Sperm Whaling Industry, Durban South Africa
Whales and Whaling pictures

Whaling Industry in Durban, South Africa

In the middle years of the 20th century following the Second World War, Durban in South Africa became a major center for the catching of sperm whales on their migrations. The area is favoured by sperm whales as they like deep waters to feed in, and near to the African coast there are deep trenches relatively close to shore, this helped the whalemen considerably.

Rather than the whales being processed at sea by ship or in the shallows, a whale processing station was set up on shore and the whales taken there. The whaling boats would bring their catch to a point on the coast, where they would be hauled onto a flatbed railway car and taken to be processed.