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Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of

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Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. Our world is full of

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Speaker 1: the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all

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Speaker 1: of these amazing tales are right there on display, just

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Speaker 1: waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities.

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Speaker 1: There's an old saying that no good deed goes unpunished.

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Speaker 1: Most of us can probably think of a time when

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Speaker 1: someone took advantage of our kindness. It made us regrets

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Speaker 1: ever trying to help. That's all one sea captain was

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Speaker 1: trying to do, step up in a moment of crisis

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Speaker 1: and say the day. But he would soon learn that

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Speaker 1: sometimes doing the right thing can land you in a

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Speaker 1: world of trouble, or, in this case, in the ocean.

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Speaker 1: In early April of eighteen thirteen, Richard Brooks woke up

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Speaker 1: to a beautiful site, a ship on the horizon, its

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Speaker 1: white sails billowing in the breeze. Brooks shouted with joy

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Speaker 1: and raced out of the crewed shelter he had built

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Speaker 1: from fallen palm fronds. He barreled down the beach, desperately

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Speaker 1: waving his arms trying to attract the ship's attention. Other

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Speaker 1: members of his crew realized what Brooks was doing and

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Speaker 1: ran down the beach to help him. Soon, the distant

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Speaker 1: ship changed course and began sailing directly for them. The

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Speaker 1: entire crew erupted in cheers. Finally, after months of being

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Speaker 1: marooned struggling to survive on a deserted tropical island, they

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Speaker 1: were being saved. Brooks and the other crew members of

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Speaker 1: the Isabella originally set out from Port Jackson Harbor in

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Speaker 1: New South Wales, the British prison colony that we know

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Speaker 1: today as Australia. They left on December fourth of eighteen twelve,

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Speaker 1: headed for London. There were fifty four people on board

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Speaker 1: the ship, captain by a weather sea dog named George Higdon.

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Speaker 1: Richard Brooks was a captain in his own right of

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Speaker 1: numerous convict transport ships, the ships that brought prists from

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Speaker 1: Great Britain to the prison colony. But aboard the Isabella,

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Speaker 1: he was just a passenger traveling home. But once they

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Speaker 1: were out at sea, Brooks realized that Captain Higdon was incompetent, lazy,

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Speaker 1: and a drunk. A few weeks into their journey around

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Speaker 1: Cape horn. For example, Higdon nearly crashed them into Campbell Island,

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Speaker 1: south of New Zealand. Shortly after that, his inept leadership

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Speaker 1: during a raging storm nearly sank the ship. About two

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Speaker 1: months into the tumultuous journey, around two am on February

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Speaker 1: eighth of eighteen thirteen, Brooks was wandering on deck when

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Speaker 1: he realized that the Isabella was sailing dangerously close to land.

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Speaker 1: Then he saw it dead ahead, a jagged rock formation

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Speaker 1: jutting out of the sea. Brooks raised the alarm and

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Speaker 1: he took control of the ship. He and the other

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Speaker 1: crew members jumped into action, desperately trying to steer the

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Speaker 1: Isabella clear of danger. They swerved just in time to

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Speaker 1: miss the rocks, only to crash into a reef with

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Speaker 1: such force that the rudder was torn from the ship.

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Speaker 1: Now they had no way to steer and were at

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Speaker 1: the mercy of the wind. The waves around them swelled,

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Speaker 1: lifting the ship off the reef and ramming it into

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Speaker 1: a rock ledge, shattering the hull. The wind then pushed

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Speaker 1: the broken ship toward a sandy beach, where it ran aground.

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Speaker 1: And that was two months before Brooks and the other

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Speaker 1: fifty four passengers had been stuck on the deserted island

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Speaker 1: ever since, living off provisions. They saved from the ship,

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Speaker 1: but conditions on the island were harsh and morale was

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Speaker 1: in the gutter, so when a merchant ship appeared in

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Speaker 1: the distance, the whole crew ran out to flag it down.

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Speaker 1: Soon the rescue ship dropped anchor offshore, and a boat

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Speaker 1: of American merchant sailors made their way to the beach.

