# Swallowed by a whale **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [September 14, 2001, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swallowed-by-a-whale/81684 "2001-09-14T20:42:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2001, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swallowed-by-a-whale/81684/1 "2001-09-14T20:42:06Z")
In [the column about being swallowed by a whale](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/010914.html), credibility is given to the idea that a whale could swallow a human by mentioning that they swallow squid–whole. If a 450 pound squid could get digested whole, then how long could a mere 180 pound human survive in a whale’s stomach? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2001, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swallowed-by-a-whale/81684/2 "2001-09-14T21:27:54Z")
Actually, death would probably be caused far more quickly by the lack of air within the whale’s stomach than by it’s digestive juices. From the second article Cecil mentioned (Gambell and Brown): > [@](#): > > **It hardly seems necessary to go into the physiology of this matter. A man might well be swallowed by a sperm whale; indeed, since sperm whales have been known to swallow West Indian seals, it is quite likely that they have also engulfed sailors during the many fracases between the whales and Yankee whaleboats . . .If and when a man was swallowed by a whale, without being killed beforehand, he would remain alive just about as long as he would if he were held under water.** The above was written by the whale expert Robert Cushman Murphy, in response to a query on Bartley’s case sent in to _Natural History_ magazine in 1947. The authors themselves make the following comment: > [@](#): > > **It is certainly true that a sperm whale is capable of swallowing an object the size of a man. . .The problem remains of how any air breathing man could remain alive within the stomach of a whale should he be swallowed. Given that there may well be gases of various kinds in the multicompartmented stomach of the whale, they are not likely to be very rich in oxygen nor so abundant in volume to sustain human life for the time attributed for James Bartley.** In short, a human would likely succumb to suffocation long before the digestive juices would kill him. (And recall that the whale was killed sortly after supposedly swallowing Bartly, so that digestive processes might have been brought to a halt.) While a human could conceivably be swallowed by a whale alive, his survival time there would likely be a matter of minutes, not the 24+ hours attributed to Bartley. SD Staff George Straight Dope Science Advisory Board ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2001, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swallowed-by-a-whale/81684/3 "2001-09-14T22:45:34Z")
Excellent post, \*\*SD Staff George, well-said, and to the point. I presume that the conclusions of the experts take into account any slowed-down life processes (e.g. respiration, cardiopulmonary function) that could have resulted from hypothermmia. What I can’t quite get is how this tale could have sparked the recruiting instincts of the religious tract writers of the world. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2001, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swallowed-by-a-whale/81684/4 "2001-09-14T23:55:14Z")
_Hypo_thermia would probably not have been an issue, since a whale’s body temperature is similar to that of a human (according to Robert Cushman Murphy, “perhaps 1[sup]o[/sup] F higher than our own”), and at least before it was stripped the blubber coating would have provided insulation against the subpolar waters. In fact, according to one of the early accounts: > [@](#): > > \*\* > [Bartley] could easily breathe, but the heat was terrible. It was not of a scorching, stifling nature, but it seemed to open the pores of his skin and draw out his vitality.\*\* ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2001, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swallowed-by-a-whale/81684/5 "2001-09-15T00:47:51Z")
Here is a **long** article about one man’s courageous attempt to find the origins of the “modern-day Jonah” legend: [http://mcgraytx.calvin.edu/ASA/PSCF/1991/PSCF12-91Davis.html](http://mcgraytx.calvin.edu/ASA/PSCF/1991/PSCF12-91Davis.html) ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2001, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swallowed-by-a-whale/81684/6 "2001-09-15T00:49:16Z")
Darn it, I just realized that the article I just posted a link to was one of the two articles referenced in Cecil’s column! ---
**Author:** ![stevehaddock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@stevehaddock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stevehaddock)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2001, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swallowed-by-a-whale/81684/7 "2001-09-15T03:08:07Z")
Re [http://www.straightdope.com/columns/010914.html](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/010914.html) I would just like to point out that modern biblical scholars now believe that “being swallowed by a whale” is a metaphor and as it was literally translated correctly, it lost its original meaning which was akin to “being in big trouble”. Similarly we might say someone was “in a pickle”. ---
