Beyond the Breakers

In this third and final part of the story, we see the men of the whaleship Essex embark on a journey of thousands of miles in open whaleboats in the hope of reaching the safety of the South American coast. Less than half of them will survive the ordeal, but for some their role in the story will continue even beyond death.  Sources: Brantlinger, Patrick. “Missionaries and Cannibals in Nineteenth-century Fiji.” History and Anthropology, vol. 17, no. 1, 2006, pp. 21-38.  Heffernan, Thomas Farel. Stove By a Whale: Owen Chase and the Essex. Wesleyan University Press, 1990.Hernández Gutierrez, José María. "Traveling Anthropophagy: The Depiction of Cannibalism in Modern Travel Writing, 16th to 19th Centuries." The Journal of World History, vol. 30, no. 3, Sept 2019. Philbrick, Nathaniel. In the Heart of the Sea. Penguin Books, 2000.The Shipwreck of the Whaleship Essex: The True Story that Inspired Herman Melville's Moby Dick. Warbler Classics, 2022.Check out our Patreon here!Support the show

Part Two of our series on the whaleship Essex brings us from Nantucket all the way around Cape Horn to the Pacific whaling grounds, and the climactic showdown with 'the largest and most terrible of all created animals.'  Sources:Dolin, Eric Jay. Leviathan: The History of Whaling in America. W.W Norton & Company, 2008.Ellis, Richard. The Great Sperm Whale: A Natural History of the Ocean's Most Magnificent and Mysterious Creature. University Press of Kansas, 2011.Heffernan, Thomas Farel. Stove By a Whale: Owen Chase and the Essex. Wesleyan University Press, 1990. Pappas, Stephanie. "Why Has a Group of Orcas Suddenly Started Attacking Boats?" Scientific American, 24 May 2023. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-has-a-group-of-orcas-suddenly-started-attacking-boats/Philbrick, Nathaniel. In the Heart of the Sea. Penguin Books, 2000.Philbrick, Nathaniel. "'Every Wave Is a Fortune': Nantucket Island and the Making of an American Icon." The New England Quarterly, vol. 66, no. 3, Sep 1993, pp. 434 - 447.The Shipwreck of the Whaleship Essex: The True Story that Inspired Herman Melville's Moby Dick. Warbler Classics, 2022. Shoemaker, Nancy. "Oil, Spermaceti, Ambergris, and Teeth." RCC Perspectives, no. 5 (New Histories of Pacific Whaling), 2019, pp. 17 - 22. Check out our Patreon here!Support the show

This week begins our multi-part episode on the whaleship Essex, famously 'stove by a whale' in 1820, leading to an epic tale of survival, determination, and just a bit of cannibalism. Part I focuses on the history of whaling industry in (first) Britain's American colonies and (then) the young United States, with special attention to the island of Nantucket.  Sources:Bouk, Dan and D. Graham Burnett. "Knowledge of Leviathan: Charles W. Morgan Anatomizes His Whale." Journal of the Early Republic, Fall 2008, pp. 433 - 466. Dolin, Eric Jay. Leviathan: The History of Whaling in America. W.W Norton & Company, 2008.Ellis, Richard. The Great Sperm Whale: A Natural History of the Ocean's Most Magnificent and Mysterious Creature. University Press of Kansas, 2011. Jacob, Karl. "Nantucket's Bid for Survival During the War of 1812." Nantucket Historical Association, 2023, https://nha.org/research/nantucket-history/history-topics/nantuckets-bid-for-survival-during-the-war-of-1812/Lu, Donna. "Nearly 200 stranded pilot whales die on Tasmanian beach but dozens saved and returned to sea." The Guardian, 22 Sep 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/sep/22/nearly-200-stranded-pilot-whales-die-on-tasmanian-beachMichaels, Debra. "Lucretia Mott (1793 - 1880)". National Women's History Museum. https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/lucretia-mottPhilbrick, Nathaniel. In the Heart of the Sea. Penguin Books, 2000. Philbrick, Nathaniel. "'Every Wave Is a Fortune': Nantucket Island and the Making of an American Icon." The New England Quarterly, vol. 66, no. 3, Sep 1993, pp. 434 - 447. Shoemaker, Nancy. "Oil, Spermaceti, Ambergris, and Teeth." RCC Perspectives, no. 5 (New Histories of Pacific Whaling), 2019, pp. 17 - 22. Check out our Patreon here!Support the show

Kaylee (@kayleefabulous) is back this week to share a story from Duluth - the sinking of the whaleback Thomas Wilson after a collision with the George Hadley.Kaylee's Duluth dive bar write-up: https://racketmn.com/best-dive-bars-duluth-mnSources:Duluth Evening Herald, 29 Nov 1905.Duluth Evening Herald, 7 Jun 1902.Engman, Elmer. In the Belly of a Whale. Innerspace, 1988.Stonehouse, Frederick. Haunted Lakes. Lake Superior Port Cities Inc., 1997.Miller, Al. Tin Stackers: The History of the Pittsburgh Steamship Company. Wayne State University Press, 1999.Check out our Patreon here!Support the show

**this episode does contain some instances of language that would normally be edited out in the main feed, but has been kept in the episode to preserve the direct quotes reported in Casey's article**In the first of our planned monthly "current events" episodes, we discuss Susan Casey's Vanity Fair article on the Oceangate submersible incident from earlier this year. Source:Casey, Susan. "The Titan Submersible Disaster Was Years in the Making, New Details Reveal." Vanity Fair, 17 Aug 2023. https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/08/titan-submersible-implosion-warnings**Article is also posted on our Patreon (unlocked post) in PDF form**Check out our Patreon here!Support the show

