A veteran lobster diver had a remarkable biblical escape after being swallowed whole by a humpback whale at Cape Cod. Micheal Packard had entered the water for his second dive of the day when he felt a huge shove and ‘everything went black’. He sensed he was moving and felt the whale squeezing with the muscles in his mouth. It quickly dawned on him that he had been swallowed by a whale! Fearing the worst, the diver struggled to escape. He estimated he was inside the whale for some 30 seconds before the whale burst to the surface. The whale opened its mouth and started throwing its head from side to side, flinging the fortunate diver back into the sea. His crewman witnessed the event, picked up the diver and sped back to shore. He was shipped off to hospital where he’s recovering.
Instances of whales swallowing a human are exceedingly rare as to be non-existent. Experts suggest it was purely an accidental encounter, and sheer misfortune to end up in the path of a feeding whale.
It’s another curious example of Mother Nature seemingly linking real world events with The Earth Emperor’s Eye. In the ‘Haymakers’ Survey’ novel, Malachi, the proclaimed messenger of the animal kingdom refers to Moby Dick, the iconic 1850’s novel by Herman Merville, where the dire-fated Captain Ahab, ‘possessed by all the fallen angels’, pursues a sperm whale at all costs and is eventually killed by it. Malachi likens his obsession to humanity and the consumer society. Perhaps Michael Packard’s experience was a warning from Mother Nature to be wary of her potential vengeance?