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Speaker 1: They offered to take all fifty four passengers of the

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Speaker 1: Isabella to safety as payment. They just wanted whatever was

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Speaker 1: left of the Isabella's provisions to help them make the

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Speaker 1: journey home, and of course Brooks and his fellow passengers

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Speaker 1: were elated. They made plans to transfer the Isabella's provisions

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Speaker 1: back to the American ship called the Nanina. The passengers

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Speaker 1: and merchants got to work, and before long had the

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Speaker 1: Nanina loaded up and ready to go. And then another

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Speaker 1: ship came sailing into view. It was a fierce British

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Speaker 1: warship called the Nancy, and the warship spotted the Nanina

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Speaker 1: and the broken remains of the Isabella and sent soldiers

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Speaker 1: ashore to see what was going on. Brooks recounted the

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Speaker 1: harrowing ordeal that he and his fellow passengers had endured

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Speaker 1: over these past few months, and expressed how grateful he

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Speaker 1: was to the American merchants for coming to their rescue.

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Speaker 1: And it was then that the captain of the Nancy

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Speaker 1: delivered surprising news. Britain and America had been at war

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Speaker 1: for almost a year, the War of eighteen twelve, so

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Speaker 1: technically Brooks and his crew were accepting help from the enemy.

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Speaker 1: But the captain told Brooks not to worry. He would

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Speaker 1: take all fifty four Isabelle passengers aboard the Nancy. He

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Speaker 1: would also be taking the American crew as prisoners of war,

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Speaker 1: and he would keep their ship as a war prize.

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Speaker 1: As you'd imagine, Brooks was stunned, but there was little

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Speaker 1: he could do to help his new American friends. A

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Speaker 1: few days later, the Nancy sailed away with a brig

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Speaker 1: full of American prisoners and a new merchant ship in tow.

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Speaker 1: Although not everybody made it onto the warship. For whatever reason,

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Speaker 1: the captain of the Nancy chose to leave five men behind,

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Speaker 1: including the captain of the Nanina. They endured brutal living

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Speaker 1: conditions for five hundred and thirty four days before finally

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Speaker 1: being rescued themselves, although thankfully by that time the War

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Speaker 1: of eighteen twelve was over and the marooned crew members

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Speaker 1: could catch a ride back to civilization without a trip

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Speaker 1: to the brig. Most people don't think about this, but

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Speaker 1: dog breeds are inherently an unnatural creation. Ever since the

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Speaker 1: domestication of dogs, breeders have made an art of carefully

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Speaker 1: selecting for traits, behaviors, and physical characteristics that would not

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Speaker 1: occur in nature. It has grown into a whole industry,

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Speaker 1: not just for the average pet owner, but for public

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Speaker 1: spectacle at large. And there is no one who handles

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Speaker 1: public spectacles quite like the British royal family. We've talked

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Speaker 1: a lot here about the quirks of royalty in the

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Speaker 1: twenty first century, so today I'd like to focus on

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Speaker 1: something that got a lot of focus with the recent

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Speaker 1: passing of Queen Elizabeth the Second her small army of

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Speaker 1: stubby legged Corgies. These dogs were as pampered as animals

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Speaker 1: can possibly be. They had a whole room to themselves

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Speaker 1: in Buckingham Palace and their own gourmet chef to prepare

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Speaker 1: meals for them. From her first dog at the age

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Speaker 1: of eighteen. Until her death at the age of ninety six,

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Speaker 1: Queen Elizabeth the Second owned sixty three dogs. All of

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Speaker 1: them were Corgies, though some were technically called Dorgies, which

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Speaker 1: is a cross between a Corgi and a doxend. The

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Speaker 1: first of this line was a nobly named Rosevel Golden Eagle,

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Speaker 1: a Welsh Corgie adopted by the Queen mother after her

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Speaker 1: daughter fell in love with corgi's. It would become known

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Speaker 1: by the slightly less noble nickname Dukie, short for the

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Speaker 1: Duke of York. But the first dog owned by Queen

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Speaker 1: Elizabeth II herself was Susan, a gift on her eighteenth birthday.

