 rubber white whales. The  assumption being that the special effects people built complete 60  foot leviathans from head to fin. But according to cinematographer,  Oswald Morris (qv) autobiography, "Huston, We Have a Problem," no  full length model whale was ever built. He claims the film company  trolled the sea on the Pequod with a props barge nearby. The barge  carried various parts of the whales body (tailfins, hump, etc.),  which were used as needed. The only complete whale bodies were  various size miniatures which were filmed in a special tank designed  by Gus Lohman at Shepperton Studios. Likewise, all the shots of the  whales head were filmed indoors (as they couldnt make the jaws,  eyes and other components work on the open sea). According to  Morris, the "lost" whale was a twenty foot high cylinder of the  middle section which broke away from its tow line and floated away  (he doesnt say if Greg Peck was on board when the prop was lost),  but he implies that that was the only whale casualty in the entire  production.