Beached Whale

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Don't ask me why... but this tickled my funnybone.

[ame="http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdVHZwI8pcA"]YouTube - Beached Whale[/ame]

[RETIRED]

The exploding whale one is funny too. Only in America.

[ame="http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=hvha8N3a28U&feature=related"]YouTube - High Quality Beached Whale explosion video[/ame]

[Johncs]

The blasted whale reminds me....

Years ago, Dad wanted a hole in the ground. Think soak, for watering cattle. The farm was located in the Scott River area of Western Australia.

The soil there is sand, interspersed with low-grade iron ore (the area was pegged at the time, but the higher grade ore up north meant it wasn't wanted).

Back then ICI had this new explosive, nitroprill. It's pure ammonium nitrate, made into tiny balls. To prepare it for use, one adds a little paint (to show it's treated), and a quantity of diesolene, then one stirs it up. A cement mixer's good, even a petrol one as the fuel's not inclined to explode.

Dad and we boys (me mostly) had been using it to blow up stumps and the occasional tree, so we decided this was just the stuff.

We mixed up all we had, about 120 pounds - this was before we metrified ourselves - and headed off to the Scott River propertly with the mixed nitroprill and some accessories and tools.

We decided to dig five holes, in a square pattern and one in the middle.

If you've ever tried digging holes in wet sand, you will guess we didn't get very far. At about three feet - this was before we metrified ourselves- the water was washing in the sand as fast as we could dig it out.

Dad had some good solid plastic bags, so we bagged up the nitropril, about 20 lbs - this was before we metrified ourselves - in four, the rest in the last. Into each bag, we inserted a length of instant fuse taped into about a quarter stick of gelignite.

We squeezed out the air, taped the top together as tightly as we could, the burried the bags taking care to keep their tops up just in case they were not water tight.

We then connected all the slo fuses to another, and taped them to a single detonator.

I wonder whether I'm allowed to post this? I hope it gets past the censor.

We cut a suitable length of slow fuse, split one end a little (makes it easier to light), _carefully_ inserted the other into the detonator and crimped it.

I then lit the fuse (it's funny how legs turn to jelly at such times), and we drove of to a safe distance, and turned to watch.

Dad reports that he sometimes saw the RAAF flighing over, maybe in the nice fast F111s, but this day they weren't in evidence.

There wasn't much flame, unlike in the exploded whale tale, but there was a very satisfactory explosion and any aircraft flying low over at the time may have had some difficulties.

We went back and examined the damage - er results.

The result was a hole about six feet - this was before we metrified ourselves- deep, about square and about flat, with five pockets in the bottom. The dispersal of the sand blown out as interesting, it was layed out in a cross, with the axes neatly between the corners. The centre explosive had blown the sand out and probably it would have been circular but from interference from the corner explosives.

An entirely successful job, but we wished we had some more explosives, the bottom was dry and stayed so for some time. We figured we might have been able to do it all again.

However, the resulting hole lasted and served for some years, after Dad added a well liner to stop sand fiom creeping it.

Note that the ammonium nitrate remains pretty harmless even after it's mixed with oil, it really does need gelignite or similar to set it off.

[RETIRED]

Are you metrified yet?