Video: Fisherman swallowed by humpback whale

By Marc Allen

A Cape Cod fisherman has had a miraculous escape from the gaping maw of a humpback whale after being swallowed whole while diving for lobster off of Provincetown.

Michael Packard, 56, of Wellfleet said he was diving at about 14 meters depth, when he felt a massive jolt from behind and everything went dark. At first he thought he’d been grabbed by a shark, but realised he wasn’t in pain and could not feel any teeth.

“Then I realized, oh my God, I’m in a whale’s mouth … and he’s trying to swallow me,” he said. “And I thought to myself OK, this is it – I’m finally – I’m gonna die.”

He estimates that he was in the whale’s mouth for around 30 seconds and was able to breathe throughout because his scuba gear continued to function.

When the whale surfaced it spat him out and he was rescued by his crewmate in the lobster boat. A whale expert told WBZ-TV news that humpback whales are not aggressive and the encounter was probably accidental.