Swallowed by Whale—-Support for Jonah

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 940, 5 April 1930, Page 18

Swallowed by Whale —-Support for Jonah

Sailor Released from Living Tomb by Knives of Comrades ... A Nightmare Tale from the Deep Waters . . .

As the victim seemed to revive , following fi sousing with salt water , he was carried to a cabin where he was washed

and given sips of brandy. ■ NE of the greatest stories in the modern history of the sea is recalled by the sale of the Star Line sailing ships owned by the Alaska Packing Company (says a writer in the “Sunday News”), for it was on board one of these vessels that James Bartley astonished the world by proving that the Biblical story of Jonah and the whale was more than a’possibility. The Star of the East was whaling in sight of Pembroke Light, Port Stanley, Falkland Islands, in February, 1891, when whales were sighted as the sun broke over the eastern, horizon. Two boats fully manned made for the nearest whale, a big bull, which seemed aware of danger. The second boat lowered raced the first one, and approached the whale too recklessly. The boat’s crew seemed all too anxious to get their harpoon “home” before the other boat arrived. The whale lay idle until the boat drew alongside. Then, with of his great tail, he scattered boat and men

like chaff over the surface of the sea, and dived fathoms deep, while the other boat picked up all but two of their shipmates.

Late that afternoon two other boats \ met with more success. They approached the same bull with great ! precaution, and the man in the bow | got his “poon” home. Before sunset j the whale was alongside, and men I were on the flensing platform cutting in. The enormous monster was covered in walls of blubber. Men j worked with flensing knives, strip- ; ping off great blankets of fat through j the night and part of the following i morning. Then they put tackles on the stomach of the whale and hoisted it on deck. Something moved inside the covering, which was quickly slit open, and the form of James Bartley, one of the two lost seamen, was found quivering and unconscious. They soused him with salt water. As he seemed to revive, he was carried to the cabin, where he was washed and given sips of brandy. For two weeks the demented man hovered between life and death. Bartley, in telling his experiences, recalled being upset in the boat. He remembered being dashed high into the air. Then lie heard a rumbling sound as of a train travelling at full speed through a tunnel. He imagined I that the noise was caused by the tail J of the whale pounding the sea. j He was in perfect darkness as he i felt about, with his hands and touched some slimy substance which yielded to pressure. Then he felt himself j being drawn forward into a chamber * wliero there was more air.

In vain he tried to escape from his prison. Every time he started to crawl toward the narrow entrance some irresistible force drew him back Then his terrible plight dawned on him. He was inside the body of the xvhale. The heat was terrific. Perspiration oozed out of the pores of his skin. It was stifling. He grew weak from the strain, and at last he became exhausted. Death did not seem far away. He collapsed, and remembered nothing more till he awoke in the cabin of his ship. Although Bartley recox'ered sufficiently to carry on his duties, his skin never regained its natural appearance. It retained a deathly xvhite pallor. His case was watched carefully for some time. There are many cases on rticord where whales “ have deliberately awaited the coming of boats before attacking them. Sir John Bland Sutton, the famous surgeon, recalls an instance where a boat from a whaler harpooned a cachelot, or sperm whale, when it turned on the boat and bit it in two. Matshall Jenkins, one of the boat’s crew, was swallowed by the monster. The harpoon took effect, for after diving, the whale came to the surface, -and in its death agonies brought up Marshall Jenkins, little the worse ’ for his amazing experience. Dr. Ambrose Wilson, a year or two ago, provided further evidence of the 1 possibility of the truth ot the Bibb* cal story of Jonah by detailing the interior of a sperm whale, a species SO feet in length. He declared that j there would be sufficient room for Jonahs to stand and move about :u ‘ the interior of such a xvhale.