Posted on 06/26/2021 6:47:14 AM PDT by sodpoodle
For Yemeni fisherman Fares Abdulhakeem and his friends, the day was like any other as they headed out to sea to earn a living in the war-torn country -- until they hit the jackpot in the belly of a whale. Abdulhakeem related how he was among 35 fishermen who stumbled upon a floating sperm whale carcass in February, about 26 kilometres (16 miles) off the coast of the southern city of Aden. He said they dragged the dead mammal back to shore, where they sliced it open and struck "floating gold", or ambergris, a rare substance formed in the whale's digestive system which is used in making perfume. The 127-kilogram (280-pound) lump of ambergris was sold to an Emirati businessman for more than $1.5 million -- an unimaginable sum for many living in what the UN says is one of the world's poorest countries. Some of the money was used to help those in need in the community, while the rest was split among the group of fishermen. Yemeni fishermen have traditional knowledge that ambergris -- a waxy substance used to stabilise the scent in perfumes -- can be found in sperm whales, but actually coming across one is a vanishingly rare event. The discovery has transformed their lives. "I head out to sea every day in search of my daily catch, and on one of those days we found a dead whale. It turned out to be whale full of ambergris," Abdulhakeem said.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
Hannibal Lecter had his hand cream specially made in Italy out of ambergris.
Just sayin’ . ..
“Perfumed Princes”...Term coined by Col David H. Hackworth, if I remember correctly...The larval form are often referred to as “Ring Knockers”...
Hackworth joined merchant marine at 14, entered the Army as a Private and retired a Col...Combat leader in Korea and Vietnam...Outspoken critic of all that was wrong with his beloved Army, with a hard focus on the senior officers...
His books About Face, Hazardous Duty and Steel My Soldier’s Heart are worthwhile reading, as is anything “Hack” has written...A soldier’s soldier; died too young of cancer...
Oh, they just found the dead whale floating there. Right.
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