Albany is a town famous for its whaling station, long since closed as an active facility but now a magnet for tourists. With each passing month, additions are made.
During the tour, you learn interesting statistics. For instance, there is apparently the unfounded belief that whaling was stopped due to environmentalist concerns, but a more cogent argument was the $18,000,000 needed to replace the aging fleet. Another statistic is that a sperm whale produces 6 tonne of oil and needs a tonne of squid or cuttlefish per day when feeding. It was the best oil ever produced and has been replaced by the slightly inferior oil from the Jehova Plant from Mexico that requires 40 plants to produce 1 tonne of oil.
When a whale breaches, it can exchange 95% of its oxygen requirements in 2 seconds. This is one of the old whale chasers, Cheynes IV, now permanently stuck on the shore for tourists to crawl all over.
The whaling station was located in Frenchman's Bay, a beautiful semicircular body of translucent waters and squeaky white sand, shown here with the stern of the Cheynes IV above where it used to roam. Inside the museum is a model of Cheyne II constructed from 9,600 matches! The museum attracts over 70,000 visitors per annum and is the main tourist venue in the town.