**Author:** ![domina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/96bed5/32.png) [@domina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/domina)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2001, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swallowed-by-a-whale/81684/8 "2001-09-15T04:44:43Z")
So how did “big trouble” happen to be in the ocean, and then come to the shore and vomit Jonah up again? Or is this just a really extended metaphor? ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2001, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swallowed-by-a-whale/81684/9 "2001-09-15T13:57:38Z")
The amusing part, of course, is that the Book of Jonah never calls “the great fish” a whale. (However, Jesus, referring to the story, calls it a whale in Greek.) For the rest, the Book of Jonah also says that the city of Nineveh was so large that it took three days to get across, and that the king and entire population were converted to Judaism, a detail unfortunately lacking in both the remainder of the Bible and Assyrian records. The whole thing is about as believable as a Paul Bunyan story – and I say that as a Christian. It’s a “tall tale” with a lesson about tolerance. > [@](#): > > Here is a long article about one man’s courageous attempt to find the origins of the “modern-day Jonah” legend: It’s a very nice piece of well done historical research, and the man is to be honored for his scholarship, but let’s reserve “courageous” for times when it is applicable. ---
**Author:** ![blandart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@blandart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blandart)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2001, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swallowed-by-a-whale/81684/10 "2001-09-15T21:41:31Z")
With the innocent skepticism of a small boy, I asked Mother about the Jonah story I’d heard in Sunday School. After a moment’s thought she said it would be just as easy to believe that Jonah swallowed the whale. I took that on faith and went right on applying reason to Scripture, novels and newspapers! ---
**Author:** ![zoogirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b9bd4f/32.png) [@zoogirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoogirl)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2001, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swallowed-by-a-whale/81684/11 "2001-09-16T00:12:04Z")
I just wanted to comment that I first ran into this story in the original Ripley’s Believe it or Not compilation, printed in the late Twenties. I’ve always thought that Ripley’s had a pretty good rep for accuracy. Maybe someone can track down their original source? ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2001, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swallowed-by-a-whale/81684/12 "2001-09-16T02:28:17Z")
John W. Kennedy wrote: > [@](#): > > The amusing part, of course, is that the Book of Jonah never calls “the great fish” a whale. (However, Jesus, referring to the story, calls it a whale in Greek.) What is the great fish referred to as in the **Septuagint** Greek translation of the Book of Jonah? It was the Septuagint that Jesus and the early disciples seem to have used as their main source of Scripture, so this **would** make a difference. ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2001, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swallowed-by-a-whale/81684/13 "2001-09-16T15:31:48Z")
The Septuagint has “ketei megalo”. In some periods, that’s a definite whale, but not always – it can mean any sort of monster of the sea. I wouldn’t bet the farm that “whale” is what the LXX had in mind. That being the case, I wouldn’t bet it’s what Jesus (or Matthew) had in mind by the same word, either. (Remember that Jesus, being a Pharisee – a radical one, yes, but it’s definitely the group he’s closest to – would have known Hebrew. Moreover, most of his addresses were probably in Aramaic – anyone knowing that language and with access to the targums, feel free to comment.) The Vulgate, for what it’s worth, has “piscem grandem”. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2001, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swallowed-by-a-whale/81684/14 "2001-09-17T12:45:27Z")
… and the Hebrew is “dag gadol”, large fish. Zoogirl says: \<\< I just wanted to comment that I first ran into this story in the original Ripley’s Believe it or Not compilation, printed in the late Twenties. I’ve always thought that Ripley’s had a pretty good rep for accuracy. \>\> Ripley’s articles are titled “Believe It or Not” and there have always been some that are, well, not to be believed. ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2001, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swallowed-by-a-whale/81684/15 "2001-09-17T19:03:02Z")
