On February 11, 1945, at two o'clock in the morning, a certain Charles Jamison was admitted to the Boston military hospital. There were neglected lacerations on his back, the man was unconscious. He was immediately sent to the operating room. At this time, the nurse on duty decided to interrogate the orderlies who had brought him, but they had already left. From that day began the story of Charles Jamison, one of the unsolved mysteries of the 20th century.
Police investigation
While Jamison was being operated on, the doctors called the police. When the doctors were questioned, it turned out that the man was wearing strange clothes, in which it was possible to identify a naval uniform. There were no documents in my pockets. They found a tattoo on their hands in the form of crossed flags of the Americas and Britain. On examination, it was possible to establish only that Jamison served in the navy. The form was not American, it was not possible to establish which country it belonged to.
The operation was successful. The wounds healed quickly, and soon Jamison recovered. He was paralyzed, but this was soon left behind. The police and doctors tried to talk to him more than once. But Charles answered everything with stubborn silence. Sitting in his favorite rocking chair, he just stared at one point.
The FBI got involved. They sent out Jamison's fingerprints and marks to all departments, but there were no results. Every one of the ambulances was questioned and photographed, and the nurse who received Jamison did not identify anyone. The investigation has reached a dead end. It was closed on July 15. The result was only one: Charles Jamison a sailor.
The sailor's revelations
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Two years have passed. Charles Jamison was still in the hospital under medical supervision. One day a nurse came to him and saw that for the first time ever he was smiling. With a big smile on his face, Jamison said, "I just don't know!" From that moment on, he began to talk about his life before being admitted to the hospital.
The head physician came to talk with the patient. Jamison spoke of British Prime Ministers Benjamin Disraeli and William Gladstone in the 19th century. Then the story turned to the Napoleonic Wars and the Battle of Austrelitz in 1805. Jamison talked about it as if he personally experienced it all.
Taking into account the story of British politicians in the mid-19th century, the chief physician contacted the British Information Service, and a few days later its representative arrived in Boston. Jamison was first shown a few drawings. On his native one, he pointed out the incorrectness of the image of the naval chevron during the First World War. Then in the hands of the patient was a catalog of British military vessels, issued in 1900. Jamison burst into tears upon seeing the ship Bellerophon. It turned out that he served on it shortly after launching. On this ship, he participated in the Battle of Jutland in 1916. In a photo of one of the London ammunition depots, he reacted no less emotionally, saying that he had been there more than once. Then it turned out that Jamison is 49 years old. The photograph was 11 years older than him. Jamison didn't know that World War I was over. He hadn't heard anything about World War II either.
An even more interesting story related to his tattoos. He said that all sailors from the Cutty Sark clipper wore such tattoos. It is a symbol of friendship between America and Britain. This ship was launched in 1869. Lloyd's register recorded that the ship was sunk by a German submarine in 1941. The only surviving sailor was sent to a Belgian concentration camp.
An article about an unusual sailor appeared in one of the Boston newspapers. Then some officer, who served in 1945 on the ship "Legend", reported that the name and surname of a strange patient was familiar to him. A note was found in the archives that a certain Charles Williams Jamison was picked up by sailors from the Legen. Jamison himself did not react to the photograph of the ship.
Jamison once told about the ship Hinemoa. He served on it while transporting some cargo to Chile. He said that he was sunk by a German submarine. The British archives record that the Hinemoa was blown up in 1945 due to severe wear and tear.
Charles Jamison died in 1975. No one ever found out where he came from, when he was born or how he got to Boston. He himself did not expand on these topics, telling only what he considered necessary. It has become one of the unsolvable mysteries of the 20th century, and it is unlikely that it will ever be solved.