1 00:00:00,560 --> 00:00:03,760 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff you missed in History Class from how 2 00:00:03,800 --> 00:00:13,960 Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:14,000 --> 00:00:17,079 Speaker 1: I'm Sarah Dowdy and I'm Deblina Chuck Reboarding, and today 4 00:00:17,120 --> 00:00:19,000 Speaker 1: you're in for a treat because we're going to be 5 00:00:19,040 --> 00:00:22,840 Speaker 1: talking about five pretty amazing shipwrecks. And the really cool 6 00:00:22,840 --> 00:00:26,200 Speaker 1: thing about it is you guys picked all of these. Yeah. 7 00:00:26,239 --> 00:00:29,520 Speaker 1: On Facebook, we asked for some recommendations and you guys 8 00:00:29,520 --> 00:00:32,000 Speaker 1: gave us awesome ones. And I mean a lot too. 9 00:00:32,040 --> 00:00:36,040 Speaker 1: I think there were seventies something comments just on Facebook. Yeah. 10 00:00:36,080 --> 00:00:39,280 Speaker 1: I think we could do a shipwreck only podcast series 11 00:00:39,400 --> 00:00:43,680 Speaker 1: for the next six months from how Stuff No kidding, Um, 12 00:00:43,680 --> 00:00:45,920 Speaker 1: so we're only gonna do five for this episode, but 13 00:00:46,280 --> 00:00:49,519 Speaker 1: we might be tempted to revisit this again because you 14 00:00:49,600 --> 00:00:52,520 Speaker 1: all know that I like shipwrecks. I think Deblina, you're 15 00:00:52,520 --> 00:00:55,480 Speaker 1: certainly growing to like them. Yeah, I love I love 16 00:00:55,480 --> 00:00:57,760 Speaker 1: shipwreck stories, that's for sure. Some of them are kind 17 00:00:57,760 --> 00:01:00,560 Speaker 1: of sad for me to stomach. Yeah, they are sad, 18 00:01:00,600 --> 00:01:03,840 Speaker 1: and I don't want to sound to light about it, 19 00:01:04,480 --> 00:01:07,560 Speaker 1: but you know they're interesting too, That's that's what I 20 00:01:07,680 --> 00:01:10,080 Speaker 1: enjoy about them. Yeah, absolutely, it's not just about the 21 00:01:10,120 --> 00:01:12,880 Speaker 1: event the wreck itself. It's all the things that you 22 00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:16,200 Speaker 1: learn about a particular culture, particular time period from the 23 00:01:16,240 --> 00:01:18,400 Speaker 1: things that are found if they're found, you know, if 24 00:01:18,400 --> 00:01:22,199 Speaker 1: there's an excavation that takes place, and all the things 25 00:01:22,319 --> 00:01:25,240 Speaker 1: that you get from there and the consequences. And I 26 00:01:25,240 --> 00:01:29,160 Speaker 1: think the recovery efforts alone are really interesting stories. We 27 00:01:29,200 --> 00:01:31,160 Speaker 1: talked about that a little bit when we were discussing 28 00:01:31,160 --> 00:01:34,760 Speaker 1: those Roman shipwrecks last fall. You know, just the recovery 29 00:01:34,760 --> 00:01:37,680 Speaker 1: effort is it's pretty interesting, all of the people who 30 00:01:37,760 --> 00:01:41,440 Speaker 1: work on it, the archaeological work, all the fish sauce 31 00:01:41,440 --> 00:01:44,960 Speaker 1: involved sauce. Yeah, that was right. I forgot about that. 32 00:01:45,200 --> 00:01:48,880 Speaker 1: Thanks for thanks for reminding me. But anyways, we're gonna 33 00:01:49,000 --> 00:01:51,840 Speaker 1: kick this off with the shipwreck. That sort of made 34 00:01:51,920 --> 00:01:55,080 Speaker 1: us think that maybe a series or a list like 35 00:01:55,120 --> 00:01:57,800 Speaker 1: this would be cool. It was something that a listener 36 00:01:57,840 --> 00:02:01,280 Speaker 1: wrote in to suggest the realm Arie a shipwreck, and 37 00:02:01,400 --> 00:02:03,360 Speaker 1: I just thought it was so neat. It tied in 38 00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:07,440 Speaker 1: different interests and different things that you wouldn't expect all 39 00:02:07,480 --> 00:02:10,480 Speaker 1: into one shipwreck, which I think that's what they do, right. Yeah, 40 00:02:10,600 --> 00:02:13,360 Speaker 1: and it tied in art too. We'll see. But before 41 00:02:13,400 --> 00:02:15,560 Speaker 1: we can get into the art, we need to give 42 00:02:15,560 --> 00:02:17,440 Speaker 1: you a little bit of backstory about the fram Maria. 43 00:02:17,919 --> 00:02:20,680 Speaker 1: So in the nineteen seventies of Dr Christian Allstrom found 44 00:02:20,720 --> 00:02:23,720 Speaker 1: documents in the Finnish National Archives relating to a sunken 45 00:02:23,800 --> 00:02:26,360 Speaker 1: Dutch merchant ship. And that's the ship we're talking about 46 00:02:26,440 --> 00:02:29,400 Speaker 1: right now. Yeah, I have been traveling from Amsterdam to St. 47 00:02:29,440 --> 00:02:32,960 Speaker 1: Petersburg and it sank in a storm in the Baltic 48 00:02:33,080 --> 00:02:36,120 Speaker 1: off the southern coast of Finland way back in the 49 00:02:36,200 --> 00:02:39,160 Speaker 1: autumn of seventeen seventy one. So it was quite an 50 00:02:39,240 --> 00:02:42,359 Speaker 1: old wreck by the time Allstrom learned about it, and 51 00:02:42,560 --> 00:02:45,560 Speaker 1: a further search of documents in the archives and other 52 00:02:45,639 --> 00:02:50,120 Speaker 1: sources uncovered the ship's protests, which included the log book, 53 00:02:50,160 --> 00:02:53,560 Speaker 1: but also a really tantalizing list of items that had 54 00:02:53,600 --> 00:02:56,880 Speaker 1: been salvaged from the wreck. Because it didn't go down 55 00:02:57,000 --> 00:02:59,240 Speaker 1: immediately like some of the wrecks were going to discuss, 56 00:02:59,320 --> 00:03:01,760 Speaker 1: there was time to get a few of the precious 57 00:03:01,800 --> 00:03:05,760 Speaker 1: items off off board. Yeah, that list made the hunt 58 00:03:05,800 --> 00:03:08,760 Speaker 1: for the firm area a really popular enterprise with among 59 00:03:08,800 --> 00:03:12,480 Speaker 1: amateur divers throughout the nineteen seventies, but it wasn't until 60 00:03:12,560 --> 00:03:16,760 Speaker 1: nine that the society dedicated to the search found the wreck, 61 00:03:17,000 --> 00:03:20,400 Speaker 1: the actual wreck using side scan sonar. Yeah, our old friend, 62 00:03:20,560 --> 00:03:23,240 Speaker 1: side skin sonar. How do you find ships these days? 63 00:03:23,280 --> 00:03:27,280 Speaker 1: So the remains that they found were remarkably well preserved. 64 00:03:27,360 --> 00:03:30,560 Speaker 1: Ninety percent of the whole is intact, and this makes 65 00:03:30,600 --> 00:03:33,560 Speaker 1: it a really great way to learn about Dutch ship 66 00:03:33,600 --> 00:03:36,280 Speaker 1: building at the time and what a Dutch like, what 67 00:03:36,400 --> 00:03:39,440 Speaker 1: a typical Dutch merchant ship would have been like, because 68 00:03:39,440 --> 00:03:43,040 Speaker 1: it is so remarkably well preserved. But that's that's not 69 00:03:43,120 --> 00:03:46,280 Speaker 1: why we're talking about it. It's not just a nice 70 00:03:46,320 --> 00:03:50,040 Speaker 1: typical Dutch merchant ship. It's what might still be inside. 