Speaker 1: Welcomed Aaron Manky's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of I
Speaker 1: Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world is full
Speaker 1: of the unexplainable, and if history is an open book,
Speaker 1: all of these amazing tales are right there on display,
Speaker 1: just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet
Speaker 1: of Curiosities. When we look back on the most impressive
Speaker 1: feats of human engineering, we don't often think about what
Speaker 1: went into making them possible. The Apollo eleven mission that
Speaker 1: put Americans on the Moon back in nineteen sixty nine
Speaker 1: took years of planning, development and testing. The Eiffel Tower
Speaker 1: in France took over two years to build, while the
Speaker 1: Statue of Liberty was completed after eight years of construction.
Speaker 1: Greatness takes time. Unfortunately, the Swedish Royal Navy probably should
Speaker 1: have baked one particular project just a little bit longer.
Speaker 1: Modern Sweden is a country we often equate with neutrality
Speaker 1: when it comes to political matters. They didn't take a
Speaker 1: side during either World War, although there were times when
Speaker 1: they made strategic policy and financial decisions when it benefited them. However,
Speaker 1: back in the seventeenth century, Sweden was a formidable European empire.
Speaker 1: It won many wars against countries like Poland and Russia,
Speaker 1: thanks in large part to its ruler, King Gustavus Adolphus.
Speaker 1: He reigned for twenty years, and for much of that
Speaker 1: time he was at war. Heck, his father left him
Speaker 1: three wars already in progress when he passed away in
Speaker 1: sixteen eleven, pretty rough for a fresh seventeen year old.
Speaker 1: Ascending to the throne around January of six to honor
Speaker 1: Sweden's militaristic might, the king ordered the construction of some
Speaker 1: new ships. A contract was signed with shipbuilders in Stockholm
Speaker 1: to build a total of four ships, two with keel's
Speaker 1: measuring one eight feet in length and two measuring one
Speaker 1: hundred thirty five feet. Unfortunately, despite the contract, the king
Speaker 1: couldn't make up his mind. He kept changing his order
Speaker 1: and the ship builders ran into production problems because of that.
Speaker 1: On top of that, the Swedish Navy lost ten ships
Speaker 1: that year, meaning the original timeline had shrunk. The plan
Speaker 1: was to start building two ships of a completely different size,
Speaker 1: with keels now one twenty feet in length. Sadly, that
Speaker 1: plan lasted only a short time until the king got
Speaker 1: wind of Denmark's latest addition to their fleet. It seems
Speaker 1: they were working on a ship with two gun decks,
Speaker 1: unheard of in Sweden, but the king didn't care. He
Speaker 1: couldn't go to war with a lesser ship, so he
Speaker 1: forced the one ft vessel to be built with two
Speaker 1: gun decks instead of one as originally planned. The ship builder,
Speaker 1: Henrik Hybertson, said it couldn't be done. Then, he had
Speaker 1: already prepared the lumber to build one large and one
Speaker 1: small ship, and he was growing sicker by the day.
Speaker 1: Hendrik died in seven, two years after the project had started,
Speaker 1: but before he could see his creation in the water.
Speaker 1: The work was then passed down to a colleague who
Speaker 1: followed the king's orders. He doubled the size of the
Speaker 1: gun deck, as well as the number of cannons on board,
Speaker 1: from thirty six to almost seventy, and then he carved
Speaker 1: numerous wooden ornaments like sculptures of soldiers, lions, crests, and
Speaker 1: filigrees to adorn the ship. This not only extended the
Speaker 1: construction schedule, but it also increased the ship's weight. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: due to the frenetic nature of its construction and the
Speaker 1: untimely death of the ship's designer. It was believed that
Speaker 1: no formal plans had ever been drafted. Henrik Hybertson most
Speaker 1: likely increased the dimensions of the original ship in his mind,
Speaker 1: but didn't write anything down, and it was a recipe
Speaker 1: for a disaster. By the time it was completed in
Speaker 1: sixty eight, the ship, dubbed the Vassa, was a force
Speaker 1: to be reckoned with. It had been named after the
Speaker 1: royal house from which the king had descended, and was
Speaker 1: intended to carry three hundred soldiers into battle. August tenth
Speaker 1: of sixty eight was the Big Day, the day that
Speaker 1: Sweden and her enemies would see the future of naval
Speaker 1: warfare in all its glory. The itinerary had the Vassa
Speaker 1: carrying the small crew and honored guests from Stockholm Harbor
Speaker 1: to a fortress nearby. After the guests were dropped off,
Speaker 1: the ship would then travel to an island where it
Speaker 1: would defend the Swedish Naval Reserve from Poland Lithuania. But
Speaker 1: the trip was cut short by a lot. Minutes after
Speaker 1: it touched the water, a strong wind caused the Vasa
Speaker 1: to lean dangerously to port. A second gust knocked the
Speaker 1: ship entirely over causing the lower gun decks to flood.
Speaker 1: The Vassa wasn't able to recover, and twenty minutes later
Speaker 1: it was completely underwater, taking thirty lives with it. Amazingly,
Speaker 1: the ship was finally recovered in the nineteen sixties and
Speaker 1: has since become the main attraction of a museum in
Speaker 1: Sweden thanks to its remarkable state of preservation, and it's
Speaker 1: also become a cautionary tale for business owners, entrepreneurs and
Speaker 1: leaders everywhere who can learn a hard lesson from the
Speaker 1: Vasa's demise that executive meddling can often sink ships. Kids
Speaker 1: do stupid things growing up. They get together with their
Speaker 1: friends and ride bikes without their helmets on, or light
Speaker 1: fireworks in the street, or, in the case of one
Speaker 1: time traveling teen, grab onto a passing car while writing
Speaker 1: a skateboard. And such actions have led to a question.
