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Speaker 1: Ridiculous History is a production of I Heart Radio. Ye,

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Speaker 1: welcome to the show Ridiculous Historians. As always, thank you

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Speaker 1: so very much for tuning in. Today's episode is about

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Speaker 1: rituals in a way, a ritual that we've probably all

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Speaker 1: heard of, but one that's that's kind of mysterious when

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Speaker 1: you get right down to it. What are we talking about?

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Speaker 1: No spoilers, but stay tuned for like I don't know

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Speaker 1: two minutes or or read the title of the show. Hi,

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Speaker 1: I'm Ben, Hey Ben, it's me. No, you know. When

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Speaker 1: you sent this topic over, my immediate response was yeah, huh.

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Speaker 1: I always wondered about that. What's the deal with people

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Speaker 1: smashing bottles of champagne on ships? Ships and champagne? Who knew?

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Speaker 1: We knew, We didn't know, and now we we now

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Speaker 1: we knew, Now we know, You will know soon alongside

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Speaker 1: are knowing? Yes, yes, Uh. Today's episode is about what's

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Speaker 1: called christenings. Uh. Chris needs can happen for many reasons,

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Speaker 1: but this episode is specifically about the practice of christening

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Speaker 1: a ship. Uh. And we have our own version of

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Speaker 1: christening for every episode we record. I say we call

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Speaker 1: it caseying, after our super producer casey pegrom, Does that

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Speaker 1: mean I get smashed up against the side of the ship.

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Speaker 1: I haven't worked out the details yet. Well, I I

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Speaker 1: await the details with great interest. I have devised sort

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Speaker 1: of a pulley system with a hoist and sort of

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Speaker 1: like a harness that we're gonna put you in. We're

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Speaker 1: gonna swing you like a human wrecking ball into the

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Speaker 1: side of the SS. Ridiculous is history, which is a thing.

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Speaker 1: I'm glad we have a ship anyway, We've called it

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Speaker 1: a ship show before, but yes, today we are talking

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Speaker 1: about ships now. As you may remember, it's we all

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Speaker 1: have this image in our heads, right a boat or

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Speaker 1: a vessel. A ship has been built, it's complete, it's

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Speaker 1: ready to slide into the briny blue, and right before

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Speaker 1: it does, someone walks up to the ship, usually with

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Speaker 1: great pomp and circumstance. They take a big old bottle

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Speaker 1: of bubbly, usually champagne, and they smash it against the

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Speaker 1: whole Everybody cheers, and then the ship goes into the

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Speaker 1: water and off to adventure on the high seas. But

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Speaker 1: how did this get started? Where where did this come from? Where?

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Speaker 1: How old is this ceremony? I guess that's a good

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Speaker 1: place to start. It is and you know, it's funny.

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Speaker 1: I just before we even get into that, I think

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Speaker 1: it's really interesting that the term christening and still what's

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Speaker 1: used because christening is it's like baptism. It's like a

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Speaker 1: religious term. That's what they do to babies when they

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Speaker 1: you know, dip them in the holy water and like

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Speaker 1: a Catholic ceremony. I've heard interchange that is the same thing, right,

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Speaker 1: isn't baptizing and christening sort of the same thing, Like

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Speaker 1: christening is the Catholic equivalent of a baptism. I believe

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Speaker 1: that christening is part of a baptism. It's the it's

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Speaker 1: the naming ceremony. It's where you give the kid a

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Speaker 1: Christian name during the baptism. There you go. And when

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Speaker 1: I was looking up christenings of ship videos, uh, the

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Speaker 1: naming is also a big part of it. That's when

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Speaker 1: they unveil the name of the ship. Like the SS

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Speaker 1: ridiculous history, but yeah, it's super old. It goes back

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Speaker 1: to like the Egyptians, the Greeks and even the Romans,

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Speaker 1: and it was all about calling on like their particular

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Speaker 1: sea gods to protect the cruise of these newly constructed

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Speaker 1: ships UM, because they were going out into the great unknown,

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Speaker 1: and oftentimes these were very dangerous voyages and it was

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Speaker 1: all about a safe return. UM. In Greece, they would

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Speaker 1: put alive branches around their heads and drink wine UM

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Speaker 1: and sacrifice wine into the water as like an offering

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Speaker 1: to to the gods. It was kind of a form

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Speaker 1: of a blessing um the vessel, right. And they had

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Speaker 1: religious kind of shrines that were carried on board UM,

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Speaker 1: various kind of little trinkets that represented certain aspects of

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Speaker 1: the gods UM, and that was something you see on

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Speaker 1: Greek and Roman ships. But this actually carried further than

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Speaker 1: that even into the Middle Ages, this practice of carrying

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Speaker 1: shrines aboard these ships. They were particularly located in the

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Speaker 1: quarter deck. It's just a little bit of frame of reference.

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Speaker 1: The quarter deck UM would be the area under the

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Speaker 1: main mast where you would often see the captain standing.

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Speaker 1: And that's still UM what it's called today on you know,

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Speaker 1: more modern naval ships UM in the United States Navy,

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Speaker 1: and it still has a lot of ceremonial significance, as

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Speaker 1: we know with a lot of these old nautical terms

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Speaker 1: like bozen right, huh, did I get it right that time,

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Speaker 1: ben Um. These terms have been around for a long time,

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Speaker 1: as have a lot of the traditions of seafaring folk

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Speaker 1: right a long time. Indeed, we mentioned the Egyptians, the Romans,

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Speaker 1: the Greeks, but we should also mention the Babylonians. There

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Speaker 1: is a written record from Babylon dating back to the

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Speaker 1: third millennium BC that describes a process of what we

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Speaker 1: would call christening today. In this case, they get a

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Speaker 1: little weird with it. They have some of the sacrifices

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Speaker 1: that we were just talking about. All they say, openings

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Speaker 1: to the water, I stopped, I searched for cracks and

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Speaker 1: the wanting parts. I fixed three sorry of bitumen. I

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Speaker 1: poured over the outside to the gods. I caused oxen

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Speaker 1: to be sacrificed. Maybe there's something a little lost in

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Speaker 1: translation there. I think it's interesting that the writer says

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Speaker 1: I caused oxen to be sacri ficed, rather than I

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Speaker 1: sacrifice oxen. How do you how do you cause oxen

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Speaker 1: to be sacrificed? Do you just sort of like put

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Speaker 1: them in a dangerous situation. I think you probably hit

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Speaker 1: them over the head with a very large hammer or

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Speaker 1: axe and that's the cause that you have brought upon

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Speaker 1: them something a little more Rube Goldberg, guest, but they

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Speaker 1: were doing their best. Wouldn't that be fun? I love

