"IT was my grandfather who shot the whale in 1905."

And so we have the final chapter of the York whale story. Whodunit? Fisherman Tom Smith.

"They got it out at Cawood," said Tom's grandson Geoffrey Smith, who is 84. "Then it was paraded on a rulley around York."

Tom was a salmon fisherman on the Ouse, based at Acaster Malbis. Although he had caught the odd porpoise in his nets, he had never bagged anything as big as the white whale before.

As we reported last Friday, the whale swam up the river before meeting its match in Tom. He was quite brave to take on the 12ft-long creature.

"It was bigger than the boat, which could have been overturned by something that size," says Mr Smith, who still lives at Acaster Malbis. "It was a bit risky, wasn't it?"

After this excitement, Tom went back to catching salmon, and lamprey, which he exported in their thousands to Holland. As the history of Acaster Malbis recounts: "Lamprey, tube-shaped fish which attach themselves to stones, are known to prefer clean water, which indicates the state of the Ouse at the time."

The dead whale was displayed at the Pack Horse, Micklegate. Here's a picture of it, courtesy of Edward Stephenson, of Heworth, York.

His father, Harry Hubert Stephenson, was the landlord there between 1925 and 1929.

"I heard about this whale being in the back yard. It was there before my time, of course," he said.

By spooky coincidence, Peter Blenchley, author of Jaws, died this week. That leaves a gap for a new underwater thriller. We are now working on a screenplay based on the 1905 Ouse adventure and, in deference to Tom Smith's rowing boat, we are provisionally calling it Oars.

ONE that got away... "A vision of an elaborate £18 million plan to turn York into Spice City has won favour with tourism industry leaders," reported the Evening Press on February 16, 2005.

"The Spice! Project is working to establish a £28 million national visitor attraction, and linked retail and social enterprise activities, which will be located in Lancashire" - the project's website this week.

IF anyone received a terrible Valentine's Day gift - or a fantastic one - and feels the need to let York know, the Diary is all ears.

Updated: 09:02 Wednesday, February 15, 2006