Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Manky's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world is
Speaker 1: full of the unexplainable, and if history is an open book,
Speaker 1: all of these amazing tales are right there on display,
Speaker 1: just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet
Speaker 1: of Curiosities. For many, death is a source of great anxiety.
Speaker 1: We can't comprehend what awaits us on the other side,
Speaker 1: and so we worry about what's going to happen to
Speaker 1: us in the afterlife. For others, death is a comfort.
Speaker 1: American artist and poet Joe Brainerd once jokingly wrote, death
Speaker 1: has a very black reputation, but actually to die is
Speaker 1: a perfectly normal thing to do. And he was right.
Speaker 1: Death hands every day, and eventually it happens to every
Speaker 1: single person on earth. Yet we still fear it. Not
Speaker 1: Sarah Bernhardt, though she not only was unafraid of death,
Speaker 1: it influenced how she lived her life. Henrietta Rosine Bernard
Speaker 1: was a French actress born in eighteen forty four, although
Speaker 1: she changed her name for the stage when she was
Speaker 1: around eighteen years old. Her mother was a courtisan with
Speaker 1: many powerful clients such as duke's politicians and other high
Speaker 1: powered individuals. Bernhardt took to the theatrical lifestyle from a
Speaker 1: young age. Her mother sent her to boarding school when
Speaker 1: she was seven. It was there that she started In
Speaker 1: her first play, she took on the role of a
Speaker 1: fairy queen who dies, a chance for her to embrace
Speaker 1: her dramatic side. Three years later, she began attending a
Speaker 1: convent school in Versailles, again performing in theatrical productions. She
Speaker 1: even considered becoming a nun for a short time until
Speaker 1: her father's death in eighteen fifty nine. At the suggestion
Speaker 1: of one of her mother's clients, Bernhardt pursued acting more seriously.
Speaker 1: This surprised her as she had never considered the theater
Speaker 1: as a career before. Over the years, she studied with
Speaker 1: talented actors of her time, building up her theatrical skills.
Speaker 1: One of her first acting coaches was recommended to her
Speaker 1: by one of her mother's clients. His name, by the way,
Speaker 1: was Alexander Duma, author of the Count of Monte Cristo.
Speaker 1: With enough training, Sarah was able to reach the theater Francois,
Speaker 1: with whom she performed for a year. Although it was
Speaker 1: not meant to last. She had invited her sister Regina
Speaker 1: to join her in an important event. In attendance was
Speaker 1: the theater's leading actress, Zaire Natalie Martel, otherwise known as
Speaker 1: Madame Natalie. Regina accidentally stepped on Madame Natalie's gown, which
Speaker 1: infuriated her. Madame Natalie shoved Regina backwards into a stone
Speaker 1: column and caused her to cut her forehead, prompting Sarah
Speaker 1: to step in on her behalf. She screamed at the
Speaker 1: older actress, getting so heated that she slapped her in
Speaker 1: the face. Sarah was told to apologize, and she refused.
Speaker 1: She had had enough of Madam Natalie and the theater
Speaker 1: Francois and left the company shortly thereafter. It didn't impact
Speaker 1: her opportunities, though Bernhardt spent two years at another theater,
Speaker 1: the Gymnays, after which she moved on to the Odeon.
Speaker 1: Her career had quite the upward trajectory, in fact, with
Speaker 1: the actress going from minor roles to understudy all the
Speaker 1: way to the leading lady. She earned rave reviews for
Speaker 1: her dramatic performances, which extended beyond the stage. As it
Speaker 1: turns out, Bernhardt was pretty dramatic behind closed doors as well.