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Speaker 1: the idea of Rube Goldberg esque sacrifices where you have

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Speaker 1: like some sort of uh. It makes me think of

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Speaker 1: this movie called Taxidermia where spoiler alert, I guess for

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Speaker 1: a really old, not super old, but like at least

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Speaker 1: ten or fifteen year old art house film. The guy

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Speaker 1: taxidermys himself with this insane machine that he builds so

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Speaker 1: he's able to like you know, pull the levers and

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Speaker 1: then like all this crazy stuff happens and he ends

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Speaker 1: up taxidermy himself. But that is neither here nor there,

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Speaker 1: and so there we are. We know, in ancient history

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Speaker 1: there were tons of rituals and ceremonies that varied in

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Speaker 1: their specifics, but they all had the general goal of

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Speaker 1: ensuring the ship's safety at sea. However, eventually Christening went secular,

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Speaker 1: which is why I think to your point, well, it's

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Speaker 1: it's weird that it keeps the same name for the

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Speaker 1: term because now, you know, a lot of people don't

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Speaker 1: associate it with religion. But how did it go from

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Speaker 1: this vast swath of religious ceremonies to a more kind

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Speaker 1: of secular ritual process thing. Bit. Yeah, it's like we said,

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Speaker 1: I mean, there were various kind of flavors of this

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Speaker 1: that all had roots in religion, but as we see

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Speaker 1: them kind of catching up to comparatively more modern religions

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Speaker 1: like Judaism and Christianity, UM, you saw slight changes to

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Speaker 1: these rituals. For example, Christians and Jews would use wine

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Speaker 1: and water um as as an offering, kind of similar

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Speaker 1: to what you would see um as communion kind of

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Speaker 1: situation where they would ask God to to safeguard them

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Speaker 1: against the hazards of of the sea. Um. And I've

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Speaker 1: even seen another example we so we heard about the

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Speaker 1: Greeks wearing wreaths of laurels or olive branches rather around

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Speaker 1: their heads, and that um green plant aspect of it

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Speaker 1: is also something that survived in modern Christening ceremonies. We

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Speaker 1: will have like a wreath of some kind of green

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Speaker 1: plant that you put on the ship and that's meant

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Speaker 1: to signify safe return. So yeah, I mean they would

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Speaker 1: even call upon saints uh. And oftentimes clergy would be

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Speaker 1: involved in these Christening ceremonies um. And then if we

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Speaker 1: look at the Ottoman Empire, Uh, they would offer up

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Speaker 1: prayers to Allah uh and they would sacrifice live animals.

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Speaker 1: And if I'm not mistaken, the earliest reference to christening

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Speaker 1: or kind of blessing a ship was in ancient Greece,

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Speaker 1: and that it was a reference on a stone carving

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Speaker 1: that was discovered that talked about sacrificing Oxen. And the

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Speaker 1: Vikings on the other hand, Um, as we know, we've

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Speaker 1: we've debunked some Viking myths, but there still is a

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Speaker 1: lot out there about them being some pretty bloodthirsty types. Uh.

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Speaker 1: And this certainly speaks to that. Uh. They actually would

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Speaker 1: offer human sacrifices, supposedly because they they are their gods

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Speaker 1: were you know, kind of the grumpy types, and they

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Speaker 1: needed to give them a little extra something to calm

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Speaker 1: those uh those seas. Uh. Whenever I hear about vikings

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Speaker 1: and ships, I think of one of the coolest, most

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Speaker 1: metal pieces of mythology in Norse folklore, the nag far

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Speaker 1: or nag for e. I'm not sure how to pronounce it.

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Speaker 1: It's Old Norse for nail farer. Have you guys heard

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Speaker 1: about this? It's this boat made out of entirely out

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Speaker 1: of fingernails and toe nails of corpses, and it comes

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Speaker 1: out at Ragnarok. Yeah, oh man, we should just start

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Speaker 1: a metal band anyhow, Yes, you're right. It makes sense

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Speaker 1: that people would have religious ceremonies before they set off

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Speaker 1: into the ocean because it was such a dangerous place.

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Speaker 1: It's still a very dangerous place now, but we have

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Speaker 1: to remember before the days of GPS, in fact, before

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Speaker 1: the days of accurate world maps, these people were literally

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Speaker 1: setting off into the unknown. In many cases they needed

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Speaker 1: all the help they could get. And if we fast

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Speaker 1: forward to the Reformation in Europe, we see that there

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Speaker 1: was a division that began between Catholic countries and the Protestants.

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Speaker 1: In Catholic countries, people maintained what we would call the

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Speaker 1: liturgical part of a christening right, and that kind of

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Speaker 1: petered out in the Protestant areas of Europe. By the

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Speaker 1: seventeenth century, English launchings were overwhelmingly a more secular thing.

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Speaker 1: If we look at, for example, the sixteen ten christening

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Speaker 1: of the Ship of the Line Prince Royal, then we

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Speaker 1: we see some very interesting differences between christening in this

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Speaker 1: day and age versus a christening and say, ancient Babylon.

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Speaker 1: I'm setting you up for this quote because the word

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Speaker 1: poop is in here twice and it makes the nine

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Speaker 1: year old and me delighted. Oh man, I'm happy to

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Speaker 1: be a part of delighting your inner nine year old man. Way,

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Speaker 1: that sounds weird. Uh, it's weird, Yep, it really is,

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Speaker 1: but it's thankfully, thankfully, everyone has all the context they

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Speaker 1: need to know that it's only a little bit weird. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: So here's this quote. The noble prints, accompanied with the

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Speaker 1: Lord Admiral and the great lords, were on the poop

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Speaker 1: where the standing great Jilt cup guilt cup, and it

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Speaker 1: was said Jilt was ready filled with wine to name

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Speaker 1: the ship so soon as she had been afloat according

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Speaker 1: to ancient custom, and ceremony performed at such times, and

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Speaker 1: heaving the standing cup overboard His Highness then standing yet

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Speaker 1: again upon the poop, selected with a selected company only

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Speaker 1: besides the trumpeters. Uh, with a great deal of expression

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Speaker 1: of princely joy, and with the ceremony of drinking in

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Speaker 1: the standing cup through all the wine. These are very

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Speaker 1: convoluted sentences, and I love it. Uh. Let's see where

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Speaker 1: were we And the ceremony of drinking in the standing

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Speaker 1: cup through all the wine forwards towards the half deck,

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Speaker 1: and solemnly calling her by name of the Prince Royal,

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Speaker 1: the trumpets sounding the while with many gracious words. To me,

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Speaker 1: gave the standing cup into my hands. Okay, what's all

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Speaker 1: this about? A standing cup? Ben? This is like a

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Speaker 1: large cup with with legs that the some kind of

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Speaker 1: weird flex or what what are we talking about here? Yeah,

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Speaker 1: so a standing cup maybe better known as a loving cup,

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Speaker 1: And this is just to give you the picture here, folks.

