Clark Murray

Murray Clark

Job Description
Flenser, Kevin Dunham Towboat

Period
1961

Murray was 22 years of age when he worked for the station. He was a good footballer and played for North Albany. North Albany would pay for someone to take Murray's place at work so that he would not miss a game.

Murray can remember one day stepping onto the ramp between the two decks. He slipped, falling down head first onto the deck, all he was wearing was a singlet, shorts and boots. He was covered in gore and blood. He stood up, shookhimslef and carried on. The smell was terrible. It seeped into his pores of his skin. When the shift was over, the whalers would wash down in hot salty water using a special saltwater soap to remove the outside layer, but when Murray went dancing - even after an extra shower and bath at home, the smell would still exude from the pores.

A favourite trick of the Flensers was to put a loaf of bread near the boilers so when the tourists came to watch, they stuffed thier mouths with bread, then spit the bread out, pretending to gag and throw up. This made the tourists feel sick and in turn made them throw up.

There was a lot of camaraderie between the guys - they were all great mates. They always saved the eardrums of the whales, which they often painted as faces. Murray lived in the single men's quarters in a Nissan Hut. He was also part of "The Whalers" Dart Team played at the Royal George, a favourite watering hole for the workers of the Cheynes Beach Whaling Company.