A Whale's Tale

Headline: Young English Fisherman Swallowed by a Whale and Lives!

This incredible narrative dates back to February 1891 in England. A few of its many versions have found their way into modern literature. Edward B. Davis, a professor at Messiah College in Pennsylvania, had many questions and decided to research the story's authenticity.

According to some accounts, James Bartley had signed on to his first voyage on the whaling ship Star of the East. While sailing the South Atlantic, a sperm whale was sighted, and the ship gave chase. Bartley was one of several men lowered into two small rowboats. As deadly harpoons soared through the air and hit their mark, the harpooned beast's thrashing tail struck Bartley's boat. The unlucky whalers were tossed into the sea. All but two were rescued-one drowned, and Bartley was presumed lost at sea. 

Hauling the dead whale next to their ship, the crew commenced carving up the carcass for blubber. As they worked, they noticed something peculiar. They sliced open the whale's stomach, and there lay James Bartley, unconscious but alive! The whale's digestive juices had bleached his skin white. The crew doused him with seawater and put him in the captain's quarters to recover. 

Davis wondered whether published articles and documents existed to support this narrative, so in 1991, he traveled to England to track down sources of information. Davis scoured newspaper files, original documents, and libraries, but was unable to find significant credible evidence to support the story. In fact, his findings made accounts seem more questionable. Most damaging, in a newspaper interview the captain's wife claimed it was "just another sailor's sea yarn" - a whale's tale, indeed!









- - - - - - - - - -
© Don Johnston Incorporated
For use with Protocol in Accommodations for Reading (PAR) by DeCoste & Wilson
donjohnston.com/par