Project Purpose

Picture this—A young English sailor embarks out to sea on a whaling ship on the cusp of the twentieth century in 1891. The salt in the air, the wind in his hair, the young man rides the waves on the Star of the East vessel. Suddenly he and the rest of the crew feel a knock on the side of the boat. Seconds later a whale comes flying up out of the ocean, mouth spread wide open looking for its next meal. The young sailor locks eyes with the wild creature and then suddenly everything is dark. In an extraordinary turn of events, the whale has swallowed the young man whole. This amazing act does not kill the boy, but does eventually kill the whale, leaving the boy trapped inside for many days. Eventually the body of the whale is found by the other members of the Star of the East crew who upon cutting open the dead creature, find the young man inside. Though he is in terrible condition, he is very much alive.

      Unsurprisingly a story such as this one made international news and the young man spent the rest of his life profiting off of this story. Despite the insanity of this story, one question that immediately comes to mind is, did the people of 1891 actually believe this story? That a man could be swallowed whole by a whale and live to tell the tale? The answer, which may shock you, is yes, many people did believe this story. But why? Why would people believe such an absurd story? And why should we care now, over one hundred years later?

      At first glance this story may not seem to be anything other than a ridiculous story, but when looking further it holds many valuable historical truths that can teach us just as much as any traditional textbook chapter.

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      While going through the stories featured in this project you will read about: a hauntingly beautiful ghost, a deadly pirate heist, a marvelous treasure find, a tragic ship-wreck, a man’s last heartfelt request, and you’ve already been told about the hungry whale.

      On the face of it, these stories may seem to have nothing linking them. And without that link this project may seem to just be a telling of six different stories. However, these stories are all linked; not by location, time, or plot, but by their ability to teach valuable historical lessons. The theme that connects each of these stories is their ability to teach; their ability to highlight a time period or event in history that may otherwise be difficult to initially explain or discuss. They are also more obviously connected by their author, Edward Rowe Snow, a man who understood that virtually every piece of history contains a bit of folklore (I encourage you to learn more about Edward Rowe Snow by reading this short biography HERE .) From a novice’s perspective, history can often seem overwhelming or appear to be just a list of names and dates that do not actually add up to anything of relative importance. The idea of teaching through stories is one that has been used for ages, and there is no limit as to their ability.

      Using stories to teach history is something that interests me particularly because I am a public historian. A public historian is someone who teaches history on strictly non-academic platforms. The National Council of Public History defines the field as “history beyond the walls of the traditional classroom. It can include the myriad ways that history is consumed by the general public” (What is Public History?). Unlike traditional academic historians, public historians tend to engage and collaborate with the public and community members to teach them about history in new and exciting ways. The field gained visibility in the United States in the 1970s and has since grown into an exciting and prosperous avenue of historical study (What is Public History?).

      I believe that the stories highlighted in this project are valuable tools to teach history. The stories are a mix of verifiable historical events and non-verifiable narratives. I am arguing that both the verifiable and non-verifiable stories are valuable teaching tools because each story, no matter how accurate in the sense that it is a provable fact, can teach us about valuable historical events and time periods in fun and exciting ways. For instance, you may still be wondering what’s so important about that guy who got swallowed whole by the whale? Well fear not! If you continue on and search through this site, you will find out why. The purpose of this project is to look at a select handful of stories and dissect them to see the historical value that each one possesses. The author of these stories, Edward Rowe Snow, had a tendency to write each story as though it was true, but that is simply not the case. Many of the stories that Snow wrote about, be they historically relevant or not, simply cannot be verified.

      As a public historian, I am always looking for non-traditional tools to use in order to teach history in fun and exciting ways. Public historians are meant to teach history on a “non-academic” platform, but does that mean that we can use “non-academic” tools to do so? I believe the answer is yes because Snow’s stories are an excellent source for both myself and others in my field to use as they will entice the public while also providing an entertaining platform to teach upon. My hope with this project is that it will give other public historians and history buffs alike a place to see how they can use a source that they may never have thought to use to teach history to the public.

*Fun Fact: The Sea Monster Logo was actually drawn by Edward Rowe Snow! Snow was known for drawing little images in his books when signing them for fans, and the Sea Monster was drawn in a copy of his book Ghosts, Gales, and Gold!*

Sources:

"What is Public History?: About the Field." National Council on Public History. https://ncph.org/what-is-public-history/about-the-field/.