71 00:03:50,080 --> 00:03:53,200 Speaker 1: That's the real kicker. Because we have the custom toll 72 00:03:53,240 --> 00:03:56,360 Speaker 1: records in Denmark and the log of the salvage items 73 00:03:56,360 --> 00:03:59,520 Speaker 1: and that let's just know some of the luxury items 74 00:03:59,640 --> 00:04:02,480 Speaker 1: or goods that you would expect to be on board, 75 00:04:02,680 --> 00:04:07,040 Speaker 1: their sugar and cloth and zinc and mercury. Fortunately they've 76 00:04:07,040 --> 00:04:10,520 Speaker 1: determined the mercury has not leaked into the Baltic die. 77 00:04:10,840 --> 00:04:13,560 Speaker 1: Just just the typical things you'd think would be on 78 00:04:13,600 --> 00:04:16,440 Speaker 1: the ship. No fish oil though, no fish oil. But 79 00:04:16,520 --> 00:04:20,080 Speaker 1: there was also some cargo listed as assorted merchandise, and 80 00:04:20,160 --> 00:04:23,120 Speaker 1: this was likely valuable luxury items, some of which were 81 00:04:23,120 --> 00:04:26,640 Speaker 1: also salvaged, and that included things like books, mirrors with 82 00:04:26,680 --> 00:04:29,880 Speaker 1: gilt frames, and even ivory eggs, which sounds pretty cool. 83 00:04:29,920 --> 00:04:33,000 Speaker 1: I'm imagining like crates full of ivory eggs. Probably it 84 00:04:33,040 --> 00:04:35,040 Speaker 1: was just a couple of boxes, but still. But the 85 00:04:35,080 --> 00:04:37,880 Speaker 1: treasure ship reputation that this wreck has comes from the 86 00:04:37,880 --> 00:04:40,600 Speaker 1: fact that the Frown Maria was on an art run 87 00:04:40,640 --> 00:04:42,760 Speaker 1: at the time of its thinking for none other than 88 00:04:42,960 --> 00:04:45,920 Speaker 1: Catherine the Great. Yeah, that's right. So if y'all know 89 00:04:45,960 --> 00:04:48,200 Speaker 1: a little bit about Catherine the Great, maybe you've listened 90 00:04:48,200 --> 00:04:50,760 Speaker 1: to the Caffine the Great series, you know that in 91 00:04:50,800 --> 00:04:55,240 Speaker 1: the late seventeen sixties early seventeen seventies, Catherine was really 92 00:04:55,279 --> 00:04:59,240 Speaker 1: looking to beef up her Courts reputation as a cultural capital, 93 00:04:59,400 --> 00:05:03,440 Speaker 1: cultural enter that was equal to the Courts and the 94 00:05:03,480 --> 00:05:05,880 Speaker 1: rest of Europe. And to do that, she knew that 95 00:05:06,480 --> 00:05:08,839 Speaker 1: she didn't just need to spend a lot of money. 96 00:05:08,880 --> 00:05:11,479 Speaker 1: She needed to buy some really pretty stuff, you know, 97 00:05:11,720 --> 00:05:15,000 Speaker 1: art and things like the works of Dutch masters. So 98 00:05:15,080 --> 00:05:18,080 Speaker 1: that's exactly what she did. She used connections through europe 99 00:05:18,120 --> 00:05:21,840 Speaker 1: guys like Voltaire to set up these art deals for 100 00:05:21,920 --> 00:05:25,680 Speaker 1: her and build the collection. And in July seventeen seventy 101 00:05:25,680 --> 00:05:28,160 Speaker 1: one she had one deal like this go down, and 102 00:05:28,200 --> 00:05:32,480 Speaker 1: it was a timber merchant who was having his estate 103 00:05:32,520 --> 00:05:36,320 Speaker 1: auctioned off. He was also an art collector and Catherine's 104 00:05:36,360 --> 00:05:39,640 Speaker 1: ambassador to the Hague was sent off to take care 105 00:05:39,640 --> 00:05:44,000 Speaker 1: of Catherine's interests and bid on some of these nice paintings. 106 00:05:44,040 --> 00:05:47,400 Speaker 1: So what was lost in this wreck of those paintings, 107 00:05:47,440 --> 00:05:50,080 Speaker 1: because we know that she ordered them, but she bought them, 108 00:05:50,480 --> 00:05:52,960 Speaker 1: but a lot of them none of them showed up, right, 109 00:05:53,000 --> 00:05:55,680 Speaker 1: I don't think so, none of hers, none of hers. 110 00:05:55,880 --> 00:05:58,400 Speaker 1: So judging from the auction catalogs as well as the 111 00:05:58,440 --> 00:06:01,880 Speaker 1: doctoral thesis of Dr Clara from nineteen sixty one, we 112 00:06:01,920 --> 00:06:04,440 Speaker 1: can guess that the works were mostly of Dutch Golden 113 00:06:04,480 --> 00:06:07,760 Speaker 1: Age painters um including Jan van Goyen, who made an 114 00:06:07,839 --> 00:06:13,440 Speaker 1: appearance in The Tulip. And there are eleven paintings that 115 00:06:13,480 --> 00:06:16,320 Speaker 1: we know of, but it's very likely that there were more, 116 00:06:16,480 --> 00:06:18,960 Speaker 1: since correspondence at the time shows that there was an 117 00:06:19,000 --> 00:06:22,880 Speaker 1: extremely high value put on the bundle that Catherine bought. Yeah, 118 00:06:22,920 --> 00:06:26,320 Speaker 1: but our big question is if the paintings went down 119 00:06:26,320 --> 00:06:28,479 Speaker 1: with the ship. Are they still down there and what 120 00:06:28,600 --> 00:06:31,200 Speaker 1: kind of condition would they be in? And it's pretty 121 00:06:31,240 --> 00:06:33,960 Speaker 1: hard to say, because as of now, a diver can't 122 00:06:34,000 --> 00:06:37,320 Speaker 1: safely enter the hold of the ship. It's too rickety, 123 00:06:37,360 --> 00:06:40,599 Speaker 1: even though it's in really good condition. Um And the 124 00:06:40,680 --> 00:06:44,520 Speaker 1: condition of the paintings themselves might really depend on how 125 00:06:44,560 --> 00:06:47,600 Speaker 1: they were packaged, because if they were stored in crates 126 00:06:47,640 --> 00:06:50,400 Speaker 1: in their frames, they probably would have been destroyed a 127 00:06:50,400 --> 00:06:53,080 Speaker 1: long time ago. They would be sitting in water since 128 00:06:53,440 --> 00:06:58,360 Speaker 1: seventeen seventies. But here's the interesting part. If they were 129 00:06:58,440 --> 00:07:01,279 Speaker 1: cut from their frames and roll up like the canvas. 130 00:07:01,279 --> 00:07:03,440 Speaker 1: Some of them were panel paintings, so that wouldn't have 131 00:07:03,480 --> 00:07:06,080 Speaker 1: worked for them. But the canvas paintings were cut and 132 00:07:06,200 --> 00:07:09,640 Speaker 1: rolled up and then stored in a lead sealed box. 133 00:07:10,200 --> 00:07:13,600 Speaker 1: There's a slim chance that they would still be down 134 00:07:13,640 --> 00:07:16,640 Speaker 1: there in in reasonable condition. That would be pretty cool. 135 00:07:16,680 --> 00:07:19,720 Speaker 1: But even if they don't come up someday as miraculously 136 00:07:19,920 --> 00:07:24,720 Speaker 1: preserved master paintings, they'll still be treasures if anything survives. 