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Speaker 1: A loving cup is a big, big, two handled cup

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Speaker 1: and the way people used to party at banquets back

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Speaker 1: in the day. Everybody, this is pretty gross to me,

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Speaker 1: but it was a different type. Everybody would take this,

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Speaker 1: this big two handed cup, and each guest would take

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Speaker 1: a drink from it, and then they would pass it

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Speaker 1: and someone else would drink from it. So I guess

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Speaker 1: as long as your first or second in line, it's

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Speaker 1: not that gross. But a standing cup is a kind

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Speaker 1: of loving cup, and they're usually they're usually crafted from

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Speaker 1: a fairly precious metal, think gold, silver, et cetera. And

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Speaker 1: when we're talking about the standing cup christening, here's what happens.

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Speaker 1: A ship begins to slide down into the ocean, and

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Speaker 1: then whomever's in charge, I think in the case we

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Speaker 1: just read that was the Prince of Wales, that official

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Speaker 1: will take a sip of wine from this big, big

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Speaker 1: cup and then they'll pour the rest of it somewhere

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Speaker 1: on the ship. And often the cup is thrown over

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Speaker 1: the side, and then it's like salvage rules. If you

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Speaker 1: are willing to dive into the water for the cup,

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Speaker 1: then it's yours. But something happens when we hit the

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Speaker 1: scale of economy. So navies are growing larger and larger

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Speaker 1: over time, more and more boats are being launched. Eventually,

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Speaker 1: someone in the English government says, we can't keep making

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Speaker 1: these enormous expensive cups and just throwing them over the side.

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Speaker 1: We gotta get a net or something. That's literally what

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Speaker 1: they said. Yeah, I mean that's what they call like

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Speaker 1: a lost leader at that point. I mean, it really

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Speaker 1: is kind of a massive investment in this ceremony. And

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Speaker 1: as the navy expanded more and more, um this became

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Speaker 1: a ridiculous expense. And you know, we we know that

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Speaker 1: militaries and uh and navies aren't exactly known for their

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Speaker 1: frugality a lot of times, but this was even this

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Speaker 1: is a bit much. It makes me the modern equivalent,

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Speaker 1: makes me remember those really expensive self heating coffee cups

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Speaker 1: that the the the military kept buying because they kept

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Speaker 1: breaking and they had I spent like some of like

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Speaker 1: several million dollars on like these self heating coffee cups.

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Speaker 1: At least those were kept and keeping people's beverages warm.

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Speaker 1: These things were literally chucked over the side. It's really interesting, Ben,

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Speaker 1: the standing cup, I'm looking at images of these. Also,

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Speaker 1: by the way, Loving Cup probably my favorite Rolling Stone

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Speaker 1: song off of Exile in Main Street, really really good song.

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Speaker 1: And it's sort of like a chalice. Wouldn't you call it?

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Speaker 1: Like something something of a chalice, very gilded and bejeweled. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: who doesn't love a good chalice? Well I don't because

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Speaker 1: I'm terrified of touching metal. But you know, to look

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Speaker 1: at I'm sure it's it's fun for people. What about

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Speaker 1: a bone chalice? Ben, would you would you would you

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Speaker 1: hang with a bone challice? Dope? Yeah, I put it

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Speaker 1: on my fingernail. Ship. So we see this evolution, right,

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Speaker 1: we see things are becoming increasingly secular. We know wine

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Speaker 1: is often involved, and eventually wine becomes the beverage of

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Speaker 1: choice for a time. But fast forward to the modern day,

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Speaker 1: you'll notice that we typically as a species are using champagne.

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Speaker 1: Where did that come from? Well, in, we still aren't

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Speaker 1: quite sure. We we know a little bit about it,

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Speaker 1: so maybe we can dive in there. Dive in. Sorry,

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Speaker 1: So the United States borrowed their christening tradition from what

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Speaker 1: they what they saw people doing in England back in seven.

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Speaker 1: The christening of the USS Constitution did uh involve the

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Speaker 1: breaking of a bottle, but it wasn't champagne yet, it

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Speaker 1: was madeira. Have you is that how you say? Have

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Speaker 1: you guys ever had that? Yeah? I think it's like

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Speaker 1: a dessert wine, which doesn't necessarily mean that it's super sweet,

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Speaker 1: but it's something along the lines of port. It's called

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Speaker 1: a fortified wine. That makes sense because my totally unrelated

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Speaker 1: one of my favorite restaurants ever this place in London

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Speaker 1: called St. John. Uh. The the chef a guy named

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Speaker 1: Fergus Henderson. You guys would love this guy if you

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Speaker 1: haven't heard of him before. He's whimsical. He's famous for

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Speaker 1: quote unquote traditional British cooking and this guy always has

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Speaker 1: these brunch dishes that for some reason come with a

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Speaker 1: glass of this wine specifically. Okay, wow, he's an interesting

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Speaker 1: looking fellow. He has very rosy cheeks. Think he's been

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Speaker 1: drinking a lot of this wine himself over the years,

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Speaker 1: and really Harry Potter circular type glasses, and very fond

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Speaker 1: of pinstriped suits. It would appear I gotta look more

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Speaker 1: into this guy. He is a very fascinating looking gentleman.

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Speaker 1: If you find the time. There is a video somewhere

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Speaker 1: that I can't find anymore, which is him telling people

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Speaker 1: how to make a mayonnaise, and he talks in these weird,

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Speaker 1: like almost susy in terms about how you have to

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Speaker 1: listen to manonnaise when it talks Jewish you're making it.

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Speaker 1: I just look, this is just me asking for someone

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Speaker 1: to help me find that video. I've looked everywhere. I

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Speaker 1: want to hear the Mannies. I will. I will take

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Speaker 1: this on as a personal charge. Um, But you're right then,

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Speaker 1: I mean the that that that christening of the USS

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Speaker 1: Constitution was a really important hallmark because of not necessarily

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Speaker 1: the christening fluid per se, which is a term that

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Speaker 1: was used, but the breaking of a bottled spirit right. Uh.

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Speaker 1: And that's sort of where we really start to see

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Speaker 1: it go in this direction. Um, because the actual fluid,

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Speaker 1: the juice, the christening juice, varied from christening to christening. Um.