Speaker 1: We've all been asked at one point or another, if
Speaker 1: all your friends jumped off a bridge, would you do
Speaker 1: it too? Well, Robert Emmett Oddlum didn't jump off a
Speaker 1: bridge because of his friends, and he didn't do it
Speaker 1: to impress someone he was attracted to. He did it
Speaker 1: to prove a point. Robert was born in Ogdensburg, New York,
Speaker 1: in August of eighteen fifty one. His brother had served
Speaker 1: in the Union Army during the Civil War, and his sister,
Speaker 1: shar At Oddlam Smith, was an activist for women in
Speaker 1: the workplace. She also helped establish the practice of including
Speaker 1: ingredients on product labels. Robert aspired to similar success as
Speaker 1: his siblings, heading down to Washington, d c. In eighteen
Speaker 1: seventy eight to start a swimming school. Among his pupils
Speaker 1: were the children of politicians in generals, such as the
Speaker 1: soon to be president James Garfield and Union General William T. Sherman.
Speaker 1: His school did well for a while, and Robert helped
Speaker 1: get the word out by performing athletic feats in the
Speaker 1: Potomac River. He once swam a rowing course all by himself,
Speaker 1: and he often challenged others to swimming races, betting as
Speaker 1: much as five hundred dollars at a time. No one
Speaker 1: ever took him up on the bet, but it didn't
Speaker 1: stop Robert from showing off his skills. He once held
Speaker 1: his breath underwater for over three minutes and even jumped
Speaker 1: ninety feet from a bridge at Occoquan Falls in Virginia.
Speaker 1: He became known for jumping from tall heights, plunging feet
Speaker 1: first into the Potomac from his high as a hundred
Speaker 1: feet above, and he did it without sustaining a single injury.
Speaker 1: Of course, Robert was never satisfied. Eventually, his swim school
Speaker 1: sank and he got a job as a lifeguard and
Speaker 1: swim instructor at a Virginia hotel. But despite the setback,
Speaker 1: he continued to perform feats of endurance, such as an
Speaker 1: eighteen miles swim between the towns of Old Point, Comforts
Speaker 1: and Ocean View. And yet, no matter how far he swam,
Speaker 1: nor how high he jumped from, he still desired to
Speaker 1: leave his mark on the world in a big way. Sure,
Speaker 1: he was gaining fame for his various stunts, but he
Speaker 1: wanted to make a splash, and that opportunity finally arrived
Speaker 1: on May nineteenth of eight five. You see, Robert wanted
Speaker 1: to be the first person to jump off the recently
Speaker 1: completed Brooklyn Bridge in New York, a one thirty ft
Speaker 1: drop into the East River. News of the jump spread
Speaker 1: throughout the city in the days leading up to it.
Speaker 1: He gave an interview for the New York Herald about
Speaker 1: his reason for wanting to perform such a dangerous feat,
Speaker 1: saying that he want to demonstrate something he had been
Speaker 1: explaining to people for years. No one who jumps from
Speaker 1: tall heights dies during the fall. He hoped that anyone
Speaker 1: who witnessed his leap from the Brooklyn Bridge would know
Speaker 1: how safe it was, for example, to jump into a
Speaker 1: firefighter's net from the roof of a burning building. Well,
Speaker 1: the day finally arrived and the police were out in
Speaker 1: full force. They refused to allow Robert to perform his jump,
Speaker 1: even though thousands of New Yorkers had arrived on the
Speaker 1: bridge to watch it happen. They set up a checkpoint
Speaker 1: and inspected every carriage crossing the bridge in hopes of
Speaker 1: catching him before he could jump. The cops stopped one
Speaker 1: particular cab on the bridge, then asked the person inside
Speaker 1: about their reason for being there. The man said that
Speaker 1: he planned to jump into the river without any issue.
Speaker 1: The police had caught their man, or so they thought.
Speaker 1: Several hundred feet behind that carriage was another one with
Speaker 1: the real Robert inside. He snuck himself out onto the
Speaker 1: railing while the officers were distracted and prepared for his death.
Speaker 1: To find leap, he raised one arm over his head
Speaker 1: to act as a rudder during his drop, and then
Speaker 1: he stepped off the bridge. The cops tried to stop him,
Speaker 1: of course, but they couldn't catch him in time. The
Speaker 1: fall only took a few seconds. Robert was okay for
Speaker 1: the first hundred feet, but then his body tilted a bit.
Speaker 1: He didn't land feet first as he planned. He landed
Speaker 1: on his right side, and after he slipped below the water,
Speaker 1: his body pop back up face down. A rescue team
Speaker 1: quickly pulled him out, and things looked grim. He wasn't moving.
Speaker 1: Then after some time Robert came to. He asked if
Speaker 1: the jump was okay, and the people looking after him
Speaker 1: said he had done well. Sadly, it had gone worse
Speaker 1: than he had thought. His body had suffered serious internal injuries,
Speaker 1: and as blood spurted from his mouth, the rescue boat
Speaker 1: sped towards land, after which an ambulance was called, but
Speaker 1: it was too late. He was dead within the hour.
Speaker 1: Robert Emmett ODDLM went down in history. Though as having
Speaker 1: been proven right all along, it is rarely the drop
Speaker 1: that kills you. It just seems that he forgot about
Speaker 1: the landing. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of
Speaker 1: the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 1: or learn more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast
Speaker 1: dot com. The show was created by me Aaron Mankey
Speaker 1: in partnership with how Stuff Works. I make another award
Speaker 1: winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, book series,
Speaker 1: and television show, and you can learn all about it
Speaker 1: over at the World of Lore dot com. And until
Speaker 1: next time, stay curious.