137 00:07:24,760 --> 00:07:28,040 Speaker 1: I mean, it's Catherine's lost collection. Pretty cool. So our 138 00:07:28,400 --> 00:07:31,520 Speaker 1: next ship, we're gonna switch gears a little bit and 139 00:07:31,560 --> 00:07:35,480 Speaker 1: go from a merchant ship with art to a pirate 140 00:07:35,560 --> 00:07:38,720 Speaker 1: ship with gold. Yeah. I feel like we've talked about 141 00:07:38,720 --> 00:07:41,480 Speaker 1: pirates a lot lately. But hopefully you're like us and 142 00:07:41,520 --> 00:07:43,840 Speaker 1: you can never get enough of those pirate stories, because 143 00:07:43,880 --> 00:07:45,920 Speaker 1: next we're going to talk about a ship called the Widow, 144 00:07:46,680 --> 00:07:49,680 Speaker 1: and the story of the Widow shipwreck actually begins with 145 00:07:49,720 --> 00:07:52,440 Speaker 1: a bit of a love story involving a pirate named 146 00:07:52,480 --> 00:07:56,120 Speaker 1: Samuel Black sam Bellamy. People really tried to pitch us 147 00:07:56,120 --> 00:07:58,760 Speaker 1: on that aspect of it, Yeah, they did. That was 148 00:07:58,880 --> 00:08:02,360 Speaker 1: requested several times I think on Facebook. Now. Bellamy was 149 00:08:02,400 --> 00:08:04,760 Speaker 1: originally from England and it said that he started as 150 00:08:04,760 --> 00:08:08,200 Speaker 1: a legit merchant sailor, not a pirate at all, but 151 00:08:08,280 --> 00:08:11,520 Speaker 1: then he moved to Cape Cod, Massachusetts in seventeen fifteen, 152 00:08:11,640 --> 00:08:14,880 Speaker 1: around age twenty seven, to pursue a career as a 153 00:08:14,880 --> 00:08:18,000 Speaker 1: New England merchant captain. And when he got there, he 154 00:08:18,080 --> 00:08:20,200 Speaker 1: fell in love with a fifteen year old girl named 155 00:08:20,320 --> 00:08:25,200 Speaker 1: Maria Hallett. Yeah, but the trouble was, Maria's parents didn't 156 00:08:25,200 --> 00:08:29,720 Speaker 1: really think that much of Samuel Bellamy, especially his fortune. 157 00:08:29,760 --> 00:08:31,960 Speaker 1: They thought he was too poor to take care of Maria, 158 00:08:32,160 --> 00:08:35,760 Speaker 1: so they refused to allow them to marry. So he 159 00:08:35,960 --> 00:08:39,000 Speaker 1: decides he's going to set off and make enough money 160 00:08:39,040 --> 00:08:41,600 Speaker 1: so that he can marry his girl. And he hears 161 00:08:41,679 --> 00:08:44,760 Speaker 1: that there's some Spanish rex off the coast of Florida, 162 00:08:44,880 --> 00:08:47,840 Speaker 1: and he went down to visit the ships and see 163 00:08:47,880 --> 00:08:50,760 Speaker 1: if he could hopefully get rich quick that way. Yeah, 164 00:08:50,800 --> 00:08:53,120 Speaker 1: but that was kind of a bust um. When he 165 00:08:53,160 --> 00:08:56,559 Speaker 1: got down there, he realized that the ship really didn't 166 00:08:56,600 --> 00:08:59,280 Speaker 1: have anything of worth that he could use to build 167 00:08:59,280 --> 00:09:01,520 Speaker 1: his fortune. So at that point he decided to turn 168 00:09:01,600 --> 00:09:04,319 Speaker 1: to piracy, and it turned out that he was pretty 169 00:09:04,360 --> 00:09:06,520 Speaker 1: good at it. He learned the trade by joining the 170 00:09:06,520 --> 00:09:10,120 Speaker 1: crew of successful pirate Ben Hornegold, whose crew at one 171 00:09:10,160 --> 00:09:14,160 Speaker 1: point included Edward Teach, also known as black Beard. We 172 00:09:14,200 --> 00:09:16,080 Speaker 1: all know that name. I think Hornigal is kind of 173 00:09:16,080 --> 00:09:19,200 Speaker 1: a pirate mentor it seems. Yeah, he actually mentored a 174 00:09:19,240 --> 00:09:23,880 Speaker 1: bunch of famous pirates. But by seventeen sixteen, Bellamy had 175 00:09:23,880 --> 00:09:27,000 Speaker 1: actually overthrown him, so the student had become the master, 176 00:09:27,160 --> 00:09:30,280 Speaker 1: so to speak. He led a mutiny against Tornigold and 177 00:09:30,280 --> 00:09:32,719 Speaker 1: took over as captain of the Mary Anne, which was 178 00:09:32,760 --> 00:09:35,040 Speaker 1: the name of the ship that they were on, and 179 00:09:35,120 --> 00:09:37,760 Speaker 1: in Bellamy's first year of captain, the crew robbed more 180 00:09:37,800 --> 00:09:39,920 Speaker 1: than fifties ships, so just to give you an idea 181 00:09:39,920 --> 00:09:42,040 Speaker 1: of how successfully was. They were really good at this. 182 00:09:42,200 --> 00:09:45,440 Speaker 1: And they also made some acquisitions, including a ship called 183 00:09:45,480 --> 00:09:50,839 Speaker 1: the Sultana, which I think was also a popularly suggested ship. Yeah, definitely, 184 00:09:50,880 --> 00:09:54,680 Speaker 1: But capturing the Widow in February seventeen seventeen is said 185 00:09:54,720 --> 00:09:57,440 Speaker 1: to be kind of the pinnacle of Bellamy's career, and 186 00:09:57,480 --> 00:09:59,880 Speaker 1: that's because it was an enormous ship. I mean, it 187 00:10:00,040 --> 00:10:02,280 Speaker 1: would be the pinnacle of anyone's career. Was a three 188 00:10:02,360 --> 00:10:05,960 Speaker 1: hundred ton ship, hundred foot long galley, and it was 189 00:10:06,000 --> 00:10:08,800 Speaker 1: practically brand new too. It had been built in beneath 190 00:10:08,880 --> 00:10:13,120 Speaker 1: Africa only two years before Bellamy ran into it and 191 00:10:13,200 --> 00:10:16,520 Speaker 1: the Bahamas not literally stumbled upon it um and it 192 00:10:16,559 --> 00:10:19,400 Speaker 1: had been launched originally as a slave ship that was 193 00:10:19,480 --> 00:10:23,480 Speaker 1: intended to work the triangle trade, you know, connecting Africa, 194 00:10:23,559 --> 00:10:27,320 Speaker 1: West Indies England. And so it had a lot of 195 00:10:27,440 --> 00:10:31,160 Speaker 1: valuable stuff on board, had spices and gems and ivory, 196 00:10:31,240 --> 00:10:34,680 Speaker 1: and a lot a whole lot of gold and silver, 197 00:10:34,800 --> 00:10:39,520 Speaker 1: maybe twenty to thirty thousand pounds sterling. So there we go. 198 00:10:39,679 --> 00:10:43,840 Speaker 1: That's a pirate ship. Definitely happened yeah, definitely worth going after. 199 00:10:43,880 --> 00:10:47,000 Speaker 1: And Bellamy did. His ships chased the Widow for three 200 00:10:47,080 --> 00:10:50,360 Speaker 1: days before they finally captured it. And when he finally 201 00:10:50,360 --> 00:10:52,600 Speaker 1: got it, he moved all his stuff over there. He 202 00:10:52,640 --> 00:10:55,880 Speaker 1: moved like his cannon, all his things, his crew, and 203 00:10:55,960 --> 00:10:59,199 Speaker 1: made it his flagship. He gave the Widow's former captain, 204 00:10:59,280 --> 00:11:02,280 Speaker 1: Lawrence Prince, the loser in the situation, he gave him 205 00:11:02,280 --> 00:11:07,439 Speaker 1: the Sultana, so it's consolation there. And after this win, 206 00:11:07,520 --> 00:11:10,080 Speaker 1: the Widow and the Mary Anne started sailing north again 207 00:11:10,160 --> 00:11:12,960 Speaker 1: towards New England. Yeah, and so most people think he 208 00:11:13,200 --> 00:11:16,280 Speaker 1: was probably returning to Maria, or at least if you're 209 00:11:16,320 --> 00:11:19,400 Speaker 1: going to be a romantic about it, But we don't 210 00:11:19,440 --> 00:11:23,200 Speaker 1: know for sure because a huge storm hit the Massachusetts 211 00:11:23,200 --> 00:11:27,360 Speaker 1: coast on April sev seventeen, just as the Widow was 212 00:11:27,840 --> 00:11:30,520 Speaker 1: sailing into Cape Cod. Yeah, and it was pretty bad. 213 00:11:30,559 --> 00:11:33,240 Speaker 1: Wind