‘Moby Dick’ discovered on the banks of the Thames

The skeleton of a huge headless whale the size of Moby Dick, which archaeologists claim is the biggest single object ever excavated in the capital, has gone on display in Greenwich after it was discovered on the banks of the Thames.

The unfortunate animal (above), a North Atlantic right whale, made the mistake of travelling up the Thames Estuary some time in the mid- to late-18th or early 19th century when London was a busy whaling port. It either beached itself or was spotted by whalers who harpooned it.

Once dead, the whale was taken to Greenwich where it was dragged up the shore and stripped of its whalebone, or baleen, and oil. Both were valuable commodities and the whale's yield could have been worth as much as £400,000 in today's money. Londoners would also have stripped it for meat.

Whale oil's most important use was as a fuel for lighting, but it was also used in the production of wool. Whalebone was a sought-after substance that was found in ladies corsets, umbrellas, horse whips and saddles.

Archaeologists, who discovered the remains under two metres of mud, say the position of the animal indicated that it had been dragged up the beach. The headless skeleton is 52ft long, and weighs half-a-tonne.

Although it was a different species to Herman Melville's famous creation Moby Dick - a sperm whale - the London whale would have been around the same size. It would have dwarfed the 18ft bottle-nosed whale that caused a sensation as it made its way up the Thames in 2006 - and would have caused just as much commotion.

Francis Grew, Senior Curator of Archaeology and Archive Manager at the Museum of London, said: "Whales occasionally swim into the Thames, and there are historical accounts of the enormous public excitement they engendered.

"To have found a skeleton, which just possibly might be linked with one of those sightings, is quite incredible."

The skeleton is currently on display at the Museum of London Docklands in Canary Wharf but next week it will be transferred to the Natural History Museum. Experts there believe the whale was around 70, old for the species, when it met its end. They will try to extract DNA from the bones to discover more about the animal.

The North Atlantic right whale – Eubalaena glacialis – is now under threat of extinction. There are thought to be only around 400 left. ·