On the morning of 19 April 1920 Napierites awoke to find a large dead whale on the south Marine Parade beach. It was 63 feet (19m) in length and estimated to be between 40 and 50 tonnes (36-45,000kg) in weight and around 100 years old. The giant of the deep had thought to have been dead for about a week before it ended up on the beach.
At first great excitement was had by the Napierites about their gift from the sea and a half-holiday was given so schoolchildren could examine the "monster". However as the whale had been dead for some time the residents across the road were "receiving the benefit of this".
On 22 April children from Taradale School were taken to see the creature but they didn't stay long as the "perfume proved too much for the youngsters".
The Daily Telegraph reported that the residents nearby had "never been so frantic for a westerly wind, and today their joy knew no bounds when the wind turned south-westerly and they were able to continue their deep breathing exercises with a certain amount of comfort".
With the amusement factor of the large whale now well and truly overtaken by the smell of its rotting carcass, the Napierites pondered how to get rid of it. One idea was to cut up the monster and boil it down for its oil. But a few years back when a smaller whale washed up at Awatoto this is what had occurred, but for some reason the Government would not let the oil be sold. Therefore the only man that could do this refused to have anything to do with it.