The Newtown bee., 1892-02-26
A Man Who Was Swallowed by a
 Whale and Lived.

scarce. One morning, the lookout sight ed whale about three miles away on the starboard quarter. Two boats were manned. In a short time, one of the boats was near enough to enable the harpoon- proved to be an exceedingly large one. With the shaft in it's side, sounded and then sped away, dragging the boat after with terrible speed. He swan straight away about five miles, when he turned and came back, almost directly towards the spot where he had been harpooned. The second boat waited for him and when but a short distance away from it, he rose to the surface. As soon as his back showed. above the surface of the water, the harpooner in the sec Ond boat drove another spear into him. The pain apparently craZed the whale :; for it thrashed about fearfully and it was feared that the boats would be swamped and the crews drowned. Final ly, the whale swan away, dragging the two boats after him. He went about three miles and sounded or sank and his whereabouts could not be exactly told. The lines attached to the harpOOns were slack and the harpooners began slowly to drag them in and coil them in the tubs. As soon as they were tautened the whale arose to the surface and beat about with it's tail in the maddest fash ion. The boats attempted to get beyond the reach of the monster, which was ap- parently in it's death agonies and one of them succeeded, but the other was less fortunate. The whale struck it with his nose and upset it. The men were thrown into the water and, before the crew of the other boat could pick them up, one man was drowned and James Bartley had disappeared.
 When the whale became quiet from ex- haustion, the waters were searched for Bartley, but he could not be found and, under the impression that he had been struck by the whales tail and sunk to the bottom, the survivors rowed back to the ship. The whale was dead and, in few hours, the great body was lying by the ships side and the men were busy with axes and spades cutting through the flesh to secure the fat. They worked all day and part of the night. They re- sumed operations the next forenoon and were soon down to the stomach, which was to be hoisted to the deck. The workmen were startled while laboring to clear it and to fasten the chain about it to discover something doubled up in it that gave spasmodic signs of life. The vast pOnch was hoisted to the deck and cut open and inside was found the missing sailor doubled up and unconscious. He was laid out on the deck and treated to a bath of sea water, which soon revived him; but his mind was not clear and he was placed in the captains quarters, where he remained for fortnight rav- ing lunatic. He was carefully treated by the captain and officers of the ship and he finally began to get possession of his senses.
 At the end of the third week, he had entirely recovered from the shock and re- sumed his duties. During the brief so- .journ in the whales belly, Bartley's skin, where it was exposed to the action of the gastric juices, underwent a striking change. His face and hands were bleached to a deathly whiteness and the skin was wrinkled, giving the man the appearance of having been parboiled. Bartley affirms that he would probably have lived inside his house of flesh until he starved, for he lost his senses through fright and not through lack of air. He says that he remembers the sensation of being lifted into the air by the nose of the whale and of falling into the water;s : then there was a fearful rushing sound, which he believed to be the beating of water by the whales tail; then he was encompassed by a fearful darkness and he felt himself slipping along a smooth passage of some sort that seemed to move and carry him forward. This sensation lasted but an instant, then he felt that he had more room. He felt about him and his hands came in contact with yield- ing slimy substance that seemed to shrink from his touch. It finally dawned upon him that he had been swallowed by the WHdlS anu He WAS ONcTcOIn5 WlL0 horror at the situation. He could breathe easi- ly, but the heat was terrible. It was not of a scorching, stifing nature, but it seemed to open the pores of his skin and draw out his vitality. He became very weak and grew sick at the stomach. He knew that there was no hope of es- cape from his strange prison. Death stared him in the face and he tried to look at it bravely but the awful quiet, the fearful darkness, the horrible knowl- edge of his environments and the terrible heat finally overcame him and he must have tainted, for the next he remember ed was being in the captains cabin Bart ley is not man of timid nature: but he says that it was many weeks before he could pass night without having his sleep disturbed with narrowing dreams of angry whales and the horrors of his fearful prison. The skin on his face and hands has never recovered it's natural ap- pearance.-[Great Yarmouth (England) Mercury.