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Speaker 1: You would see, for example, whiskey used sometimes uh in

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Speaker 1: the christenings of the U. S. S. Princeton, Uh, the

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Speaker 1: Raritan or the Shamrock. Those were all ships that were

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Speaker 1: christened with whiskey. Um. The U. S. S. New Iron

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Speaker 1: Side was actually christened twice, first with brandy and then

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Speaker 1: with again madeira wine. There were also uh this is

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Speaker 1: interesting too. I watched the video about this this morning

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Speaker 1: from the history guy I think is his name he

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Speaker 1: where he's really a this adorable, professorial looking gentleman who

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Speaker 1: wears a bow tie and he has a lot of

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Speaker 1: really great history videos on YouTube. But he was talking

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Speaker 1: about how the temperance movement sort of also changed, uh,

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Speaker 1: the trajectory of christening because there were a lot of

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Speaker 1: alcohol free christenings. This is earlier than that. But then

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Speaker 1: you know later this this kind of came back around

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Speaker 1: again and folks would use things like grape juice. Water

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Speaker 1: was really popular. We even know about some uses of

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Speaker 1: holy water. Um. The U. S. S. Hartford was a

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Speaker 1: ship that was christened no less than three times uh,

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Speaker 1: and it was sprinkled with water from the very ocean

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Speaker 1: that it was bound for the Atlantic um and also

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Speaker 1: the Connecticut River and a spring in Hartford, Connecticut. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: and therein we find the vestiges of something called sympathetic magic.

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Speaker 1: It's where you perform a ritual using objects or particular

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Speaker 1: actions that are somehow symbolically associated with the thing you're

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Speaker 1: trying to influence. So simply put, that means that if

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Speaker 1: you have a ship that's going into the Pacific, you

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Speaker 1: christen it with water from the Pacific, right, and now

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Speaker 1: the ship sort of belongs to it and is of it.

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Speaker 1: But all the high minded ancient rituals aside, people were

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Speaker 1: still partying. One great example of this is the christening

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Speaker 1: of the USS Kentucky. Officially, this craft was supposed to

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Speaker 1: be christened with spring water, but as the ship it

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Speaker 1: it's a battleship. As it actually goes into the water,

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Speaker 1: the people who are watching the christening, maybe they're a

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Speaker 1: little overserved or something, they get out of hand and

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Speaker 1: they start bashing little bottles of bourbon against the side.

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Speaker 1: So they had their own christenings. You know, it's a

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Speaker 1: big deal, it's a party. But again, like I said,

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Speaker 1: we we see all these different fluids used for christenings.

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Speaker 1: How did Champagne win the day? Well, first, it's it's fancy.

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Speaker 1: We already kind of associate champagne with celebrations right back

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Speaker 1: in we know that the Secretary of the Navy's granddaughter

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Speaker 1: christened the Navy's first steel battleship with champagne. And there

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Speaker 1: are some people who say, like there's a great mental

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Speaker 1: philost article about this. There are some people who conjecture

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Speaker 1: that the shift to Champagne may have been intentionally coinciding

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Speaker 1: with the new era of steel. But I don't know

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Speaker 1: about you. Personally, I think there's a stronger argument that

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Speaker 1: people just felt like Champagne was fancier and more important. Right,

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Speaker 1: you don't want to do mad Dog? What was that? Terrible?

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Speaker 1: What's that? Why? It's like a mad dog? Is the

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Speaker 1: stuff you're thinking of? I believe, yes, yes, that's correct.

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Speaker 1: Comes in like flavors like blueberry and uh and and

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Speaker 1: and razzleberry and uh and and you know any berry.

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Speaker 1: It's all berry flavored stuff. But it really tastes like

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Speaker 1: cleaning liquid the snawsberry. But you see what I'm saying,

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Speaker 1: It's because champagne was a celebratory drink, you know, and

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Speaker 1: we we know that There's another instance just a year later,

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Speaker 1: when Queen Victoria launches the HMS Royal Arthur, she also

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Speaker 1: smashes a bottle of champagne against the whole So maybe

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Speaker 1: maybe they used champagne because there was royalty involved. We

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Speaker 1: don't know for sure, but John Graves, who is the

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Speaker 1: curator of ship History at the National Maritime Museum, he

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Speaker 1: falls into this school of thought because, of course, you know,

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Speaker 1: if you have the queen christening a ship that is

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Speaker 1: named after royalty, maybe they just thought good old Atlantic

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Speaker 1: ocean water wasn't wasn't fit to do the job. Now,

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Speaker 1: I know what you're thinking. Everybody's vaguely familiar with US

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Speaker 1: history is saying, hey, you know, christening ships with alcohol

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Speaker 1: is all well and good, but what do you do

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Speaker 1: when you need to christen his ship and alcohol is illegal? Exactly.

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Speaker 1: I hinted at this earlier in the episode that prohibition

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Speaker 1: was going to play a role in the evolution of

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Speaker 1: this ritual. It's absolutely true. Prohibition outlawed alcohol. As we know,

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Speaker 1: and therefore it wasn't something that could be publicly used

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Speaker 1: in these very public ceremonies. So we started to see

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Speaker 1: much more use of juices like apple cider, and also

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Speaker 1: again water from from the specific body of water the

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Speaker 1: ships we're going to be destined for. UM. Champagne did

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Speaker 1: make a comeback stronger than ever with the passage of

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Speaker 1: the twenty one Amendment, and that really was the kind

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Speaker 1: of moment that solidified it UM and and it stuck around,

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Speaker 1: and it kind of became the go to Christening fluid.

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna keep using that. I love that uh. And

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Speaker 1: Ben you pointed out off Mike Um that there is

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Speaker 1: a an alternative called cava, which is something that I

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Speaker 1: think neither of us were particularly familiar with. But it's

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Speaker 1: a Spanish bubbly wine UM that actually has a higher

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Speaker 1: um bubble content. I don't know how to say that,

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Speaker 1: but that's a good thing for Christening because you want

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Speaker 1: a higher pressure uh in the in the bottle, because

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Speaker 1: that's gonna make it more likely to break because these

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Speaker 1: bottles aren't designed to break that. You don't want to accidentally,

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Speaker 1: you know, bump your champagne ball and have it go

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Speaker 1: exploding everywhere. These things are under a lot of pressure,

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Speaker 1: and that's why those corks oftentimes have that little cage

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Speaker 1: thing that you have to untwist um. But you know

401
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Speaker 1: modern Christenings, when you see folks do this, they even

402
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Speaker 1: have these special little nets they put the champagne in

403
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Speaker 1: because nobody wants to get glass in the water. That's

404
00:25:08,760 --> 00:25:14,160
Speaker 1: not cool, especially if you're you know, a responsible boater. Um. So, yeah,

405
00:25:14,520 --> 00:25:17,040
Speaker 1: you want a clean break when you smash this thing.