gusts top seventy miles an hour, and the seas 214 00:11:33,360 --> 00:11:36,000 Speaker 1: rose to something like thirty feet. The ship was in 215 00:11:36,120 --> 00:11:38,080 Speaker 1: sight of the beach, but it was trapped in the 216 00:11:38,120 --> 00:11:41,600 Speaker 1: surf zone, so it got slammed into a sandbar and 217 00:11:41,640 --> 00:11:45,400 Speaker 1: it began to break apart. The ship was entirely split 218 00:11:45,440 --> 00:11:47,800 Speaker 1: in half at one point finally due to the wind 219 00:11:47,920 --> 00:11:51,320 Speaker 1: and really large waves, and so of a crew of 220 00:11:51,520 --> 00:11:54,480 Speaker 1: a hundred and forty six, only two men survived in 221 00:11:54,520 --> 00:11:57,720 Speaker 1: the end, and Bellamy was not one of them. Well, 222 00:11:57,760 --> 00:12:00,480 Speaker 1: and the two guys who survived didn't have a gray 223 00:12:00,840 --> 00:12:03,560 Speaker 1: deal either when they came out of it. One of them, 224 00:12:03,600 --> 00:12:06,720 Speaker 1: Thomas Davis, who is a Welshman, was tried as a 225 00:12:06,760 --> 00:12:09,520 Speaker 1: pirate in Boston, although it is through him that we 226 00:12:09,679 --> 00:12:13,559 Speaker 1: have this story. The other John Julian, managed to escape, 227 00:12:13,600 --> 00:12:16,319 Speaker 1: but it is there Davis this testimony that we learned 228 00:12:16,320 --> 00:12:19,800 Speaker 1: how much booty was aboard the Widow. The bulk of 229 00:12:19,840 --> 00:12:22,360 Speaker 1: it's never recovered too, so for a long time it 230 00:12:22,400 --> 00:12:27,240 Speaker 1: was kind of a treasure site for a lot of folks. Yeah, 231 00:12:27,320 --> 00:12:30,720 Speaker 1: And luckily a cartographer at the time noted the exact 232 00:12:30,760 --> 00:12:33,880 Speaker 1: location of the shipwreck, so in two a Cape cod 233 00:12:33,920 --> 00:12:37,480 Speaker 1: diver named Barry Clifford was able to use that crtographer's map, 234 00:12:37,640 --> 00:12:40,000 Speaker 1: his journal, and his letters to search for the Widow, 235 00:12:40,320 --> 00:12:44,160 Speaker 1: and Clifford managed to find the shipwreck site in ninety four, 236 00:12:44,200 --> 00:12:47,800 Speaker 1: and since then he's led several expeditions and recovered a 237 00:12:47,800 --> 00:12:49,320 Speaker 1: lot of the ship's crib a lot of it up, 238 00:12:49,360 --> 00:12:56,040 Speaker 1: haven't they, Yeah, including cannons, coins, and probably most significantly, 239 00:12:56,080 --> 00:12:59,120 Speaker 1: at least in the beginning, a ship's bell inscribed with 240 00:12:59,160 --> 00:13:03,440 Speaker 1: the words the wind a Galley seventeen sixteen. Yeah, and 241 00:13:04,080 --> 00:13:09,280 Speaker 1: our next shipwreck also features a pretty major relic that's 242 00:13:09,320 --> 00:13:12,040 Speaker 1: also a bell. It's the Edmund Fitzgerald. And I have 243 00:13:12,120 --> 00:13:16,240 Speaker 1: to say this was probably the most requested ship of 244 00:13:16,280 --> 00:13:19,920 Speaker 1: those seventies something comments we mentioned on Facebook without a doubt. 245 00:13:20,040 --> 00:13:21,840 Speaker 1: And I don't know if it's just because of the 246 00:13:21,880 --> 00:13:26,480 Speaker 1: Gordon Lightfoot song or because it's fairly recent, but this 247 00:13:26,640 --> 00:13:30,240 Speaker 1: shipwreck is definitely on a lot of our listeners minds, 248 00:13:30,280 --> 00:13:34,040 Speaker 1: and it's really a tragedy. And I mean maybe because 249 00:13:34,200 --> 00:13:37,760 Speaker 1: it's a more recent shipwreck, so we have the radio 250 00:13:37,880 --> 00:13:40,760 Speaker 1: chatter and you know, you have a closer connection to 251 00:13:40,840 --> 00:13:44,480 Speaker 1: it all. But it's pretty sad. So before we talk 252 00:13:44,559 --> 00:13:46,559 Speaker 1: about the wreck, though, we're going to talk a little 253 00:13:46,600 --> 00:13:50,560 Speaker 1: bit about Lake Superior, which is where the ship went down. Yeah. 254 00:13:50,640 --> 00:13:53,480 Speaker 1: Lake Superior is the largest freshwater lake in the world 255 00:13:53,559 --> 00:13:57,800 Speaker 1: in surface area. It's hundred feet deep and three fifty 256 00:13:57,800 --> 00:14:01,240 Speaker 1: miles wide. It averages forty degree is fahrenheit year round 257 00:14:01,280 --> 00:14:04,120 Speaker 1: and it's bigger than all the other Great Lakes combined. Yeah, 258 00:14:04,160 --> 00:14:07,640 Speaker 1: but the most dangerous part of Lake Superior is something 259 00:14:07,679 --> 00:14:10,760 Speaker 1: called the shipwreck Coast. Not too surprising there, and the 260 00:14:10,800 --> 00:14:14,559 Speaker 1: only way to really escape the storms that brew up 261 00:14:14,600 --> 00:14:17,080 Speaker 1: on the lake is to enter Whitefish Bay. And so 262 00:14:17,200 --> 00:14:21,160 Speaker 1: consequently Whitefish Point, which is at the approach of the bay, 263 00:14:21,680 --> 00:14:24,960 Speaker 1: is littered with shipwrecks. Over two hundred years, three hundred 264 00:14:24,960 --> 00:14:28,360 Speaker 1: and fifty ships have sunk there, and the last of 265 00:14:28,400 --> 00:14:31,280 Speaker 1: these was the seven D twenty nine ft or freighter 266 00:14:31,720 --> 00:14:36,280 Speaker 1: Edmund Fitzgerald, which for thirteen years was the biggest ship 267 00:14:36,760 --> 00:14:39,720 Speaker 1: on the Great Lakes. Yeah. It's normal work was toting 268 00:14:39,960 --> 00:14:42,680 Speaker 1: or from Silver Bay in Minnesota to steel mills on 269 00:14:42,680 --> 00:14:47,240 Speaker 1: the Lower Lakes near Detroit. So on November nine, the 270 00:14:47,240 --> 00:14:51,200 Speaker 1: ship left Superior, Wisconsin with twenty six thousand, one hundred 271 00:14:51,240 --> 00:14:54,440 Speaker 1: and sixteen long tons of tacon nite pellets, which is 272 00:14:54,480 --> 00:14:58,440 Speaker 1: basically processed iron ore. Yeah, but the weather got bad 273 00:14:58,560 --> 00:15:02,400 Speaker 1: really quickly, and so the often ernest McSorley stayed close 274 00:15:02,440 --> 00:15:05,440 Speaker 1: to another freighter called the Arthur m Anderston, which was 275 00:15:05,760 --> 00:15:08,600 Speaker 1: captain by Bernie Cooper, and it was just the two ships. 276 00:15:08,600 --> 00:15:12,360 Speaker 1: We're gonna look out for each other, stay nearby for safety. 277 00:15:12,440 --> 00:15:15,800 Speaker 1: And so they headed towards the shelter of Whitefish Bay because, 278 00:15:15,840 --> 00:15:18,240 Speaker 1: as I said, the weather was getting worse and worse. 279 00:15:18,320 --> 00:15:22,240 Speaker 1: And as they passed by Cariboo Island, Cooper remembered seeing 280 00:15:22,400 --> 00:15:26,320 Speaker 1: the Edmund Fitzgerald get way way too close to the shoals, 281 00:15:26,480 --> 00:15:30,280 Speaker 1: risking scraping the bottom of the ship. But after that 282 00:15:30,560 --> 00:15:34,720 Speaker 1: he can't see the Edmund Fitzgerald anymore. The visibility conditions 283 00:15:34,720 --> 00:15:38,080 Speaker 1: are just completely gone. There's snow, there's spray. I mean, 284 00:15:38,960 --> 00:15:43,400 Speaker 1: you can imagine what a great lake storm is probably like. Right. 