Speaker 1: For example, she slept in a satin lined coffin in
Speaker 1: her bedroom by her window. She often laid in it
Speaker 1: while studying a new role, and even slept in it overnight,
Speaker 1: sometimes despite there being a huge, unused bamboo bed right
Speaker 1: in the middle of the room. But no matter how
Speaker 1: high she climbed or how strange her behaviors got, Sarah
Speaker 1: never forgot about her family. She and Regina remained quite close,
Speaker 1: so when Regina came down with tuberculosis, it was Sarah
Speaker 1: who took care of her. She had her sister come
Speaker 1: live with her, allowing her to rest in that big
Speaker 1: bamboo bed in her bedroom. Sarah chose to sleep in
Speaker 1: her coffin instead. One day, a manicurist had come to
Speaker 1: treat the actress's hands. Regina urged the woman to come
Speaker 1: in quietly as her sister was sleeping. The manicurists turned
Speaker 1: to the armchair where she believed Sarah to be resting,
Speaker 1: but instead saw her unconscious body in the coffin. The
Speaker 1: woman ran out of the room screaming. After Regina passed
Speaker 1: away from her illness, Sarah had her sister's coffin placed
Speaker 1: in the bedroom beside her own until the undertaker could
Speaker 1: come and retrieve it. On the day he and his
Speaker 1: men arrived, they entered the room and found two coffins
Speaker 1: side by side. The Master of ceremonies immediately called for
Speaker 1: another hearse, believing that he was dealing with two dead
Speaker 1: bodies and not just one. The men had just begun
Speaker 1: moving Sarah's coffin when she suddenly arrived home, much to
Speaker 1: their surprise. She had just been tending to her mother
Speaker 1: when she walked in on the undertaker's men and hauling
Speaker 1: her coffin away. The second hearse was dismissed and her
Speaker 1: sister's coffin was taken as intended. Unfortunately, the papers got
Speaker 1: wind of the incident, and Sarah was criticized for her
Speaker 1: eccentric behavior in the press. To Sarah Bernhardt, death was
Speaker 1: a part of life rather than something to be afraid of.
Speaker 1: She embraced it and made it a part of who
Speaker 1: she was. To her, it was normal, as normal as
Speaker 1: sleeping in a satin lined coffin. And that, my friends.
Speaker 1: It's curious the ocean can be unpredictable. One moment it's calm,
Speaker 1: the waters gently lapping against the sides of your boat.
Speaker 1: The next clouds overhead of darkened, and the wind is
Speaker 1: stirring the waves, tossing your vessel around like a rag doll.
Speaker 1: Countless ships in their crews have been lost at sea.
Speaker 1: In sept Member of nine, a commercial fishing boat called
Speaker 1: the Andrea Gale left Gloucester Harbor, Massachusetts. It's captain, Frank
Speaker 1: Tyne Jr. Had cast off for eastern Canada, but there
Speaker 1: were no fish to be had there. Instead, he traveled
Speaker 1: east to the Flemish Cap. He thought the fish situation
Speaker 1: might be better. Unfortunately, a northeaster had moved into their position.
Speaker 1: It boasted fifty six mile an hour winds and gusts
Speaker 1: as highest seventy five. Due to the strange confluence of
Speaker 1: conditions that aided in its formation, it became known as
Speaker 1: the Perfect Storm. The Andrea Gale was last heard from
Speaker 1: on the evening of October twenty before the ship and
Speaker 1: its crew of six, including Captain Tyne, were lost forever.
Speaker 1: The ocean is not something to underestimate. It can turn
Speaker 1: on you in an instant, just like it did for
Speaker 1: Nigerian cook Harrison O'Kenna in May of two thousand thirteen,
Speaker 1: O'Kenny was working on a tug boat off the coast
Speaker 1: of Nigeria with eleven other crewmates. They and several other
Speaker 1: boats had been contracted by Chevron to stabilize one of
Speaker 1: their oil tankers. O'kenna's tug boat was called the Jaskin four.
Speaker 1: It was painted bright red and white, easy to spot
Speaker 1: among the blue expanse of the ocean. With its toe
Speaker 1: cable attached to the tanker, the Jaskin four, along with
Speaker 1: the rest of the boats, puttered along the Gulf of
Speaker 1: Guinea early in the morning of May before anyone else
Speaker 1: was awake. O'Kenna got his day started. How he'd been
Speaker 1: able to sleep at all was a mystery, as the
Speaker 1: Jaskin four had been bobbing along the rough waters of
Speaker 1: the Atlantic for some time. The waves were choppy, and
Speaker 1: the cook had settled into the la tree to take
Speaker 1: care of his morning business. Meanwhile, the other eleven members
Speaker 1: of the crew were fast asleep, their doors bolted behind them.