406
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Speaker 1: And so oftentimes what is done as well is they'll

407
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Speaker 1: pre score the bottle with like a glass cutter um,

408
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Speaker 1: and that is what helps to kind of break evenly

409
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Speaker 1: and not just shatter and shoot shards of glass every

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Speaker 1: which where. Yeah, cava is much more effervescent than champagne.

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Speaker 1: As you said, it's it's bubbli er, but it's not

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Speaker 1: technically champagne. It's kind of like, uh, you know, you

413
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Speaker 1: may think you have anxiety, but if it's not from

414
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Speaker 1: the anxiety region of France, it's just plain old unease. Wait, casey,

415
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Speaker 1: how do I pronounce anxiety and French? It was close

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Speaker 1: six out of ten, four point five out of ten

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Speaker 1: if we're being honest, Yeah, you're you're absolutely right. No,

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Speaker 1: there is a science to this, because it turns out

419
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Speaker 1: that people actually spent thousands of years figuring out how

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Speaker 1: to make bottles that don't break easily. It's sort of

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Speaker 1: the point, and we know that there was in some

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Speaker 1: cases a lot writing on the successful rupture of the

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Speaker 1: bottle on the first try. It's kind of like a

424
00:26:32,960 --> 00:26:35,800
Speaker 1: very high stakes high five you don't want to miss

425
00:26:35,920 --> 00:26:39,320
Speaker 1: and have to go again. In the New York Times

426
00:26:39,640 --> 00:26:45,679
Speaker 1: November eighteen nine, we see an account of a battle

427
00:26:45,720 --> 00:26:48,800
Speaker 1: cruiser for the U. S. Navy named the Main and

428
00:26:48,840 --> 00:26:52,199
Speaker 1: it was christened in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. This is

429
00:26:52,200 --> 00:26:56,520
Speaker 1: a description of that granddaughter of the Secretary of the

430
00:26:56,600 --> 00:27:01,480
Speaker 1: Navy that I mentioned earlier, and this discription emphasizes just

431
00:27:01,640 --> 00:27:05,960
Speaker 1: how much is writing on getting this right the first try.

432
00:27:06,080 --> 00:27:10,680
Speaker 1: The granddaughter in question is Alice Tracy will Murdin. And

433
00:27:10,800 --> 00:27:12,760
Speaker 1: here's the quote. It's a great name, by the way,

434
00:27:13,560 --> 00:27:17,040
Speaker 1: it's it's a lot. Miss Wilmandine will have the precious

435
00:27:17,080 --> 00:27:19,680
Speaker 1: quart bottles secure to her wrist by a short bunch

436
00:27:19,720 --> 00:27:22,280
Speaker 1: of ribbons, which will serve the same purpose as a sword.

437
00:27:22,359 --> 00:27:25,000
Speaker 1: Not It is of the utmost importance that the bottle

438
00:27:25,160 --> 00:27:27,719
Speaker 1: be broken on the first throw, for the blue Jackets

439
00:27:27,720 --> 00:27:30,720
Speaker 1: will declare the vessel is unmanageable if she has permitted

440
00:27:30,760 --> 00:27:33,439
Speaker 1: to get into the water without first being christened. It

441
00:27:33,560 --> 00:27:35,840
Speaker 1: is consequently a matter of deep interest to the old

442
00:27:35,880 --> 00:27:38,959
Speaker 1: shell Backs to learn that Miss Wilmerding has performed her

443
00:27:39,000 --> 00:27:44,360
Speaker 1: task successfully. Blue Jackets, shell Backs, It's a different world, man,

444
00:27:44,640 --> 00:27:46,800
Speaker 1: it really is. What is a shell back? Is that

445
00:27:46,920 --> 00:27:49,680
Speaker 1: some sort of fashion item. I just hope it's pronounced

446
00:27:49,720 --> 00:27:53,560
Speaker 1: shell back and not like sheiel bach or shiel bow.

447
00:27:53,840 --> 00:27:55,720
Speaker 1: Well we'll probably get yelled that either way. But you

448
00:27:55,760 --> 00:27:58,120
Speaker 1: know what, every day is a shining new penny, as

449
00:27:58,160 --> 00:28:01,440
Speaker 1: Holly Fry would say from stuff you us in history class. Uh.

450
00:28:01,480 --> 00:28:04,880
Speaker 1: There's another really great quote UM in from the next

451
00:28:04,960 --> 00:28:08,560
Speaker 1: day's paper, UM that provides a little bit more detail

452
00:28:09,320 --> 00:28:13,480
Speaker 1: behind the christenings ceremony. UM. Fifteen thousand people on the

453
00:28:13,520 --> 00:28:15,800
Speaker 1: word of the watchman. As the gate swarmed about the

454
00:28:15,840 --> 00:28:18,600
Speaker 1: red hall of the giant battleship, on the decks of

455
00:28:18,640 --> 00:28:21,320
Speaker 1: all the assembled vessels in the upper stories, and on

456
00:28:21,359 --> 00:28:24,720
Speaker 1: the roofs of all the adjacent buildings. The raised platform

457
00:28:24,800 --> 00:28:28,080
Speaker 1: at the point of the mains rambow was prettily draped

458
00:28:28,119 --> 00:28:31,119
Speaker 1: with flags and flowers, and upon it General Tracy and

459
00:28:31,240 --> 00:28:35,720
Speaker 1: Mr Whitney stood a party of ladies, La La. Prominent

460
00:28:35,760 --> 00:28:40,520
Speaker 1: among them was the Secretary's granddaughter's Alice wilmoding with her mother. Yeah,

461
00:28:40,560 --> 00:28:43,720
Speaker 1: we see the high ritual of this, right, the high

462
00:28:43,760 --> 00:28:47,920
Speaker 1: dudgeon of the whole thing, and this point by point

463
00:28:48,160 --> 00:28:51,400
Speaker 1: description lets us know that this is a big deal.

464
00:28:51,800 --> 00:28:53,840
Speaker 1: But when we talk about christenings, we have to we

465
00:28:53,880 --> 00:28:57,400
Speaker 1: have to realize that it's still a big deal today.