285 00:15:43,480 --> 00:15:47,400 Speaker 1: So that afternoon, McSorley radios to Cooper that his ship 286 00:15:47,520 --> 00:15:50,880 Speaker 1: was damaged and slowed down, asking to Anderson to stay 287 00:15:50,960 --> 00:15:54,360 Speaker 1: with him for safety. Yeah, but there aren't too many 288 00:15:54,440 --> 00:15:57,240 Speaker 1: scary reports after that. It's it's not a report, like 289 00:15:57,280 --> 00:16:00,840 Speaker 1: the ship is thinking it's just some damage. The weather 290 00:16:00,920 --> 00:16:03,720 Speaker 1: keeps on getting worse though. Yeah, at about six five, 291 00:16:03,840 --> 00:16:06,840 Speaker 1: a monster wave comes down on the Anderson and the 292 00:16:06,840 --> 00:16:09,000 Speaker 1: ship kind of pops up and there's another hit, and 293 00:16:09,440 --> 00:16:12,240 Speaker 1: I think Captain Bernie Cooper describes it as sort of 294 00:16:12,280 --> 00:16:15,320 Speaker 1: like shaking off water like a wet dog. Yeah, his ship. 295 00:16:15,440 --> 00:16:18,560 Speaker 1: But then he also says, quote, I watched those two 296 00:16:18,560 --> 00:16:21,320 Speaker 1: waves head down the lake towards the Fitzgerald, and I 297 00:16:21,360 --> 00:16:24,040 Speaker 1: think those were the two that sent him under, because 298 00:16:24,080 --> 00:16:27,400 Speaker 1: the last radio contact that he has with mc sorley 299 00:16:27,560 --> 00:16:30,160 Speaker 1: is at seven ten and mc sorley's last words, where 300 00:16:30,280 --> 00:16:33,520 Speaker 1: we are holding our own still. It seems like they 301 00:16:33,560 --> 00:16:37,720 Speaker 1: were doing okay. The radar signal is lost at seven fifteen, 302 00:16:37,880 --> 00:16:42,440 Speaker 1: and at that point they start to get worried. And 303 00:16:42,480 --> 00:16:45,280 Speaker 1: by the time the Anderson could venture back, you know, 304 00:16:45,560 --> 00:16:48,680 Speaker 1: um Bernie Cooper was in contact with the coast guard. 305 00:16:48,720 --> 00:16:51,120 Speaker 1: By the time he could venture back, they could only 306 00:16:51,160 --> 00:16:55,080 Speaker 1: find two lifeboats. And it's unknown how exactly the ship 307 00:16:55,120 --> 00:16:58,520 Speaker 1: went down, whether it broke or capsized or nose dive, 308 00:16:58,640 --> 00:17:02,479 Speaker 1: but regardless all twenty nine on board died and nobodies 309 00:17:02,560 --> 00:17:07,960 Speaker 1: were ever recovered. In the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society 310 00:17:08,040 --> 00:17:11,160 Speaker 1: started dives and they did recover the bell, as we mentioned, 311 00:17:11,600 --> 00:17:15,040 Speaker 1: leaving a memorial replica in its place, and as Sarah 312 00:17:15,080 --> 00:17:18,320 Speaker 1: mentioned also as we started the section, the Gordon Lightfoot's 313 00:17:18,440 --> 00:17:21,760 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy six ballad The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald 314 00:17:21,800 --> 00:17:25,840 Speaker 1: made the wreck famous. It's pretty well known, So for 315 00:17:25,920 --> 00:17:27,960 Speaker 1: our next ship, we're gonna go back a little bit. 316 00:17:28,040 --> 00:17:31,119 Speaker 1: This was another popular suggestion, probably because it has some 317 00:17:31,200 --> 00:17:36,000 Speaker 1: connections to Henry the Eighth. The Mary Rose. Yeah, and 318 00:17:36,000 --> 00:17:38,920 Speaker 1: this one was actually discovered a couple of different times 319 00:17:38,960 --> 00:17:41,600 Speaker 1: over the years. For example, in eighteen thirty six, of 320 00:17:41,680 --> 00:17:44,720 Speaker 1: fisherman fishing in the silted Sea off of Portsmouth caught 321 00:17:44,760 --> 00:17:48,200 Speaker 1: his gear on something, and lucky for him, an early 322 00:17:48,320 --> 00:17:51,679 Speaker 1: diver named John Deane was also working nearby, diving at 323 00:17:51,720 --> 00:17:55,200 Speaker 1: the site of the wrecked Royal George. So the fisherman 324 00:17:55,280 --> 00:17:58,439 Speaker 1: offers Dean half of whatever his gear was snagged on 325 00:17:58,480 --> 00:18:01,359 Speaker 1: if he could help him free it. So Dean finds 326 00:18:01,400 --> 00:18:04,040 Speaker 1: a piece of timber sticking out from the sea floor. 327 00:18:04,119 --> 00:18:08,320 Speaker 1: Then he finds a bronze gun and it's the Mary Rose, 328 00:18:08,440 --> 00:18:12,320 Speaker 1: Henry the Eighth's one time flagship. Yeah. So Dean excavates 329 00:18:12,359 --> 00:18:15,399 Speaker 1: the site for a few years and pulls up bronze 330 00:18:15,400 --> 00:18:20,080 Speaker 1: and iron cannons and small artifacts, and then the whole 331 00:18:20,160 --> 00:18:22,679 Speaker 1: thing is largely forgotten. You wouldn't think that Henry the 332 00:18:22,680 --> 00:18:25,520 Speaker 1: eighth flagship would would go that way. It seems like 333 00:18:25,520 --> 00:18:27,560 Speaker 1: an odd thing to just have slip your mind. Yeah, 334 00:18:27,600 --> 00:18:31,119 Speaker 1: that's what basically happens though, until the late nineteen sixties, 335 00:18:31,200 --> 00:18:34,760 Speaker 1: when a man named Alexander McKee takes an interest in 336 00:18:34,800 --> 00:18:38,440 Speaker 1: the wreck and starts recruiting people with access to side 337 00:18:38,480 --> 00:18:41,320 Speaker 1: skins sonar of course, to check out the site, and 338 00:18:41,400 --> 00:18:45,800 Speaker 1: over the next few years, nineteen thousand artifacts are recovered 339 00:18:45,880 --> 00:18:49,320 Speaker 1: and by night two the ship was actually raised, which 340 00:18:49,400 --> 00:18:53,240 Speaker 1: was a huge international news story. It's installed in a 341 00:18:53,320 --> 00:18:57,600 Speaker 1: museum today. But the really interesting thing about the mary 342 00:18:57,720 --> 00:19:02,000 Speaker 1: Rose is because it did sink so quickly, unfortunately the 343 00:19:02,119 --> 00:19:06,000 Speaker 1: crew four hundred to five hundred people on board were killed. 344 00:19:06,640 --> 00:19:10,400 Speaker 1: It's a really slice of life for for tutor time. Yeah. 345 00:19:10,520 --> 00:19:13,320 Speaker 1: You can see the cuts of meat that sailors ate, 346 00:19:13,480 --> 00:19:16,200 Speaker 1: the plates that they ate off of, and how they 347 00:19:16,240 --> 00:19:20,120 Speaker 1: distinguished their belongings with personal markings, even if they were illiterate. 