The 13m (43ft) creature, which should have been in the Atlantic, was still alive when it came ashore this week.
It died as rescuers attempted to keep it moist with water while they waited for the tide to come in.
The chances of the animal surviving would have been slim. As a large cetacean its own body weight would have compressed its lungs, making breathing very difficult.
In addition it is likely that the whale came ashore already in a poor state, as it would not have been able to feed properly in the North Sea and would have been dehydrated.
In their Atlantic environment, sperm whales consume around a tonne of squid a day, from which they maintain both their energy and body fluids.
British Divers Marine Life Rescue attended the scene with one of its dedicated cetacean refloating pontoons, but took the view that the animal could not be saved.
If it had not expired when it did, it would almost certainly have been put to sleep by a vet.
In attendance with BDMLR were RSPCA and Coastguard officers, the police and Cleveland Fire Brigade.
The whale was cordoned off and put under guard until it could be dismembered and sent for disposal, but not before a post mortem was carried out and tissue samples taken.
A vet travelled from the Zoological Society of London to take the samples. The Society’s cetaceans programme does so regularly for fatally stranded creatures.
Tissue analysis allows experts to identify factors affecting cetaceans, from natural disease to the effects of toxic pollution. Information goes into a database held at London’s Natural History Museum.
The Teesside whale may have swum up the English Channel but is more likely to have ventured into the far north-eastern Atlantic before continuing past the tip of Scotland.
When deciding to head south again, it would then have been on the wrong side of the British Isles for a return to its normal habitat.
It is thought that whales which end up far from where they should be are, in some cases, affected by man-made noise.
The theory is that their delicate sonar navigation systems get confused and perhaps even damaged by noise from such sources as shipping, oil and gas excavation and naval sonar exercises.
Related links
British Divers Marine Life Rescue
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