466
00:28:57,520 --> 00:28:59,920
Speaker 1: You know, if you get a chance to go check

467
00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:03,200
Speaker 1: out the christening of a vessel, please do. You'll probably

468
00:29:03,240 --> 00:29:05,680
Speaker 1: have a great time and you'll see a new iteration

469
00:29:06,080 --> 00:29:10,960
Speaker 1: of a very very old story. So let's get down

470
00:29:11,040 --> 00:29:14,720
Speaker 1: to brass tacks or brass champagne bottles. All right, these

471
00:29:14,760 --> 00:29:17,640
Speaker 1: all these aren't all going to work. I've seen there's

472
00:29:17,640 --> 00:29:20,280
Speaker 1: I've seen brass champagne bottles before, those really like s,

473
00:29:20,640 --> 00:29:22,560
Speaker 1: you know, the really fancy ones on the top shelf

474
00:29:23,040 --> 00:29:26,480
Speaker 1: at the liquor store that are like, you know, they

475
00:29:26,480 --> 00:29:29,120
Speaker 1: look brassy. I think we can go with that, all right, Hey,

476
00:29:29,160 --> 00:29:34,080
Speaker 1: thanks man. Yeah, let's let's get back to the practicalities

477
00:29:34,600 --> 00:29:38,640
Speaker 1: that we mentioned. Just a little bit earlier. It's it's

478
00:29:38,640 --> 00:29:41,680
Speaker 1: tough to break a champagne bottle, and it should be tough,

479
00:29:42,240 --> 00:29:44,560
Speaker 1: like you said, No, they have to stand up to

480
00:29:44,960 --> 00:29:50,880
Speaker 1: enormous pressure, which means their glass is by necessity very thick.

481
00:29:51,480 --> 00:29:54,080
Speaker 1: We found a great article in the BBC interviewing a

482
00:29:54,080 --> 00:29:57,440
Speaker 1: guy named Mark me Downick who is a material scientist

483
00:29:57,440 --> 00:30:01,880
Speaker 1: at the King's College, London, and he's the one who

484
00:30:02,000 --> 00:30:07,480
Speaker 1: talks about how to prepare a champagne bottle. First, he says,

485
00:30:07,480 --> 00:30:09,880
Speaker 1: you want a bigger bottle because a bigger bottle is

486
00:30:09,920 --> 00:30:15,080
Speaker 1: going to have a higher likelihood of carrying a natural defect.

487
00:30:15,400 --> 00:30:18,800
Speaker 1: And I believe this is the same article that provides

488
00:30:18,840 --> 00:30:21,960
Speaker 1: the inside tip on how to kind of weaken the

489
00:30:22,000 --> 00:30:24,880
Speaker 1: bottle in advance, right, like what you were talking about

490
00:30:24,880 --> 00:30:27,080
Speaker 1: scoring it. I think, yeah, that's right. You can use

491
00:30:27,160 --> 00:30:30,280
Speaker 1: just a glass cutter, which is I think it's just

492
00:30:30,320 --> 00:30:32,160
Speaker 1: a handheld thing that you would use to like like

493
00:30:32,200 --> 00:30:33,920
Speaker 1: if you're like a cat burglar, you know, and you

494
00:30:33,960 --> 00:30:35,880
Speaker 1: wanted to like cut a hole in a window like

495
00:30:35,920 --> 00:30:39,000
Speaker 1: in the movies. Uh, maybe that's with like a shard

496
00:30:39,040 --> 00:30:41,400
Speaker 1: of diamond. I don't know, but yeah, you can definitely

497
00:30:41,440 --> 00:30:42,920
Speaker 1: this is something that wouldn't be some kind of like

498
00:30:43,160 --> 00:30:45,920
Speaker 1: massive industrial machine and you can just kind of etch

499
00:30:46,040 --> 00:30:50,240
Speaker 1: around the neck, which I believe is the weakest point. UM.

500
00:30:50,280 --> 00:30:52,640
Speaker 1: We talked a bit off Mike too about the really

501
00:30:52,680 --> 00:30:58,840
Speaker 1: fascinating history and tradition of sabraje, which UM are our

502
00:30:59,120 --> 00:31:02,480
Speaker 1: fellow podcast susters and friends Lauren Vogel Baumb and Annie

503
00:31:02,560 --> 00:31:05,400
Speaker 1: Reese did for a YouTube video UM back in the

504
00:31:05,480 --> 00:31:07,400
Speaker 1: day when we were doing YouTube videos, which is the

505
00:31:07,400 --> 00:31:12,280
Speaker 1: practice of taking a bottle of champagne and cleanly hacking

506
00:31:12,360 --> 00:31:15,880
Speaker 1: the top off of it with a saber. Uh. And

507
00:31:15,920 --> 00:31:18,880
Speaker 1: to producer Casey Pegram actually witnessed this in person and

508
00:31:19,120 --> 00:31:21,440
Speaker 1: all has to do he helped make the video, and

509
00:31:21,480 --> 00:31:23,920
Speaker 1: it all has to do with the angle and hitting

510
00:31:23,920 --> 00:31:27,200
Speaker 1: it at the perfect point of attack where it's it's weakest. Casey,

511
00:31:27,280 --> 00:31:29,040
Speaker 1: can you speak to that just a little bit. It's

512
00:31:29,040 --> 00:31:30,360
Speaker 1: been a while, so I I, you know, I may

513
00:31:30,400 --> 00:31:32,280
Speaker 1: get the details wrong here, but I seem to recall

514
00:31:32,320 --> 00:31:34,880
Speaker 1: it had something to do with not cutting straight across,

515
00:31:34,920 --> 00:31:37,640
Speaker 1: but slightly at an angle, and getting that angle just

516
00:31:37,760 --> 00:31:40,400
Speaker 1: right ensured that you would get a clean cut the

517
00:31:40,440 --> 00:31:42,680
Speaker 1: you know, the rest of the bottle would not move

518
00:31:42,880 --> 00:31:46,120
Speaker 1: Is that correct, Ben? Do you remember this? Yeah, like

519
00:31:46,120 --> 00:31:47,880
Speaker 1: you don't want to send the bottle flying. You wanted

520
00:31:47,960 --> 00:31:49,680
Speaker 1: to kind of like you want to just like lop

521
00:31:49,760 --> 00:31:52,000
Speaker 1: the top off and you know, make it very satisfying,

522
00:31:52,040 --> 00:31:55,720
Speaker 1: clean cut. Yeah, exactly. You You need to make sure

523
00:31:55,880 --> 00:32:00,400
Speaker 1: that you're holding the bottle securely, or that you're maybe

524
00:32:00,440 --> 00:32:03,920
Speaker 1: you have someone else holding it, because gosh, what a

525
00:32:04,000 --> 00:32:07,120
Speaker 1: classic doof if you're if you're standing there with a

526
00:32:07,240 --> 00:32:14,160
Speaker 1: saber and you accidentally drop the bottle you're trying to open.

527
00:32:14,280 --> 00:32:16,840
Speaker 1: You also need to make sure the bottle is chilled.

528
00:32:17,320 --> 00:32:19,960
Speaker 1: You want the neck to feel frozen to the touch.