348 00:19:20,280 --> 00:19:23,160 Speaker 1: So really fascinating. Yeah, So it's interesting in that way, 349 00:19:23,160 --> 00:19:25,760 Speaker 1: but it's also just a really important ship. It's not 350 00:19:25,840 --> 00:19:29,240 Speaker 1: just because it's preserved and we have all of these 351 00:19:29,320 --> 00:19:32,639 Speaker 1: artifacts from it. It is of a lot of importance 352 00:19:32,880 --> 00:19:36,280 Speaker 1: historically too. So in fifteen o nine, a teenage Henry 353 00:19:36,320 --> 00:19:39,320 Speaker 1: the Eighth inherits the throne from his father and his 354 00:19:39,440 --> 00:19:42,520 Speaker 1: father's left him of a modest navy for the time. 355 00:19:42,520 --> 00:19:45,320 Speaker 1: There are five ships. I know that sounds ridiculously small, 356 00:19:45,320 --> 00:19:49,040 Speaker 1: but they would have been supplemented with rented vessels. And 357 00:19:49,119 --> 00:19:54,080 Speaker 1: of course you have all your aristocracy aristocratic buddies who 358 00:19:54,160 --> 00:19:56,600 Speaker 1: can loan you your ships when you need it too. 359 00:19:57,000 --> 00:19:59,880 Speaker 1: But still Henry the eighth is thinking that he's got 360 00:19:59,880 --> 00:20:02,960 Speaker 1: a beef up his navy, because the French navy is 361 00:20:03,440 --> 00:20:07,880 Speaker 1: quite formidable. Yeah, so Henry commissions a couple of modern 362 00:20:08,000 --> 00:20:12,160 Speaker 1: carvel whole ships built for really heavy waterline guns. One 363 00:20:12,240 --> 00:20:15,200 Speaker 1: is the Peter Promegranate and the other is the mary Rose, 364 00:20:15,359 --> 00:20:18,760 Speaker 1: named for his favorite sister. Yeah. So, during the First 365 00:20:18,800 --> 00:20:22,760 Speaker 1: French War the mary Rose is Henry's flagship, which means 366 00:20:22,800 --> 00:20:25,280 Speaker 1: that it would have carried the Lord High Admiral. And 367 00:20:25,640 --> 00:20:28,040 Speaker 1: during the Second French War the mary Rose is the 368 00:20:28,160 --> 00:20:32,040 Speaker 1: vice flagship. Though very important, it's really at the top 369 00:20:32,080 --> 00:20:36,159 Speaker 1: of its game. And in seven and in fifteen thirty 370 00:20:36,160 --> 00:20:39,199 Speaker 1: six again it goes through major refits, the second of 371 00:20:39,240 --> 00:20:43,280 Speaker 1: which probably added considerably to its weight, probably added some 372 00:20:43,280 --> 00:20:47,399 Speaker 1: some guns and made it a lot heavier, but by 373 00:20:47,960 --> 00:20:51,480 Speaker 1: it was definitely ready to fight. In the third French War, 374 00:20:51,800 --> 00:20:54,520 Speaker 1: and that was good because the French fleet already vastly 375 00:20:54,560 --> 00:20:56,760 Speaker 1: outnumbered the English. I think it was something like two 376 00:20:56,800 --> 00:20:59,720 Speaker 1: hundred ships to eighty, and they were heading across the 377 00:20:59,760 --> 00:21:02,240 Speaker 1: chain and all to engage the Brits somewhere between the 378 00:21:02,280 --> 00:21:05,320 Speaker 1: Isle of Wight and mainland England. So early during the 379 00:21:05,359 --> 00:21:09,520 Speaker 1: battle on July nineteenth, something goes wrong for the Mary Rose. 380 00:21:09,680 --> 00:21:13,080 Speaker 1: It keels over and water starts to pour in through 381 00:21:13,080 --> 00:21:15,960 Speaker 1: her gun ports, and before anyone can do a thing, 382 00:21:16,119 --> 00:21:19,399 Speaker 1: the ship just thinks, just like that, and only a 383 00:21:19,440 --> 00:21:22,320 Speaker 1: few survivors make it out, mostly the people who were 384 00:21:22,840 --> 00:21:26,160 Speaker 1: up in the sails and and well above the top 385 00:21:26,160 --> 00:21:29,800 Speaker 1: of the ship. So what happened. For a long time 386 00:21:30,080 --> 00:21:33,439 Speaker 1: historians have chalked up the sinking to some combination of 387 00:21:33,520 --> 00:21:37,560 Speaker 1: wind and tied and handling air, but the French have 388 00:21:37,880 --> 00:21:41,480 Speaker 1: long assumed that they were responsible for thinking the ship, 389 00:21:41,560 --> 00:21:44,600 Speaker 1: and in two thousand nine some new research came out 390 00:21:44,640 --> 00:21:47,760 Speaker 1: that suggesting might have been right. Yeah. University of Ports 391 00:21:47,760 --> 00:21:53,399 Speaker 1: Smith geographer Dominic Fontana used geographical information systems technology data 392 00:21:53,440 --> 00:21:57,440 Speaker 1: from the recovery, tidal current patterns and skeletal remains to 393 00:21:57,680 --> 00:22:01,240 Speaker 1: hypothesize that a French cannonball hit the ship, filling the 394 00:22:01,280 --> 00:22:04,320 Speaker 1: hole with water, and that that is what happened. So 395 00:22:04,359 --> 00:22:07,000 Speaker 1: the ship after that point likely maneuvered so that it's 396 00:22:07,040 --> 00:22:10,760 Speaker 1: broadside face to the friend. They could fight back, shifting 397 00:22:10,800 --> 00:22:14,240 Speaker 1: the water and ultimately causing the ship to capsize. Yeah, 398 00:22:14,280 --> 00:22:17,280 Speaker 1: but the really interesting thing about this is Fontana thinks 399 00:22:17,359 --> 00:22:20,600 Speaker 1: that people watching on shore would not have known that 400 00:22:20,680 --> 00:22:23,680 Speaker 1: a cannon hit the ship, and the whole thing could 401 00:22:23,680 --> 00:22:27,359 Speaker 1: have been covered up with a tutor government conspiracy, because 402 00:22:27,400 --> 00:22:30,399 Speaker 1: it would be better to to blame it on your 403 00:22:30,400 --> 00:22:33,480 Speaker 1: own guys or some kind of handling air weather or 404 00:22:33,480 --> 00:22:38,840 Speaker 1: tides than to admit yeah, Francis E. Sunchor ship. Yeah, 405 00:22:39,000 --> 00:22:41,439 Speaker 1: that still fascinates me, the fact that you'd rather make 406 00:22:41,480 --> 00:22:44,600 Speaker 1: a mistake, And conveniently enough, that ties us into our 407 00:22:44,640 --> 00:22:48,280 Speaker 1: final entry for this list, where there's also a little 408 00:22:48,280 --> 00:22:52,960 Speaker 1: bit of a scandal, a government scandal involving the whole thing. Yeah. 409 00:22:53,040 --> 00:22:57,000 Speaker 1: In this case, what happened after the shipwreck was so 410 00:22:57,040 --> 00:23:00,879 Speaker 1: politically charged and just kind of tragic and rifying it 411 00:23:00,960 --> 00:23:04,399 Speaker 1: was almost more famous than the shipwreck itself. So the 412 00:23:04,440 --> 00:23:07,600 Speaker 1: story starts during the Bourbon restoration. You may remember that 413 00:23:07,640 --> 00:23:12,119 Speaker 1: from our recently fan series, Yeah, definitely. Um Napoleon was 414 00:23:12,160 --> 00:23:14,879 Speaker 1: in exile, Louis the eighteenth was the new king of 415 00:23:14,920 --> 00:23:18,280 Speaker 1: France and the French Forget Medusa was on its way 416 00:23:18,320 --> 00:23:22,600 Speaker 1: to Africa, transporting soldiers and also official passengers to re 417 00:23:22,800 --> 00:23:26,840 Speaker 1: establish the French colony at Senegal. Even the newly appointed governor, 418 00:23:26,880 --> 00:23:29,840 Speaker 1: Colonel Julian Schmaltz, was on board. So in July second, 419 00:23:29,960 --> 00:23:33,200 Speaker 1: eighteen sixteen, the ship ran aground off the west coast 420 00:23:33,240 --> 00:23:39,080 Speaker 1: of Africa, and it's generally accepted that incompetent seamanship was 421 00:23:39,200 --> 00:23:42,159 Speaker 1: what got the Medusa into trouble in the first place. 