JONAH EMULATED

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 50, Issue 155, 12 April 1930, Page 5

JONAH EMULATED

SWALLOWED BY WHALE. SAILOR'S NICHTMARE STORY. One of the greatest stories in the modern history of the sea is recalled by the sale of the Star Line sailmg ships owned by the Alaska Packing Companv, for it was on board one ol these vessels that James Bartley astonished the world by proving that the Biblical story of Jonah and the whale was more than a possibility, writes a special correspondent in “The Sunday News” (London). 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 bi<4 bull, who seemed aware of danger. The second, boat lowered raced the first one and approached the whale too recklessly. The ’beat’s crew seemed all too anxious to get their harpoon “home” before the other boat arrived. Tlie whale lay idle until the boat drew alongside. Then, with a flip of liis 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./ Harpooned at Last.

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 the whale was alongside, and men were on the “flensing” platform cutting in. The enormous monster was covered in “walls” of .blubber. Men worked with flensing knives, stripping off great “blankets” of fat through the night and part of the following 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 experience, recalled being upset in the boat; lie remembered being dashed high into the air. Then he heard a rumbling sound as of a train travelling at full speed through a tunnel. He imagined that the noise was caused by the tail of the whale ixiunding the sea. He was in perfect darkness as he felt about with his hands apd touched some slimy substance which yielded to pressure. Then he felt himself being drawn forward into a chamber where there was more air. His Living Prison. In vain lie 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 whale; 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 recovered sufficiently to carry on his duties, his skin never regained its natural appearance. It retained if deathly white pallor. His case was watched carefully for some time. There are many cases on record where whales have deliberately awaited the coming 'of boats before attacking them. Captain Stavers, of the whaler Tuscan, records that lie saw the second mate’s boat smashed by a second whale after the harpooning of its companion. Mr Young, his chief officer, lowered another boat and went to pick up the men. On approaching the spot the second whale attacked his boat and smashed it to matchwood. Air Young was thrown 40 feet in the air, came down on the surface of the sea and disappeared. As he never rose again, it was presumed that the mammal swallowed him. . The whaler Essex was stove in and sunk by a big bull whale which rose on the port how of the shin and headed toward it at great speed before the boats could be lowered. The ship filled rapidlv, heeled over on her side, and sank in less than 15 minutes. Another Man Swallowed.

Sir John Bland Sutton, the famous surgeon, recalls an instance wheie a boat from a whaler harpooned a caclielot, or sperm whale, when it turned on the boat and bit it in two. Marshall Jenkins, one of the boat s ciev, was swallowed by the monster. The harpoon took effect, for, altei diving, the whale came to the surface and, in its death agonies, brought up Marshall Jenkins little t the worse for his amazing experience. •Dr Ambrose Wilson a year or two ago provided further evidence of .the possibility of the truth .of the Biblical story of Jonah by detailing the intenoi of a sperm whale, a species 80ft. in there would he sufficient room for 20 Jonahs to stand and move about in the interior of such a. whale. While in many species the gullet of the whale is small, that of the sperm is large and distends to great proportions. This is again proved by the finding or an 18ft. shark in the stomach of one of the mammals. . Two years ago, while fishing off the Donegal coast, two brothers named McCarey had the experience of being carried together with their boat for 50 yards on the hack of a monster whale which rose to the surface beneath it. In July. 1923, a huge'sperm whale attacked' the steaiii whaling '/esse! Brown off Vancouver Island, broke away the propeller blades, and bent the shaft.