Swallowed by a Whale? September 8, 2014
Author: Beach Combing | in : Contemporary, Modern , trackback
In the late twentieth century whales became cool. They appeared in Star Trek films, people bought cds and listened to whales talking to each other and, of course, undergraduates walked around campuses with ‘No Way Norway’ signs while talking earnestly about boycotting sushi bars. But whales are not only cool but massive and even if man is not their favoured dish – most prefer krill – several unlucky men (and women?) have disappeared into their hellish maws. This is a terrifying description form Ireland in 1829:
I have to report a most awful and unparalleled event which took place in Inver Bay on Saturday last. Five men, in a yawl, were in pursuit of shoal of sprats, for bait, with hand loops, when a whale, followed the shoal, with open jaws, came in contact with the yawl (broadside to). Feeling the yawl, the monster closed its jaws, and crushed it in pieces, with the exception the two ends, one of which was a young lad, in the act of putting out his loop, was the only one out of the five that escaped. One man was found crushed, and fastened to a piece of the floating wreck. A bunch of hair, from the gills of the whale, fastened in a shiver the wreck, confirming that the boat was destroyed in the way described, and the way which those on shore and those in the boats attesting.
Another example. In 1847 one Jonathan Salmon was on the Arabella when he went out to whale. Things did not end well. A sperm whale flicked Salmon’s boat upside down in the air (the power of these creatures…) and the rowers found themselves treading water. Salmon then was taken into the whale’s mouth and only stopped from being dragged down by the oar in his arms that jammed the mouth. He jumped out of the whale’s jaws and was taken into a boat alongside, but the sperm whale knocked that over too and the second time clamped its mouth on top of poor Jonathan who was never seen again. This is a slightly too good to be true story: at this point we link a brilliant article on the lack of whale swallowing in reliable accounts. Essentially whales mouths are big enough, but whale ‘throats’ are not. And here is another piece that claims credibly that only a sperm whale could get you down into its stomach. Very often, in fact, whales have taken homo sapiens into their mouths only to decide that really the hair and muscle is a bit too much: there are several accounts of sailors being spat out: here is Edmund Gardner, a quaker (!) captain. (Six months ago I would have commented on a quaker killing whales for a living but I recently discovered that Richard Nixon was a quaker and since then everything has changed.)
Quietly afloat lay the amphibious Shylock of the sea… and, as the swift boat came within harpooning distance, the inevitable iron, hurled by that strong arm, penetrated to his vitals. Not as usual, however, did the struck monster dive out of sight; but turning and making straight for his enemies, he rolled over his huge bulk to get a fairer gripe, and brought his jaws together upon the boat’s prow — the forward half of that slight structure, captain and all, disappearing like the best part of an apple-tart in the munch of a hungry school-boy. The remainder of the crew, the helmsman and four oarsmen, had jumped overboard; and, as the whale with another roll, dived down to die out of sight, he threw up the unswallowed captain — the relief boat pulling instantly to the spot and taking the crushed morsel and the five swimmers safely from the water.
Yikes. Other alleged whale eatings? drbeachcombing AT yahoo DOT com
24 Sept 2014: Louis writes ‘Thank you Dr. Beach. You just killed one of my favorite “World of Wonder” magazine stories… There they told the tale of James Bartley, who was apparently swallowed by a whale, and then re-emerged from said whale after his shipmates caught the whale and were stripping it. See the wiki article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Bartley. Unfortunately, that article also has a link to this site: http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2294/have-any-real-life-jonahs-been-swallowed-by-whales-and-lived which pretty much debunks the whole thing…. And I also wonder what happens inside the sperm whale when they dive…. As one of natures best (mammal) submarines, they dive deeper than the pitiful steel tubes that we send down there. And so they get squished by enormous pressures, Even if they just dive a hundred meters or so. How would that impact the poor person inside the whale……?