422 00:23:42,240 --> 00:23:45,520 Speaker 1: The ship's captain hadn't served on a friendship for twenty 423 00:23:45,600 --> 00:23:49,399 Speaker 1: years prior to this this journey. He was an aristocrat, 424 00:23:49,560 --> 00:23:52,720 Speaker 1: he was recently returned from exile, and it said that 425 00:23:52,760 --> 00:23:55,119 Speaker 1: he got the gig because he was pro Bourbon, and 426 00:23:55,600 --> 00:23:59,200 Speaker 1: the king's ministers were obviously looking to put those kind 427 00:23:59,200 --> 00:24:01,080 Speaker 1: of guys in power or and get rid of anyone 428 00:24:01,119 --> 00:24:04,199 Speaker 1: who'd served under Napoleon. Maybe a bad move in the 429 00:24:04,240 --> 00:24:08,639 Speaker 1: case of military stuff, I'm not sure. But after the 430 00:24:08,640 --> 00:24:11,840 Speaker 1: ship ran aground, they tried to refloat the Medusa over 431 00:24:11,880 --> 00:24:13,960 Speaker 1: the next couple of days, but they didn't have any luck, 432 00:24:14,080 --> 00:24:17,240 Speaker 1: so they moved on to Plan B because they really 433 00:24:17,280 --> 00:24:20,240 Speaker 1: wanted to keep going to Senegal. It was still a 434 00:24:20,280 --> 00:24:23,359 Speaker 1: couple hundred miles to the south of them, so they 435 00:24:23,400 --> 00:24:26,040 Speaker 1: were looking for anything they could do here. Yeah, and 436 00:24:26,080 --> 00:24:29,680 Speaker 1: this decidedly shady Plan B they came up with involved 437 00:24:29,720 --> 00:24:33,000 Speaker 1: emptying out about two d and fifty passengers into six 438 00:24:33,119 --> 00:24:36,160 Speaker 1: lifeboats and putting the rest on this raft that they 439 00:24:36,200 --> 00:24:40,040 Speaker 1: made out of spars and timber lashed together. It was 440 00:24:40,040 --> 00:24:42,840 Speaker 1: about a hundred and forty nine men and one woman 441 00:24:42,920 --> 00:24:46,000 Speaker 1: who ended up on the raft, mostly ordinary soldiers and 442 00:24:46,040 --> 00:24:50,119 Speaker 1: a few low ranking officers and civilians. And this raft, 443 00:24:50,160 --> 00:24:52,800 Speaker 1: it was it was fairly large. It was. Yeah, it 444 00:24:52,880 --> 00:24:56,040 Speaker 1: was about twenty long by seven wide, which doesn't sound 445 00:24:56,440 --> 00:24:58,720 Speaker 1: large enough to hold a hundred and fifty people, but 446 00:24:59,080 --> 00:25:01,960 Speaker 1: it's pretty big substantial at least. It had a massed 447 00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:04,679 Speaker 1: in a sail and a small deck raised in the center. 448 00:25:05,000 --> 00:25:07,359 Speaker 1: And the intention here was that the other boats would 449 00:25:07,440 --> 00:25:10,000 Speaker 1: tow the raft to safety this two d miles that 450 00:25:10,040 --> 00:25:13,000 Speaker 1: they were going, But it became apparent pretty soon that 451 00:25:13,000 --> 00:25:14,679 Speaker 1: that was not going to work out. The raff was 452 00:25:14,720 --> 00:25:17,480 Speaker 1: slowing the other boats down. It kind of looked rickety 453 00:25:17,520 --> 00:25:20,560 Speaker 1: like it might fall apart, So the tow ropes were 454 00:25:20,640 --> 00:25:23,280 Speaker 1: deliberately cut and the people on the raft were just 455 00:25:23,800 --> 00:25:28,960 Speaker 1: left there stranded with only a few provisions, no navigational equipment. 456 00:25:29,320 --> 00:25:33,399 Speaker 1: This sad little sale. They were out of luck, and 457 00:25:33,440 --> 00:25:37,040 Speaker 1: the situation from there deteriorated really quickly. By the second 458 00:25:37,119 --> 00:25:39,760 Speaker 1: day or so, there was a mutiny in hand to 459 00:25:39,800 --> 00:25:42,639 Speaker 1: hand fighting that resulted in about sixty deaths. By the 460 00:25:42,720 --> 00:25:45,120 Speaker 1: next morning, we were discussing this. We thought the mutiny 461 00:25:45,160 --> 00:25:49,520 Speaker 1: happened really fast, Like things got bad really really fast. Yeah, 462 00:25:49,560 --> 00:25:52,960 Speaker 1: I mean, I'm thinking just day. Yeah, maybe just desperation 463 00:25:53,320 --> 00:25:55,600 Speaker 1: being out there in the hot sun. I think from 464 00:25:55,720 --> 00:25:58,280 Speaker 1: things I've read, they just went kind of batty. But yeah, 465 00:25:58,280 --> 00:26:02,160 Speaker 1: it happened very fast. Bodies were dumped overboard, and more 466 00:26:02,240 --> 00:26:05,200 Speaker 1: fighting took others out soon after that, so from there 467 00:26:05,240 --> 00:26:08,439 Speaker 1: things only got worse. Supplies ran out, people had to 468 00:26:08,440 --> 00:26:11,840 Speaker 1: start drinking their own urine. Some people were badly injured 469 00:26:11,840 --> 00:26:14,800 Speaker 1: when their limbs got caught between shifting spars and they 470 00:26:14,840 --> 00:26:18,760 Speaker 1: threw themselves overboard. Didn't want to be eaten because by 471 00:26:18,800 --> 00:26:22,520 Speaker 1: the fourth day, all the survivors were practicing cannibalism, and 472 00:26:22,920 --> 00:26:25,920 Speaker 1: meat was cut from corpses and dried on the mast 473 00:26:26,119 --> 00:26:29,160 Speaker 1: before it was eaten, and by the eighth day, the 474 00:26:29,200 --> 00:26:32,480 Speaker 1: fittest had taken to killing the weakest by throwing them 475 00:26:32,520 --> 00:26:36,439 Speaker 1: overboard to extend the remaining provisions that they had. I 476 00:26:36,440 --> 00:26:38,440 Speaker 1: believe that's how the one woman died. I think she 477 00:26:38,520 --> 00:26:42,680 Speaker 1: was thrown overboard in Gosh. So after about thirteen days total, 478 00:26:42,840 --> 00:26:46,000 Speaker 1: the survivors were found and rescued by another ship in 479 00:26:46,040 --> 00:26:48,760 Speaker 1: the Medusa Convoy, but by that point there were only 480 00:26:48,880 --> 00:26:52,200 Speaker 1: fifteen men left. Five of them died pretty soon after, 481 00:26:52,720 --> 00:26:56,080 Speaker 1: and two of the remaining ten, on Race Avigny and 482 00:26:56,119 --> 00:27:00,199 Speaker 1: Alexandra Courriard, wrote an account of what happened and was 483 00:27:00,240 --> 00:27:04,399 Speaker 1: published in eighteen seventeen. That was very bad press for 484 00:27:04,440 --> 00:27:08,119 Speaker 1: the Bourbon Restoration, definitely. It became this huge scandal and 485 00:27:08,200 --> 00:27:12,399 Speaker 1: increased tensions between the liberal and the Royalist factions and 486 00:27:13,000 --> 00:27:15,560 Speaker 1: um I believe that the Royalist factions had to do 487 00:27:15,680 --> 00:27:20,160 Speaker 1: some basically cover up damage control, I think is more 488 00:27:20,160 --> 00:27:22,600 Speaker 1: accurate than cover up. They couldn't cover up the situation 489 00:27:22,640 --> 00:27:24,320 Speaker 1: that had happened, but I think they did try to, 490 00:27:24,440 --> 00:27:27,200 Speaker 1: you know, pin the blame on certain parties and try 491 00:27:27,280 --> 00:27:30,320 Speaker 1: to manage it from that that standpoint. But most famously 492 00:27:30,400 --> 00:27:34,159 Speaker 1: this inspired ted Or Jericho's masterpiece, The Raft of the 493 00:27:34,200 --> 00:27:36,880 Speaker 1: Medusa in eighteen nineteen, and we were talking a little 494 00:27:36,920 --> 00:27:39,680 Speaker 1: bit about that before. I mean, it's such a recognizable painting. 