Is it really possible for a fish to swallow a man?

In the book of Jonah we read that the Lord provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights. Is it true?

As we read the following statements; it will be clear to us, is it really possible for a fish to swallow a man?

 According to the “Independent Baptist Missionary Messenger”, there was an article written by J. Sidlow Baxter. He wrote in the Daily Mail, a newspaper of December 14, 1928. Mr. G.H. Han a resident of Birmingham, England gave the following testimony.

“My own experience was in Birmingham, England, about twenty five years ago when the carcass of a whale was displayed for a week, I was one of twelve men who went into its mouth, passed through its throat and moved about in what was equivalent to fair sized room. Its throat was large enough to serve as a door. Obviously, it would be quite easy for a whale of this kind to swallow a man.”

 In the late Sir Francis Fox’s book, sixty three years of engineering, the manager of a whaling station informed us the sperm whale swallows lumps of food eight feet in diameter and that in one of these whales they actually found a skeleton of a shark sixteen feet of length. There is an incident related by Fox which, he assured us, was carefully investigated by two scientists, one of whom was M. De Parville, the scientific editor of journal d’ Dubois, of Paris, well known as a man of sound judgement and a careful writer, the incidents was as follows;

 In February, 1891 the whale ship “Star of the East” was in the vicinity of the Falkland Island when the lookout spotted a large sperm whale three miles away. Two boats were lowered and in a short time one of the harpooners were enabled to spear the fish. The second boat attacked the whale but was upset by a lash of its tail and the man thrown into the sea, one being drowned and another. James Bartley, having disappeared, could not be found. The whale was killed and in few hours the great body was lying in the ships side and the crew were busy with axes and spades removing the bladder. They worked all day and part of the night. The next day they attached some tackle to the stomach which was hoisted on deck. The sailors were startled by spasmodic signs of life. And inside the stomach was found the missing sailor doubled up and unconscious. He was laid on deck and treated to bath of sea water which soon revived him but his mind was not clear and he was placed in the captain’s quarters where he remained for two weeks, a raving lunatic. He was kindly and carefully treated by the captain and by the officers of the ship and gradually gained possession of his senses. At the end of the third week he had entirely recovered from the shock and resumed his duties.

 During his sojourn in the whale’s stomach, Barleys skin, where exposed to the action of the gastric juice underwent a striking change. His face, neck and hands were bleached to a deadly whiteness and took on the appearance of parchment. Bartley affirmed that he would probably have lived inside his house of flesh until he starved, for he lost his sense through fright and not for lack of air. Bartley is also said to have explained that after being hurled into the sea, the foam rushed about him, evidently from the lashings of the whale’s tale and he was drawn along into the darkness and found himself in a great place where the heat was intense. In the dark he felt around for an exit and found only slimy walls around him. Then the awful truth rushed into his mind and he became unconscious until the sea water bath revived him on the ship’s deck.

 So this above true statements tells us that Yes, it is possible for a fish to swallow a man.