So, I’m guessing it’s not considered credible that the whale gulped in enough air, either at the same time it swallowed Bartley or later, to sustain Bartley until his shipmates could free him? I’ve also heard it supposed that the “great fish” that swallowed Jonah (and/or vaguely-identified moderns) was not a whale but a large grouper. Possible? ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2001, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swallowed-by-a-whale/81684/16 "2001-09-18T05:14:46Z")
The man was a mariner of infinite resource and sagacity and he was on a raft wearing canvas breeches and suspenders. The whale swallowed him at latitude Fifty North, longitude Forty West and later let him off at the white cliffs of Albion. [Kipling said it and I believe it](http://www.boop.org/jan/justso/whale.htm) ---
**Author:** ![arara123](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/41988e/32.png) [@arara123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/arara123)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2001, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swallowed-by-a-whale/81684/17 "2001-09-22T03:10:10Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by kaylasdad99 > What I can’t quite get is how this tale could have sparked the recruiting instincts of the religious tract writers of the world. The Bible says Jonah was swallowed by a whale. How could that be possibly be possible, says the Heathen Unbeliever Well, here’s an example where a whale actually swallowed someone, says the Good Christian. \*Ergo, the Bible is completely true and accurate! \* QED. ---
**Author:** ![Juan\_Agudelo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Juan\_Agudelo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Juan_Agudelo)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2001, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swallowed-by-a-whale/81684/18 "2001-09-24T13:44:22Z")
The whole point when you (or a whale) swallow something (or somebody) is to eat it and digest it. Unless the critter has developed some resistance to the ambient (like, say the parasites we all get sooner or later) it will die. Since humans are not (that kind of) parasites, the normal process will carry on, and the victim will be nothing but whale food. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2001, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swallowed-by-a-whale/81684/19 "2001-09-25T13:07:30Z")
Fair enough, Juan, unless, of course, you are swallowed by a squirrel. In that case, you could just be stuck in its little check-pouch to be dealt with later. Thanks, Sailor, for the link. I had mentioned that story to Cecil, suggesting that he might want to include a ref, but alas, it would have made the column too long. ---
**Author:** ![RedNaxela](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ad7895/32.png) [@RedNaxela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedNaxela)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2001, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swallowed-by-a-whale/81684/20 "2001-09-25T18:59:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by John W. Kennedy \* > \*\*For the rest, the Book of Jonah also says that the city of Nineveh was so large that it took three days to get across, and that the king and entire population were converted to Judaism, a detail unfortunately lacking in both the remainder of the Bible and Assyrian records. > \*\* Some corrections are in order here: 1. The Biblical expression is that the city was “a three days’ walk” (3:3). That doesn’t necessarily refer to the diameter of the city. I’ve seen suggestions (don’t have sources available now) that it refers to the city’s circumference, or the aggregate length of all of its main streets. 2. I assume you’re referring to the expression “the people of Nineveh believed in G-d” (3:5). There’s no hint there of them converting to Judaism; all it means is that they took seriously the message delivered in G-d’s name. What’s more, in the entire chapter, the Ninevites consistently refer to G-d by the more “generic” name El-him, which is often used for idolatrous gods as well, rather than by the more “personal” Name Y-H-V-H. So the verse could well mean that the citizens of Nineveh were sincerely religious people - who genuinely “believed in [a] god” not just out of convenience - and who therefore took seriously messages delivered in the name of any divinity. (Contrast this with the sailors, who address G-d in prayer as Y-H-V-H (1:14), and who “fear Y-H-V-H greatly” (1:16); Rabbinical tradition in fact states that those sailors converted to Judaism after this experience, but says no such thing about the Ninevites.) As an aside, I’d like to point out that this discussion is especially timely now, since the story of Jonah - with its lessons about the futility of trying to evade G-d’s wishes, the power of true repentance, and G-d’s concern for all of His creatures - is designated as the haftarah (reading from the Prophets) for the afternoon of Yom Kippur, this Thursday.