495 00:27:39,720 --> 00:27:42,760 Speaker 1: I'm sure probably all of you have seen it and 496 00:27:42,880 --> 00:27:44,920 Speaker 1: maybe just not known that it was based on a 497 00:27:45,000 --> 00:27:48,480 Speaker 1: real I never knew the story behind it until today. 498 00:27:48,960 --> 00:27:52,440 Speaker 1: It's pretty interesting piece of art history knowledge and it 499 00:27:52,800 --> 00:27:56,280 Speaker 1: wraps up this podcast nicely too, I'd say, it really does. 500 00:27:56,320 --> 00:27:58,960 Speaker 1: I mean a full circle, yeah, come full circle was 501 00:27:59,040 --> 00:28:01,120 Speaker 1: something that you can look at now and compare to 502 00:28:01,200 --> 00:28:03,800 Speaker 1: the story, and um, that's true of a couple of cases, 503 00:28:03,800 --> 00:28:06,720 Speaker 1: like the Widow. There's a traveling exhibition going on of 504 00:28:06,840 --> 00:28:09,960 Speaker 1: some of the finds from that shipwrecks, and Mary Rose 505 00:28:10,000 --> 00:28:13,119 Speaker 1: I mentioned there is a whole museum devoted to that, 506 00:28:13,200 --> 00:28:16,760 Speaker 1: and actually the Edmund Fitzgerald too. There's a Great Lakes 507 00:28:16,840 --> 00:28:20,960 Speaker 1: Maritime Museum with exhibits on the Edmund Fitzgerald. So probably 508 00:28:20,960 --> 00:28:23,439 Speaker 1: wherever you are in the world, you can go visit 509 00:28:23,680 --> 00:28:27,680 Speaker 1: some of the shipwreck museums and check out artifacts and 510 00:28:28,040 --> 00:28:31,480 Speaker 1: we'll get pictures and maps and send us postcards. Yes, 511 00:28:31,480 --> 00:28:34,680 Speaker 1: and us postcards because we like them and that brings 512 00:28:34,760 --> 00:28:41,080 Speaker 1: us a listener mail. Yeah, we have one postcard here 513 00:28:41,120 --> 00:28:44,880 Speaker 1: actually from Michael in Malaysia and he says, Dear Sarah Deblena, 514 00:28:44,920 --> 00:28:47,680 Speaker 1: I'm a Fulbright scholar in Malaysia and I really enjoy 515 00:28:47,760 --> 00:28:51,120 Speaker 1: listening to your podcast. One fascinating bit of history that 516 00:28:51,120 --> 00:28:53,240 Speaker 1: I came across during my time here is the story 517 00:28:53,280 --> 00:28:56,280 Speaker 1: of the so called White Rajas of Sarah Walk, a 518 00:28:56,360 --> 00:28:59,600 Speaker 1: family of Englishmen, the Brooks, who founded a dynasty that 519 00:28:59,680 --> 00:29:03,240 Speaker 1: ruled Malaysian Borneo for more than a hundred years, often 520 00:29:03,280 --> 00:29:05,720 Speaker 1: called the Kings of the head Hunters. It's an incredible 521 00:29:05,720 --> 00:29:08,720 Speaker 1: tale that would make for a terrific podcast. Thanks for 522 00:29:08,800 --> 00:29:11,880 Speaker 1: making history so much fun. All right, thank you Michael 523 00:29:11,880 --> 00:29:14,840 Speaker 1: for the suggestion. I think this has actually been suggested 524 00:29:14,840 --> 00:29:16,960 Speaker 1: before this topic, so maybe it's one that we'll have 525 00:29:17,040 --> 00:29:18,520 Speaker 1: to look into well. And I think I'm going to 526 00:29:18,600 --> 00:29:22,440 Speaker 1: have to put that postcard up, like right in front 527 00:29:22,440 --> 00:29:24,840 Speaker 1: of my computer if i'm things, since it's very picture izue, 528 00:29:24,840 --> 00:29:27,440 Speaker 1: it's so trying. The beach scene there's like a palm 529 00:29:27,480 --> 00:29:30,280 Speaker 1: tree and the sunset. Sure to calm you down in 530 00:29:30,440 --> 00:29:34,680 Speaker 1: my deadline. Pretty nice when I'm researching about shipwrecks um our. 531 00:29:34,760 --> 00:29:39,880 Speaker 1: Next email is from Angela in Mozambique, and she wrote, 532 00:29:39,880 --> 00:29:41,560 Speaker 1: I just wanted to write to tell you how much 533 00:29:41,560 --> 00:29:44,920 Speaker 1: I love and appreciate your podcast. I'm currently serving as 534 00:29:44,960 --> 00:29:48,680 Speaker 1: a Community Health Peace Corps volunteer in Mozambique, and every 535 00:29:48,720 --> 00:29:52,160 Speaker 1: time I'm able to get internet access, downloading your podcast 536 00:29:52,280 --> 00:29:54,760 Speaker 1: is the first thing that I do. In fact, I'm 537 00:29:54,800 --> 00:29:56,960 Speaker 1: such a fan that I've been spreading the stuff you 538 00:29:57,000 --> 00:30:00,200 Speaker 1: missed in history class love to other volunteers all over 539 00:30:00,240 --> 00:30:03,440 Speaker 1: the country, and you've become quite popular among our numbers 540 00:30:03,520 --> 00:30:05,840 Speaker 1: on behalf of all of us. Thanks for filling our 541 00:30:05,920 --> 00:30:09,120 Speaker 1: red houses with entertainment and great info. I just thought 542 00:30:09,160 --> 00:30:13,160 Speaker 1: this was so so sweet, and I'm really glad that 543 00:30:13,720 --> 00:30:16,800 Speaker 1: all these Peace Corps volunteers in Mosabeque are listening to 544 00:30:16,840 --> 00:30:20,120 Speaker 1: the podcast. Yeah that's pretty rad. Yeah. She also suggests 545 00:30:20,240 --> 00:30:24,560 Speaker 1: great Zimbabwe Queen of Sheba rumors all kinds of eque stuff. 546 00:30:24,600 --> 00:30:28,560 Speaker 1: So thank you, Angela, and uh, thank you Michael. So 547 00:30:28,760 --> 00:30:31,640 Speaker 1: keep sending us your ideas. You can email us at 548 00:30:31,680 --> 00:30:34,320 Speaker 1: History Podcast at how stuff works dot com, or you 549 00:30:34,320 --> 00:30:36,960 Speaker 1: can look us up on Twitter at myston history or 550 00:30:37,040 --> 00:30:40,160 Speaker 1: on Facebook, and if you want to learn a little 551 00:30:40,200 --> 00:30:43,080 Speaker 1: bit more about how to survive a shipwreck? Should you? 552 00:30:43,200 --> 00:30:46,160 Speaker 1: We hope you don't. Let's just put us out there. 553 00:30:46,480 --> 00:30:48,320 Speaker 1: We really hope you don't get in a situation. But 554 00:30:48,360 --> 00:30:51,400 Speaker 1: we do have an article on our website called how 555 00:30:51,440 --> 00:30:53,560 Speaker 1: to Survive a ship wreck. Good to be prepared. It's 556 00:30:53,560 --> 00:30:55,920 Speaker 1: good to be prepared for any situation, so you can 557 00:30:55,960 --> 00:30:57,880 Speaker 1: look that up read a little bit about it on 558 00:30:57,960 --> 00:31:06,080 Speaker 1: our homepage at how stuff works dot com. For more 559 00:31:06,120 --> 00:31:08,640 Speaker 1: on this and thousands of other topics, visit how stuff 560 00:31:08,640 --> 00:31:11,440 Speaker 1: works dot com. To learn more about the podcast, click 561 00:31:11,480 --> 00:31:13,840 Speaker 1: on the podcast icon in the upper right corner of 562 00:31:13,840 --> 00:31:17,320 Speaker 1: our homepage. The how stuff Works iPhone app has a ride. 563 00:31:17,440 --> 00:31:19,320 Speaker 1: Download it today on iTunes.