sara Koenig, Cecilia Krause, Mathea Kurtz-Shaw, Haven Lanzador, Jeff Layton, Quoc Le, Paul Lee, Mary Lerwick, Eric Long, Gavin Long, Torin Long, Ellie Loran, Samuel Madasu, Oviya Manivakkam Vivekanand, Sue Martin, Marlene McCurley, Lindsey Minerva, Gaile Moe, Jenna Moe, Jonah Moe, Peter Moe, Quinn, Emma Najarian, Liam Nguyen, Tim Nelson, Tracy Norlen, Emily Northey, Kristyn Oshiro, Rowan Pauls, John Pearson, Alex Pedersen, Riley Peters, Julie Renne, David Rither, Daniel Rury, Debra Sequeira, Chelsea Shanitta, Arwen Shantz, Rashmi Shrestha, Julia Siemens, Eli Sigler, Matthew Sigler, Aria Wall-Scheffler, Cara Wall-Scheffler, Alison Stigora, Stacy Tam, Nicole Thompson, Suzanne Townsend, Marci Walden, Mischa Willett, Dominic Williamson, Jedidiah Wilson, Sara Wilton, Olivia Winter, Daniel Wright, Kalkidan Yekuno
And, in particular, Margaret Brown, Dave Church, Don Jacobs, Kyle Gough, Derek Wood, Bruce Congdon, and President Daniel Martin
In the News
How to Know a Whale: Students Articulate Skeleton at Seattle Pacific University, KNKX, 01 Sept 2020
SPU Students Assembling Skeleton of Gray Whale that Washed up on Beach, KIRO 7, 17 Aug. 2020
Gray Whale of a Tale, Queen Anne & Magnolia News, 09 Sept. 2020
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