529
00:32:20,080 --> 00:32:22,120
Speaker 1: That's why a lot of times you'll see somebody take

530
00:32:22,160 --> 00:32:26,880
Speaker 1: the bottle out of a bucket of ice. There's also,

531
00:32:26,920 --> 00:32:28,720
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't want to get us too far

532
00:32:28,800 --> 00:32:32,360
Speaker 1: off topic, but there's a whole thing about the bottle's

533
00:32:32,440 --> 00:32:35,560
Speaker 1: welding line and you need to you need to follow

534
00:32:35,600 --> 00:32:40,240
Speaker 1: the welding lines with the blade. And it's impressive to see, right,

535
00:32:40,400 --> 00:32:46,320
Speaker 1: I have personally not subraged. Is that the right way

536
00:32:46,320 --> 00:32:49,480
Speaker 1: to say? I have personally not subraged a bottle yet?

537
00:32:49,680 --> 00:32:52,880
Speaker 1: Have you guys? I have not, but it does seem Uh,

538
00:32:53,160 --> 00:32:57,720
Speaker 1: it's super intriguing and it seems very satisfying because Lauren

539
00:32:57,760 --> 00:33:01,400
Speaker 1: actually showed us the piece that they got to keep

540
00:33:01,720 --> 00:33:05,160
Speaker 1: and it's super cleanly broken, like it's it's like smooth

541
00:33:05,200 --> 00:33:08,400
Speaker 1: on either side. And that's the thing about the way

542
00:33:08,440 --> 00:33:11,560
Speaker 1: this relates to the christening. I mean, there's different ways

543
00:33:11,600 --> 00:33:13,880
Speaker 1: of doing and I think I've seen it where people

544
00:33:13,960 --> 00:33:16,560
Speaker 1: hold it from the neck and literally smash the fat

545
00:33:16,600 --> 00:33:19,720
Speaker 1: part of the bottle against the boat. I've seen examples

546
00:33:19,760 --> 00:33:23,240
Speaker 1: where people tie the bottle to a rope because you

547
00:33:23,320 --> 00:33:25,200
Speaker 1: gotta remember a lot of these ships are massive and

548
00:33:25,240 --> 00:33:28,200
Speaker 1: you can't get right up on them. Um, So they

549
00:33:28,200 --> 00:33:31,240
Speaker 1: would swing the bottle from the dock on a rope

550
00:33:31,240 --> 00:33:33,320
Speaker 1: and then hit the side of it. And the way

551
00:33:33,480 --> 00:33:36,680
Speaker 1: to go about that, uh is apparently to use a

552
00:33:36,760 --> 00:33:39,080
Speaker 1: very rigid rope like something more like that you would

553
00:33:39,120 --> 00:33:42,800
Speaker 1: tie um, you know, nautical lines with, as opposed to

554
00:33:42,880 --> 00:33:45,960
Speaker 1: something that has flexibility, because if it has kind of elasticity,

555
00:33:46,000 --> 00:33:48,479
Speaker 1: that will soak up some of the impact that you

556
00:33:48,520 --> 00:33:52,520
Speaker 1: need to actually break this this bottle. So there you

557
00:33:52,640 --> 00:33:57,600
Speaker 1: have it. Christening is an ancient tradition and through the

558
00:33:57,760 --> 00:34:01,440
Speaker 1: long game of telephone known as human history, it has

559
00:34:01,520 --> 00:34:06,760
Speaker 1: transformed over time, but its roots are so very deep

560
00:34:07,000 --> 00:34:12,400
Speaker 1: in our society. Also, if you are a person who

561
00:34:12,800 --> 00:34:16,080
Speaker 1: doesn't get super into booze, or if you're a person

562
00:34:16,160 --> 00:34:19,879
Speaker 1: who doesn't want to waste champagne, you can consider a

563
00:34:19,960 --> 00:34:24,840
Speaker 1: couple of other christening traditions. For instance, in Japan, instead

564
00:34:24,840 --> 00:34:28,759
Speaker 1: of a bottle of champagne, people tend to use a

565
00:34:29,239 --> 00:34:34,400
Speaker 1: special silver axe to cut the lines that hold the

566
00:34:34,480 --> 00:34:38,160
Speaker 1: ship away from the water, so you have the ceremony,

567
00:34:38,200 --> 00:34:41,440
Speaker 1: but instead of smashing a bottle, someone cuts the line,

568
00:34:41,520 --> 00:34:44,800
Speaker 1: the ship goes into the water, and the ship's owner

569
00:34:44,880 --> 00:34:47,120
Speaker 1: gets to keep the acts they were never throwing it

570
00:34:47,160 --> 00:34:50,000
Speaker 1: into the ocean. Dude, I love a good ceremonial acts.

571
00:34:50,000 --> 00:34:52,480
Speaker 1: Why don't we rattle off a couple of extra bonus

572
00:34:52,520 --> 00:34:55,200
Speaker 1: facts here at the end that I quite enjoyed. In

573
00:34:55,360 --> 00:35:01,640
Speaker 1: nineteen thirty one, lou Henry Hoover christened the Akron, but

574
00:35:01,800 --> 00:35:04,320
Speaker 1: he didn't use any kind of liquid at all. Um.

575
00:35:04,520 --> 00:35:08,040
Speaker 1: He christened it with a flock of pigeons that was

576
00:35:08,080 --> 00:35:10,200
Speaker 1: released to fly over the ship. So you know, we

577
00:35:10,200 --> 00:35:13,040
Speaker 1: we think of the liquid christening as being sort of

578
00:35:13,080 --> 00:35:15,320
Speaker 1: the only way it's done, but that's just not the case.

579
00:35:15,640 --> 00:35:18,279
Speaker 1: As is the case with the christening of the Titanic

580
00:35:18,760 --> 00:35:22,000
Speaker 1: or the lack of christening, because there's sort of like

581
00:35:22,040 --> 00:35:26,840
Speaker 1: a urban legend that's floated around. Uh pun absolutely intended,

582
00:35:27,120 --> 00:35:31,240
Speaker 1: um saying that the Titanic met its demise because it

583
00:35:31,280 --> 00:35:35,840
Speaker 1: was never christened properly. But ben, as you know, um,

584
00:35:36,120 --> 00:35:38,880
Speaker 1: neither were any of the other ships in the White

585
00:35:38,920 --> 00:35:44,920
Speaker 1: star Line. Correct. Yeah, yeah, that's correct. And honestly, not

586
00:35:45,160 --> 00:35:48,480
Speaker 1: every ship in the White star Line sank, so it

587
00:35:48,520 --> 00:35:53,280
Speaker 1: doesn't seem like christening was crucial to the vessels. However,

588
00:35:53,320 --> 00:35:54,920
Speaker 1: as we've said in the past, there is a lot

589
00:35:54,960 --> 00:35:59,040
Speaker 1: of superstition and folklore in the maritime world, and it

590
00:35:59,200 --> 00:36:01,520
Speaker 1: is true that one of the people who broke the

