James Bartley
A sailor reportedly swallowed by a sperm whale and found alive.
James Bartley, who lived from 1870 to 1909, is known from a late 1800s story claiming he was swallowed alive by a sperm whale. Days later, he was found still alive inside the dead whale’s stomach. The tale first ran without a byline in U.S. papers and later appeared globally as ‘Man in a Whale’s Stomach’ or ‘Rescue of a Modern Jonah’.
Quick Facts
- Born
- 1870
- Died
- 1909
- Burial location
- Gloucester
- Epitaph
- James Bartley – a modern day Jonah
- Reported duration inside whale
- 15 hours
- Reported location of incident
- off the Falkland Islands
- Ship named in story
- The Star of the East
Facts from the source article.
Story
The story goes that James Bartley was on a whaling trip near the Falkland Islands when a whale attacked his boat and supposedly swallowed him. His crewmates, unaware he was inside, later caught the same whale and began cutting it open to prevent the meat from spoiling in the heat. They claimed to have found Bartley alive in the whale’s stomach. He was said to have spent 15 hours inside, with his skin bleached by gastric juices and his eyesight permanently destroyed. Some versions of the tale say he was back at work within three weeks. He died 18 years after the incident, and his tombstone in Gloucester reads “James Bartley – a modern day Jonah.”
Investigations
Historian Edward B. Davis investigated the facts and pointed out many inconsistencies. The ship in the story, The Star of the East, was a British vessel that existed and sailed during the time of the alleged incident and could have been near the Falklands at the right time, but it was not a whaling vessel and its crew list did not include a James Bartley. Mrs. John Killam, the wife of the Captain, wrote a letter stating that 'there is not one word of truth in the whale story' and that no man was ever lost overboard while her husband was in the ship. Davis suggested the story may have been inspired by the 'Gorleston whale', a 30 foot rorqual killed near Great Yarmouth shortly before in June 1891 that generated much publicity. While a sperm whale can physically swallow a human whole, the person would likely not survive due to conditions within the stomach, which has four chambers, the first crushing food and the second performing digestion.
Cultural references
The James Bartley story appears in several novels. George Orwell mentions it twice in his 1939 book Coming Up for Air. Julian Barnes includes it in A History of the World in 10½ Chapters, and Arthur C. Clarke does the same in Childhood's End. J. M. Ledgard's novel Submergence also references the event, though the swallowed character is renamed John More. Clive Cussler uses the tale in his novel Medusa. The 1965 television episode "Jonah and the Whale" of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea also featured James Bartley.
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