This week we tell Part 1 of the tale of the Manila galleon Santo Cristo de Burgos - alternatively referred to as 'The Beeswax Wreck' for reasons that will be made apparent. This episode sets the background and historical context for Part Two, which will feature an interview with a special guest involved with the story of the wreck. Sources:Borao Mateo, Jose Eugenio. “The arrival of the Spanish galleons in Manila from the Pacific Ocean and their departure along the Kuroshio stream (16th and 17th centuries).” Journal of Geographic Research, no. 47La Follette, Cameron, Dennis Griffin, and Douglas Deur. “The Mountain of a Thousand Holes: Shipwreck Traditions and Treasure Hunting on Oregon’s North Coast.” Oregon Historical Quarterly, vol. 119, no. 2, Summer 2018, pp. 282 - 313. La Follette, Cameron, Douglas Deur, and Esther González. “The Galleon’s Final Journey: Accounts of Ship, Crew, and Passengers in the Colonial Archives.” Oregon Historical Quarterly, vol. 119, no. 2, Summer 2018, pp. 210 - 249 Lévesque, Rodrigue. “The Odyssey of Captain Arriola and His Discovery of Marcus Island in 1694.” The Journal of Pacific History, vol. 32, no. 2, Dec 1997, pp. 229 - 233. “The Myth of the Pacific Pirate Ship.” Drain the Oceans, Season 6, Episode 4, National Geographic, 2023. Tremml, Birgit M. “The Global and the Local: Problematic Dynamics of the Triangular Trade in Early Modern Manila.” Journal of World History, vol. 23, no. 3, Sept 2012.Williams, Scott S., Curt D. Peterson, Mitch Marken, and Richard Rogers. “The Beeswax Wreck of Nehalem: A Lost Manila Galleon.” Oregon Historical Quarterly, vol. 119, no. 2, Summer 2018, pp. 191 - 209. Check out our Patreon here!Support the show

No new story this week, so this is a chat about how the podcast has developed and where we plan to take it in the future. We're back next week with your standard programming.  Outro music is "Pique la baleine" as sung by the Dreadnoughts - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTLqKV4q2n8Check out our Patreon here!Support the show

For this week's episode we are back close to home for the tale of the steamer Phoenix, which burned off of Sheboygan WI in 1847, in what remains one of the worst tragedies on Lake Michigan. The music at the end of the episode is 'Nader, mijn God, bij U' (Nearer, My God, To Thee) as performed by the Martin Mans Formation.Sources: Hilty, Maya. “Remains of the Phoenix, one of the Lake Michigan’s deadliest shipwrecks, discovered 175 years after sinking off Sheboygan’s shore.” Sheboygan Press, 21 Nov 2022. “Phoenix (1845).” Wisconsin Shipwrecks. https://wisconsinshipwrecks.org/Vessel/Details/505“Phoenix (Propeller), 17 Mar 1846.” Maritime History of the Great Lakes. https://images.maritimehistoryofthegreatlakes.ca/details.asp?ID=30035&n=2Thompson, Mark L. Graveyard of the Lakes. Wayne State University Press, 2000. Van Eyck, William O. “The Story of the Propeller Phoenix.” The Wisconsin Magazine of History, vol. 7, no. 3, March 1924, pp. 281 - 300. https://www.linkstothepast.com/marine/chapt36.phpCheck out our Patreon here!Support the show

**a small correction to the episode - the French painter Édouard Manet did not observe the battle off Cherbourg personally, but used eyewitness and press accounts to reconstruct the events for his painting The Battle of the Kearsarge and the Alabama. This week it's the story of the Confederate commerce raider Alabama, the terror of the US merchant fleet until she was turned into a marine archaeological site by the USS Kearsarge off of Cherbourg, FranceSources:Ameur, Farid.  "La guerre de Sécession au large de Cherbourg: La France impériale et l'affaire du CSS Alabama (juin 1864)." Relations Internationales, no. 150, Spring 2012, pp. 7 - 22. Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)/Alabama Claims. "CSS Alabama Wreck Site (1864): A Confederate Shipwreck in France." Naval History and Heritage Command, 2 Dec 2020. https://www.history.navy.mil/research/underwater-archaeology/sites-and-projects/ship-wrecksites/css-alabama.htmlLanglois, Francis. "Neutralité, reconnaissance ou intervention." Diplomatie, no. 177, Sept-Oct 2022, pp. 91 - 95. Roach, J. Ashley. "France Concedes United States has Title to CSS Alabama." The American Journal of International Law, vol. 85, no. 2, Apr 1991, pp. 381 - 383. Symonds, Craig. "Kearsarge and Alabama: The Civil War’s Classic Ship-to-Ship Duel." American Battlefield Trust. battlefields.org/learn/articles/kearsarge-and-alabamaCheck out our Patreon here!Support the show

We're back in the Galveston area to discuss a very recent incident involving the fishing vessel Pappy's Pride and the chemical tanker Bow FortuneSources: NTSB Report - Collision Between Tanker Bow Fortune and Fishing Vessel Pappy’s PrideHeath, Keri. "Pappy's Pride salvage continues, families file claims." The Daily News, 30 Jan 2020. https://www.galvnews.com/news/article_66b30e27-1479-514b-8d59-1f294ef303f4.html"Incident with Bow Fortune in Galveston, Texas." Odfjell, 2 Feb 2020. https://www.odfjell.com/about/our-stories/incident-with-bow-fortune-in-galveston-texas/Check out our Patreon here!Support the show