591
00:36:01,840 --> 00:36:05,040
Speaker 1: supports for the Titanic at at the launch of the

592
00:36:05,120 --> 00:36:10,279
Speaker 1: vessel did sustain fatal injuries while he was working. And

593
00:36:10,360 --> 00:36:14,600
Speaker 1: so if you believe in certain maritime superstitions, and that

594
00:36:14,680 --> 00:36:17,719
Speaker 1: could be taken as a bad omen. But here's the

595
00:36:17,760 --> 00:36:21,600
Speaker 1: part that this is interesting to me. Okay, every death

596
00:36:21,880 --> 00:36:27,720
Speaker 1: is a tragedy, right beyond words, it is interesting that

597
00:36:27,880 --> 00:36:31,720
Speaker 1: at the time of the Titanics launch and after the launch,

598
00:36:32,000 --> 00:36:34,640
Speaker 1: people were looking at this death as a very bad

599
00:36:34,760 --> 00:36:40,080
Speaker 1: thing when we consider that ancient quote unquote christening ceremonies

600
00:36:40,120 --> 00:36:44,680
Speaker 1: did sometimes evolve human sacrifice, like the Vikings. Right, Yeah,

601
00:36:44,760 --> 00:36:46,839
Speaker 1: that's right, And I guess I'd be much more likely

602
00:36:46,880 --> 00:36:50,279
Speaker 1: to support you know, sacrificing a little a little of

603
00:36:50,320 --> 00:36:53,720
Speaker 1: the devil's nectar rather than you know, a human person.

604
00:36:54,040 --> 00:36:56,040
Speaker 1: So I think we've come a long way. And I

605
00:36:56,080 --> 00:36:59,560
Speaker 1: also support the kind of secularization of all of this.

606
00:36:59,760 --> 00:37:05,399
Speaker 1: The it's still kind of has echoes of this religious ceremony, um,

607
00:37:05,480 --> 00:37:07,000
Speaker 1: you know, and the fact that it's still called a

608
00:37:07,080 --> 00:37:10,480
Speaker 1: christening I think speaks volumes to how much staying power

609
00:37:10,719 --> 00:37:13,640
Speaker 1: a lot of these uh, these rituals have. Um. But

610
00:37:13,719 --> 00:37:15,520
Speaker 1: this has been an interesting one, Ben, Like I said,

611
00:37:15,520 --> 00:37:17,360
Speaker 1: when you send me this topic, I was like, huh,

612
00:37:17,440 --> 00:37:19,560
Speaker 1: I've always wondered what the deal was with that, And

613
00:37:19,600 --> 00:37:22,920
Speaker 1: now we know. And now you two fellow ridiculous historians

614
00:37:23,160 --> 00:37:26,360
Speaker 1: also know what we know. And so we're we're in

615
00:37:26,360 --> 00:37:31,000
Speaker 1: the same boat. I don't know where we go. It's

616
00:37:31,040 --> 00:37:33,600
Speaker 1: not like it's thank you, Ben, You're so supportive. I

617
00:37:33,600 --> 00:37:36,600
Speaker 1: appreciate that. I'm gonna start today by thanking you Ben

618
00:37:36,719 --> 00:37:39,359
Speaker 1: first and foremost for being a pal and for being

619
00:37:39,400 --> 00:37:42,360
Speaker 1: supportive of my bad dad jokes and and and and

620
00:37:42,480 --> 00:37:46,120
Speaker 1: non punny puns and all of the all of the things. Um,

621
00:37:46,239 --> 00:37:48,320
Speaker 1: you're you're a good guy man, and I'm glad to

622
00:37:48,400 --> 00:37:53,480
Speaker 1: be on this voyage of ridiculous historical discovery with you,

623
00:37:53,520 --> 00:37:57,799
Speaker 1: my friend. Back at you all, I also was the

624
00:37:57,880 --> 00:38:01,200
Speaker 1: last thing I have to say about this is I

625
00:38:01,280 --> 00:38:04,840
Speaker 1: love pop and circumstance. I keep trying to find a

626
00:38:04,840 --> 00:38:07,239
Speaker 1: better phrase for it, but it encapsulates it. I love

627
00:38:07,320 --> 00:38:10,920
Speaker 1: the ceremonies of the rituals, the superstition. It's all very

628
00:38:10,920 --> 00:38:14,560
Speaker 1: fun to me. I think we should start christening more things.

629
00:38:14,960 --> 00:38:18,320
Speaker 1: When I got my newest car, I was seriously thinking,

630
00:38:19,000 --> 00:38:21,560
Speaker 1: is there something I could smash against this that you

631
00:38:21,600 --> 00:38:24,640
Speaker 1: know wouldn't hurt the car? And I couldn't come up

632
00:38:24,680 --> 00:38:28,759
Speaker 1: with anything. But let us know what other things you

633
00:38:28,920 --> 00:38:31,279
Speaker 1: think should be christened, or let us know what other

634
00:38:31,760 --> 00:38:35,960
Speaker 1: strange christening folklore you found. And as always, thank you

635
00:38:36,040 --> 00:38:39,279
Speaker 1: for listening, No, of course, thank you for going on

636
00:38:39,520 --> 00:38:44,920
Speaker 1: a another another strange historical voyage. And shout out, of

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Speaker 1: course to the man on the quarter deck of our podcast,

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Speaker 1: super producer Casey Pegram. Huge thanks to Alex Williams, who

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Speaker 1: composed our theme. Christopher Hassiota is here in spirit, Jonathan Strickland,

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Speaker 1: that Rascal of the High Seas, of of of Quister

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Speaker 1: dum Um. And who else did I miss anybody? Oh?

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Speaker 1: Of course, uh researchers saysciate extraordinarire gay Bluesier. So you

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Speaker 1: might be asking yourself, where can I tell you guys

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Speaker 1: about my Christening story? We'd love to hear it. We're

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Speaker 1: all over the internet. You can find us on Facebook,

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Speaker 1: you can find us on Instagram. You can find us

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Speaker 1: on Twitter. I think, uh, not just as a show,

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Speaker 1: but as individuals, that's right. If you wish. You can

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Speaker 1: find me on Instagram exclusively. I am at how Now

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Speaker 1: Noel Brown. You can follow my quarantine cooking adventures and

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Speaker 1: hikes and or my and my kids always changing hair color.

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Speaker 1: And you can find me taking various strange adventures at

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Speaker 1: Ben Boling on Instagram and various I guess Reddit calls

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Speaker 1: them shower thoughts on Twitter, where I am at Ben

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Speaker 1: Bowling hs W Bombayage. Folks, We'll see you next time.

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Speaker 1: For more podcasts from My Heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app,

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Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows,