| Status | Hoax | | Comments | An English commercial fisherman in the early part of the 20th Century is thrown from his whaling ship and presumed lost at sea. Later, he is discovered alive inside a whale that is harpooned by the whaling ship. He is taken back to England where after receiving medical treatment he lives out his life, although his skin is blemished by the gastric juices of the whale.
| | Description | In February, 1891, the "Star of the East", a whaling ship from Liverpool, England was hunting whales in the South Atlantic near the Falkland Islands. A whale was sighted and two boats sent to kill it. The first boat successfully harpooned the whale, but the whale swam away, dragging the boat for about five miles. Later, the harpooner in the accompanying boat also succeeded in harpooning the whale. Both boats were towed about three miles by the whale, then it "sounded" or went below the surface, then later came back to the surface but in it's death throes, capsized one of the whaling boats. All but two crew members were rescued by the other boat and presumed lost at sea.
A few hours later, the now dead whale was lashed to the side of the ship and the crew began the task of cutting it up. When they came to the stomach, they hoisted onto the deck and were shocked to see something moving around inside. They quickly cut the stomach open and found one of the missing sailors, 35 year old James Bartley, inside alive, but unconscious.. He was soon revived, but for two weeks was delerious. By the end of the third week he had recovered sufficiently to go about his duties again.
The sailor remembered the beginning of his ordeal and being being lifted into the air then dropping into the water. After that he said he heard a horrible rushing sound, which he thought might have been the beating of the water by the whale's tail, and then he was enveloped in a terrible darkness and found himself slipping along a smooth passage that seemed to carry him forward. He finally realized he had been swallowed by the whale, and although he tried to be brave, he passed out and didn't remember anything beyond that.
Back in England, Bartley was taken to a London hospital. His skin had been bleached and wrinkled to the appearance of old parchment by the gastric juices of the whale's stomach, and never looked normal again although he enjoyed good health.
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