Barnes. Pdf

 
Chapters 
58
M. de Parville, scientific editor of the Journal des Débats, examined the case in 1914 and concluded that the account given 
by captain and crew was `worthy of belief'. Modern scientists tell us that Bartley could not have survived more than a few 
minutes in the whale's belly, let alone the half-day or more it took the unwitting sailors on the mother ship to release this 
modern Jonah. But do we believe modern scientists, none of whom has actually been inside a whale's belly? Surely we can 
make compromise with professional scepticism by suggesting air pockets (do whales suffer from wind like everyone else?) or 
stomach juices whose efficacy was hindered by some cetacean ailment. 
And if you are a scientist, or infected by gastric doubt, look at it this way. Many people (including me) believe the myth of 
Bartley, just as millions have believed the myth of Jonah. You may not credit it, but what has happened is that the story has 
been retold, adjusted, updated; it has shuffled nearer. For Jonah now read Bartley. And one day there will be a case, one which 
even you will believe, of a sailor lost in a whale's mouth and recovered from its belly; maybe not after half a day, perhaps after 
only half an hour. And then people will believe the myth of 
[p. 181]
Bartley, which was begotten by the myth of Jonah. For the point is this; not that myth refers us back to some original event 
which has been fancifully transcribed as it passed through the collective memory; but that it refers us forward to something that 
will happen, that must happen. Myth will become reality, however sceptical we might be. 
III 
A
T 
8 
PM ON 
S
ATURDAY
, 13th May 1939, the liner St Louis left its home port of Hamburg. It was a cruise ship, and most of the 
937 passengers booked on its transatlantic voyage carried visas confirming that they were `tourists, travelling for pleasure'. The 
words were an evasion, however, as was the purpose of their voyage. All but a few of them were Jews, refugees from a Nazi 
state which intended to dispossess, transport and exterminate them. Many, indeed, had already been dispossessed, since 
emigrants from Germany were permitted to take with them no more than a nominal ten Reichsmarks. This enforced poverty 
made them easier targets for propaganda: if they left with no more than their allowance, they could be portrayed as shabby 
Untermenschen scuttling away like rats; if they managed to outwit the system, then they were economic criminals fleeing with 
stolen goods. All this was normal. 
The St Louis was flying the swastika flag, which was normal; its crew included half-a-dozen Gestapo agents, which was 
also normal. The shipping line had instructed the captain to lay in cheaper cuts of meat for this voyage, to remove luxury goods 
from the shops and free postcards from the public rooms; but the captain largely circumvented such orders, decreeing that this 
journey should resemble other cruises by the St Louis and be, as far as possible, normal. So when the Jews arrived on board 
from a mainland where they had been despised, systematically 
[p. 182]
humiliated and imprisoned, they discovered that although this ship was legally still part of Germany, flew the swastika and had 
large portraits of Hitler in its public rooms, the Germans with whom they had dealings were courteous, attentive and even 
obedient. This was abnormal. 
None of these Jews - half of whom were women and children - had any intention of revisiting Germany in the near future. 
Nevertheless, in accordance with the regulations of the shipping company, they had all been obliged to buy return tickets. This 
payment, they were told, was designed to cover `unforeseen eventualities'. When the refugees landed in Havana, they would be 
given by the Hamburg-Amerika line a receipt for the unused part of the fare. The money itself had been lodged in a special 
account in Germany: if ever they returned there, they could collect it. Even Jews who had been released from concentration 
camps on strict condition that they left the Fatherland immediately were obliged to pay for the round trip. 
Along with their tickets the refugees had bought landing permits from the Cuban director of immigration, who had given a 
personal guarantee that they would face no difficulties entering his country. It was he who had classed them as `tourists, 
travelling for pleasure'; and in the course of the voyage some passengers, particularly the younger ones, were able to make the 
remarkable transition from despised Untermensch to pleasure-seeking tourist. Perhaps their escape from Germany felt as 
miraculous as that of Jonah from the whale. Every day there was food, drink, and dancing. Despite a warning to crew members 
from the Gestapo cell about contravention of the Law for the Protection of German Blood and Honour, sexual activity 
continued as normal on a cruise. Towards the end of the Atlantic crossing, the traditional costume ball took place. The band 
played Glenn Miller; Jews appeared as pirates, sailors and Hawaiian dancers. Some high-spirited girls came as harem women, 
with Arab dress made from bedsheets - a transformation which struck the more orthodox on board as unseemly. 
On Saturday 27th May the St Louis anchored in Havana Harbour. At 4 am the klaxon for reveille sounded, and half an 
[p. 183] 
hour later the breakfast gong. Small boats came out to the liner, some bearing vendors of coconuts and bananas, others 
containing friends and relatives who shouted up names to the rail. The ship was flying a quarantine flag, which was normal. 
The captain had to certify to the Port of Havana medical officer that no-one on board was `an idiot, or insane, or suffering from 
a loathsome or contagious disease'. When this had been done, immigration officers began to process the passengers, examining 
their papers and indicating whereabouts on the pier to expect their luggage. The first fifty refugees gathered at the top of the 
ladder, waiting for the boat to take them ashore. 
Immigration, like emigration, is a process in which money is no less important than principles or laws, and often sounder 
than either of them. Money reassures the host country - or, in the case of Cuba, the transit country - that the new arrivals will 
not be a charge on the state. Money also serves to bribe the officials who have to take this decision. The Cuban director of 
immigration had made a great deal of money from previous boatloads of Jews; the President of Cuba had not made enough 

---

J
ULIAN 
B
ARNES
: A History of the World in 10 ½