Arthur Greene
A group of fishermen from Yemen, one of the poorest countries in the world, stumbled upon over R20 million rand worth of treasure in the belly of a whale carcass.
But the deceased sperm whale hadn’t swallowed a chest of buried treasure. What the men found was $1.5 million of ambergris, a lump of solid whale “vomit” which is used in the making of perfume.
“When you find whale ambergris, it’s a treasure,” one of the fishermen told the BBC.
The group of 35 men set off on a large fishing boat on the Gulf of Aden, after hearing a tip about a floating sperm whale carcass.
They knew their chances were slim. Only sperm whales produce ambergris. And among these, it is only found in 1-5% of them.
But as they drew closer to the mammal, the smell grew stronger. This was a good sign.
“As soon as we got close to it, there was this strong smell,” the unnamed fisherman recalled. “And we had the feeling this whale had something.”
They pulled the whale back to shore.
“We cut into it to see what was inside its belly, and yes, it was ambergris. The smell wasn’t very nice – but lots of money,” he laughed.
The fishermen from the village of al-Khaisah split the profits from the 127kg lump of ambergris equally, and paid everybody who had helped them.
Ambergris, also known as “vomit gold” , forms over many years inside the intestines of sperm whales. It is used in expensive perfumes to preserve the scent.
One of the fishermen told the Middle East Eye that most of the men are using their share to build a life for themselves.
“Thirty million Yemeni rials [R1,7 million] is enough these days to build a home and marry, and this is what the majority of the fishermen are spending the money on,” he said.
Many of the men also gave some of their share of the money to the needy in the village, which is home to many refugees within the war-torn country.
Image source: @BBCWorlds