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Speaker 1: Ever since, she was not without one of these stubby

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Speaker 1: dogs or another, even quoting to the press, the Corgies

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Speaker 1: are my family, and like the rest of the royal family,

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Speaker 1: they were no strangers to public scandal. Now Elizabeth's children

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Speaker 1: were reportedly much less fond of the dogs than the

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Speaker 1: Queen herself. They complained the press about barking keeping them

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Speaker 1: up at night. They seem to respond aggressively to the princes,

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Speaker 1: although some guests got special treatment. Megan Markell, for instance,

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Speaker 1: wasn't barked or bitten once when she came to visit

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Speaker 1: the royal family for the first time. Not everyone has

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Speaker 1: been so lucky, though. Susan, Elizabeth's first Corgi, attacked a

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Speaker 1: palace clockwinder in nineteen fifty four. Mailman and police officers

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Speaker 1: have also been bitten by the corgies at several points

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Speaker 1: throughout British history, prompting at least one suggestion that Buckingham

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Speaker 1: Palace should install a Beware the Dogs signed for unwitting visitors.

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Speaker 1: Elizabeth had her own dog breeding program, which created a

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Speaker 1: mini dynasty within the walls of the British Palace. They

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Speaker 1: were to be treated with as much respect as other

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Speaker 1: members of the royal family. In nineteen ninety nine, for example,

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Speaker 1: one of the Queen's footmen was demoted when it was

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Speaker 1: discovered that he enjoyed getting the corgies drunk as a

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Speaker 1: party trick to amuse the other members of the staff.

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Speaker 1: The corgi breeding, however, stopped in twenty twelve when Queen

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Speaker 1: Elizabeth the Second realized that her children did not share

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Speaker 1: her love of the little dogs. Publicly, she said that

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Speaker 1: she did not want to leave a bunch of puppies

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Speaker 1: stranded when she passed away. Ultimately, she would leave two

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Speaker 1: Corgies behind, Muick and Sandy. One of these went to

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Speaker 1: Prince Andrew and the other to Prince Andrew's ex wife,

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Speaker 1: Sarah Ferguson. Though their reign is at an end, these

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Speaker 1: dogs had a stranglehold on popular culture, not just inspiring

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Speaker 1: dog shows or bringing a touch of whimsy to the

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Speaker 1: Queen's photo ops, but as symbols of Queen Elizabeth the

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Speaker 1: Second herself. In the same way that the Prime Minister

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Speaker 1: Winston Churchill was often depicted as a bulldog, Queen Elizabeth

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Speaker 1: would be alongside her Corgies constantly in the public imagination,

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Speaker 1: in artwork, political cartoons, and media depictions. She was rarely

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Speaker 1: seen without one of her famous dogs. The popular TV

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Speaker 1: series in Australia Bluey even depicted Elizabeth I as an

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Speaker 1: anthropomorphic Corgi in a weird way. The Corgi as a

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Speaker 1: dog breed is a metaphor for the Royal family itself,

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Speaker 1: an elaborate family tree of whimsical names which only the

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Speaker 1: most dedicated British dog lover would know, whose primary purpose

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Speaker 1: is to exist in the public eye and charm diplomats,

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Speaker 1: prime ministers, foreign dignitaries, anyone the Queen needs an icebreaker

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Speaker 1: with and it has to be said, an immense amount

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Speaker 1: of state funding and power went into the lavish lifestyles

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Speaker 1: these dogs led. While ultimately harmless, the scale of it

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Speaker 1: is astonishing, much like the British Royal family themselves. The

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Speaker 1: world's most extravagant dog show. I hope you've enjoyed today's

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Speaker 1: guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free

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Speaker 1: on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show by

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Speaker 1: visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created by

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Speaker 1: me Aaron Mankey in partnership with how Stuff Works. I

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Speaker 1: make another award winning show called Lore, which is a podcast,

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Speaker 1: book series, and television show, and you can learn all

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Speaker 1: about it over at the Worldolore dot com. Next time,

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Speaker 1: stay curious. H