Speaker 1: It had been part of their security protocols Pirates in
Speaker 1: the area had been known to board vessels and robbed
Speaker 1: them or kidnapped their crew for ransom. On this morning, however,
Speaker 1: pirates were the least of the Jaskin four's problems. The
Speaker 1: ocean churned, kicking up a massive wave that struck the
Speaker 1: tug boat on its side. It capsized and the hull
Speaker 1: filled with water. Within minutes, the Jaskin four had slipped
Speaker 1: beneath the waves for good. Several crew members attempted to
Speaker 1: escape through a hatch leading to the deck, but the
Speaker 1: rush of water swept them out to sea instead. Harrison
Speaker 1: meanwhile struggled to get his bathroom door open. The pressure
Speaker 1: from the water on the other side was strong, but
Speaker 1: he finally did it, only to be carried down the
Speaker 1: hall to another bathroom. He had to hold on to
Speaker 1: one of the sinks to keep his head above water.
Speaker 1: The boats eventually came to arrest upside down on the
Speaker 1: sea floor, one hundred feet below the surface back up top,
Speaker 1: A rescue mission was called immediately. Divers spent a whole
Speaker 1: day attempting to reach the wreck. They knocked on the
Speaker 1: hole and waited for a response, but nobody could hear
Speaker 1: o'kennay knocking back or yelling for help. He was trapped.
Speaker 1: Taking a bold risk, he swam out of the bathroom
Speaker 1: in pitch black water, into the engineer's office, where he
Speaker 1: found another pocket of air. This was a bigger space
Speaker 1: with more room for him, but there was a new
Speaker 1: problem facing him, hypothermia. The water temperature was freezing and
Speaker 1: O'Kenna was only wearing a pair of boxer shorts. If
Speaker 1: he didn't think fast, he would lose consciousness and die
Speaker 1: before anyone found him. He was able to locate a mattress,
Speaker 1: which he fashioned into a floatation device with the help
Speaker 1: of some of the engineer's tools and the wall panels
Speaker 1: around him. He also found cans of Coca cola to
Speaker 1: stave off thirst. Okay A sat there waiting, waiting for
Speaker 1: the oxygen to run out, for the water to fill
Speaker 1: up the room, for hunger or thirst to catch up
Speaker 1: with him, and then out of nowhere, he heard knocking
Speaker 1: outside again. He banged on the walls and shouted, but
Speaker 1: still no one was able to hear him. The Jaskin
Speaker 1: Forest parent company had sent a salvage team to recover
Speaker 1: the bodies of the lost crew. They spent an hour
Speaker 1: cutting their way through the interior of the boat, then
Speaker 1: searched room by room for bodies. Okay A caught a
Speaker 1: flash of one of their head torches a a diver
Speaker 1: entered the engineer's office. The diver grabbed his outstretched hand,
Speaker 1: he didn't expect it to grab back. Frightened, the diver
Speaker 1: soon realized what he was dealing with. Someone had survived
Speaker 1: the sinking. O'kenn a thought that he'd been only down
Speaker 1: there for twelve hours, but he couldn't believe what he
Speaker 1: was told. It took some careful planning to bring him
Speaker 1: home safely to the surface, but after sixty hours at
Speaker 1: the bottom of the ocean, Harrison O'Kenna was finally free.
Speaker 1: Once he returned home to his family in Nigeria, he
Speaker 1: found another job as a cook, this time, though he
Speaker 1: made sure that it was one that he could do
Speaker 1: on dry land. He was never going to step foot
Speaker 1: on a boat again, and I don't think any of
Speaker 1: us could blame him. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided
Speaker 1: tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show by visiting
Speaker 1: Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created by me
Speaker 1: Aaron Mankey in partnership with how Stuff Works. I make
Speaker 1: another award winning show called Lore, which is a podcast,
Speaker 1: book series, and television show, and you can learn all
Speaker 1: about it over at the World of Lore dot com.
Speaker 1: And until next time, stay curious, Yeah,