He thought he was dead. Honestly, who wouldn't? One second, Michael Packard was diving for lobsters off the coast of Provincetown, Massachusetts; the next, everything went pitch black. He felt a massive shove. No teeth, though. That was the weird part. He didn't feel any sharp pain, just a crushing pressure and the terrifying realization that he was inside the mouth of a living creature.
It sounds like a tall tale. A "Jonah" story for the modern age. But for Packard, a veteran commercial sand lance and lobster diver, this wasn't a Sunday school lesson. It was a Friday morning in June 2021.
The phrase man eaten by whale started trending almost immediately after he was released from the hospital, but the reality is a bit more nuanced than the headlines suggest. A humpback whale doesn't actually want to eat you. You’re too big. Or, more accurately, your throat is.
The 30-Second Nightmare of Michael Packard
Packard was about 45 feet down when the world vanished. At first, he thought it was a Great White shark. Cape Cod is crawling with them. But as he groped around in the darkness, he realized there were no teeth. He was inside a giant, muscular cavern. He was still wearing his SCUBA gear, breathing off his tank, which is probably the only reason he didn't drown immediately from the shock.
He struggled. He kicked. He says he could feel the whale shaking its head, clearly frustrated by the unexpected lump of neoprene and tank stuck in its mouth.
It lasted maybe 30 to 40 seconds.
Then, light. The whale breached the surface, shook its head, and Packard was tossed back into the Atlantic. His boat crew, who had been franticly searching for bubbles, saw the whole thing. They hauled him out, fearing his legs were crushed or his back was broken. Miraculously, he walked away with soft tissue damage and a story that nobody—not even his mother—believed at first.
Why Humpbacks Can't Actually Swallow You
Despite the "man eaten by whale" frenzy, it is biologically impossible for a humpback to swallow a human.
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Look at the anatomy. A humpback whale is a baleen whale. Instead of teeth, they have these fringed plates made of keratin—the same stuff as your fingernails. They feed by "lunge feeding." They open their mouths wide, gulp tons of water and krill, and then filter the water out through the baleen.
But their esophagus? It’s tiny.
For a creature that can grow to 50 feet long, its throat is only about the size of a grapefruit, or perhaps a small melon at most. You aren't getting through there. If a humpback accidentally scoops you up, you’re basically a giant piece of popcorn stuck in its cheek. It wants you out just as badly as you want to be out.
Historical Precedents and the James Bartley Myth
Whenever we talk about a man eaten by whale, the name James Bartley inevitably comes up. This is the "Star of the East" story from 1891.
The legend goes that Bartley was swallowed by a sperm whale near the Falkland Islands. His crew supposedly killed the whale a day later, cut it open, and found Bartley alive, though bleached white by gastric acid and blinded for life.
It’s a great story. It’s also completely fake.
Historians and researchers, including Edward Davis in the early 20th century, debunked this thoroughly. The ship, the Star of the East, didn't even have a record of Bartley being on board, and the captain's wife eventually came forward to say the whole thing was a fabrication to entertain the crew.
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Unlike humpbacks, sperm whales do have large throats. They eat giant squid. Technically, a sperm whale could swallow a human whole. But they dive thousands of feet deep to hunt. You wouldn't be alive by the time you reached the mouth, let alone the stomach.
Other Near-Miss Encounters
Packard isn't the only one who has ended up in a "close contact" situation.
- Port Elizabeth, South Africa (2019): Rainer Schimpf, a dive tour operator, was nearly swallowed by a Bryde's whale. Much like Packard, he was caught in the heat of a "bait ball" feeding frenzy. The whale breached, grabbed him head-first, and then spit him out.
- Avila Beach, California (2020): Two kayakers, Julie McSorley and Liz Cottriel, were tipped over and briefly engulfed by a humpback whale lunge-feeding on silverfish. Video from the shore makes it look like they disappeared into the abyss, but they were actually just pushed underwater by the force of the whale's jaw.
These incidents highlight a growing problem: the intersection of human recreation and whale feeding grounds. As whale populations recover and more people head out on paddleboards and kayaks, these "accidental gulps" are becoming more frequent.
The Physics of the Gulp
When a whale lunges, it moves with incredible force. A humpback can take in a volume of water nearly equal to its own body mass.
Imagine the pressure.
The ventral pleats (those lines on their throat) expand like an accordion. If you are in the way, you aren't being "hunted." You are collateral damage. You are a bug hitting a windshield, except the windshield is a soft, fleshy bag the size of a garage.
Most people don't realize how fast it happens. One second you're watching the birds dive, and the next, the ocean floor seems to rise up and swallow the sky.
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The Reality of Whale "Attacks"
Whales are generally peaceful. They don't have a predatory drive toward humans. However, their sheer size makes them dangerous.
If you're looking into the logistics of a man eaten by whale, you have to account for the "squeeze." Even if the whale doesn't swallow you, the pressure of those jaw muscles can break ribs easily. Packard was lucky. He was wearing a thick wetsuit and had his tank to take some of the brunt. Without that gear, the internal pressure of a whale closing its mouth could be fatal.
Safety Guidelines for Ocean Lovers
If you're out on the water, especially in places like Cape Cod, Monterey Bay, or the coast of South Africa, you need to be "whale aware." Most of these "eaten" scenarios happen because humans get too close to bait balls—swarms of small fish that whales target.
- Watch the Birds: If you see hundreds of gulls diving in one spot, stay away. That’s a dinner table. You don't want to be the centerpiece.
- Maintain Distance: Federal laws in the US (the Marine Mammal Protection Act) generally require you to stay at least 100 yards away from whales. This isn't just for their safety; it's so you don't end up like Michael Packard.
- Bubbles are a Warning: Humpbacks often use "bubble nets" to trap fish. If you see a circle of bubbles rising to the surface, a whale is about to come up through the middle of it at high speed.
- Don't Panic: In the extremely unlikely event you find yourself in a whale's mouth, experts suggest making as much "noise" and movement as possible. The goal is to trigger the whale's gag reflex. They don't want you there.
What This Tells Us About the Ocean
The fascination with a man eaten by whale says more about our fear of the unknown than it does about whale behavior. We want the ocean to be this monster-filled void. But the truth is more mundane and yet more incredible: we share the water with giants that are mostly oblivious to us.
Michael Packard still dives. He went back to work just weeks after his encounter. He’s a bit of a local celebrity now, often referred to as "the whale man." But if you ask him, he'll tell you he was just a guy in the wrong place at the wrong time, caught in the mouth of a creature that was just trying to get some lunch.
The ocean is big. We are small. Sometimes, those two facts collide in the most literal way possible. Respect the "no-go" zones during feeding season, and if you see a whale, enjoy the view from a distance. Being a part of a viral headline is much less fun than it looks on TikTok.