#james bartley

A real life Jonah was a seaman aboard the ship The Star of the East named James Bartley. On his first whaling voyage, his boat capsized off the Falkland Islands in 1891.  When the sperm whale was finally caught and butchered an unconscious Bartley was found inside.  He recovered, but his skin was bleached “the color of parchment” by the whale’s gastric juices. He had lost all of this hair, having spent an estimated 15 hours in the whale’s stomach. He spent the rest of his days as a cobbler. (- This story was long reported as true, but it is probably made up and not at all verifiable or scientifically likely.)(pictured: 19th c photo of men atop a sperm whale)

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New HPANWO Voice article: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2026/03/ben-emlyn-jones-on-cosmic-switchboard.html

James Bartley, A Modern Jonah. Portrait of a hoax. https://www.etsy.com/listing/575721969

Original painting, acrylic on canvas board, 11" x 14", of the mythical figure, James Bartley. James Bartley was the man who never existed, a sailor who worked on a whaling ship, named the Star of the East in a late nineteenth-century. In the Falklands, he went overboard and was swallowed whole by a sperm whale. He was found days later in the stomach of the whale. He was blind, his hair had fallen out and his skin was bleached due to the activity of the whale's gastric acids.This story was later investigated and proven to be a hoax by historian Edward Davis.https://www.etsy.com/listing/575721969

James Bartley was the man who never existed, a sailor who worked on a whaling ship, named the Star of the East in a late nineteenth-century. In the Falklands, he went overboard and was swallowed whole by a sperm whale. He was found days later in the stomach of the whale. He was blind, his hair had fallen out and his skin was bleached due to the activity of the whale's gastric acids. This story was later investigated and proven to be a hoax by historian Edward Davis. https://www.etsy.com/listing/575721969

full story: http://www.ycaol.com/swallowed.htm

James Bartley was the man who never existed, a sailor who worked on a whaling ship, named the Star of the East in a late nineteenth-century. In the Falklands, he went overboard and was swallowed whole by a sperm whale. He was found days later in the stomach of the whale. He was blind, his hair had fallen out and his skin was bleached due to the activity of the whale's gastric acids. This story was later investigated and proven to be a hoax by historian Edward Davis. https://www.julieschuler.com/workszoom/3475796#/