A famous sea captain once fell into a whale’s mouth. Now his home is listed for $4.6M
The renovated home of a legendary 19th century whaling captain has hit the real estate market in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, for $4.599 million.
While the five-bedroom, four-and-a-half-bathroom property has managed to preserve its quiet grace through a revamp, the real draw is the history surrounding the iconic figure the home was built for, Peleg Nye, whose story sounds like an HBO series waiting to happen.
According to New England Historical Society, Nye managed to survive falling into the open mouth of a sperm whale he was hunting in March of 1863. While manning a whaleboat that was lowered into the water by a vessel named George W. Lewis, Nye shot at the target. After shooting it a second time, Nye speared it with a hand lance before the mammoth-sized sea creature thrashed and crashed into the boat, knocking Nye over the side and into the whale’s mouth.
“They came together with a rush, closing on the mate’s legs just below the knees, and down sank the whale with his prisoner through the foam and swirl of the waters,” a passage from the 1939 book “Hyannis Sea Captains” said, according to The Enterprise. “The whale kept sinking until it seemed to Nye that he was going to the very bottom, but the probability is that he did not go down more than five fathoms.”
Nye was able to survive and resurface thanks to his legs fitting between the “spaces that separated the whale’s teeth,” New England Historical Society said. He managed to get free and was rescued by George W. Lewis commander Hiram Holmes.
With a new, iconic status and extremely cool story to tell, Nye became a citizen of Barnstable and returned to whaling. He died in 1896, Cape Cod Times said.
The 4,622-square-foot home was built in 1860 for Nye and has been “meticulously renovated,” the listing on Realtor.com says. The home has three guest suites with offices and bathrooms and two other guest bedrooms that share a bathroom. There is also a huge living room, two enclosed sunporches, eat-in kitchen, family room and a laundry room.
“It’s one of the best renovations we’ve ever done,” listing agent Stephen O’Neil of the Griffin Realty Group told Cape Cod Times. “It’s a remarkable place.”
This story was originally published October 31, 2021 at 12:08 PM with the headline "A famous sea captain once fell into a whale’s mouth. Now his home is listed for $4.6M."