1 00:00:04,080 --> 00:00:07,480 Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Benky's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of 2 00:00:07,480 --> 00:00:13,840 Speaker 1: I Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world is 3 00:00:13,960 --> 00:00:17,960 Speaker 1: full of the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, 4 00:00:18,280 --> 00:00:21,640 Speaker 1: all of these amazing tales are right there on display, 5 00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:27,600 Speaker 1: just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet 6 00:00:27,840 --> 00:00:41,240 Speaker 1: of Curiosities. Everybody underestimates the class clown. They're lazy, they're unfocused, 7 00:00:41,280 --> 00:00:44,520 Speaker 1: and in most cases they're pretty disruptive. They'd rather crack 8 00:00:44,600 --> 00:00:47,360 Speaker 1: a joke than crack a book. The thing is, they're 9 00:00:47,400 --> 00:00:49,920 Speaker 1: the ones you want to watch out for, because left 10 00:00:49,960 --> 00:00:53,280 Speaker 1: to their own devices, they might wreak untold havoc or 11 00:00:53,560 --> 00:00:56,760 Speaker 1: start their own companies. In the late nineteen fifties and 12 00:00:56,800 --> 00:00:59,920 Speaker 1: early sixties, a new phenomenon was taking hold of america 13 00:01:00,160 --> 00:01:04,560 Speaker 1: youth and in a surprising place, Ivy League universities. It 14 00:01:04,680 --> 00:01:07,959 Speaker 1: was called phone freaking with a pH, and it was 15 00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:11,400 Speaker 1: an early form of hacking. Freakers as they were called, 16 00:01:11,600 --> 00:01:15,320 Speaker 1: would find new and innovative ways to disrupt landline phone systems. 17 00:01:15,600 --> 00:01:19,800 Speaker 1: For example, they might impersonate switchboard operators or telephone company 18 00:01:19,840 --> 00:01:24,160 Speaker 1: employees while talking to unsuspecting customers. They would also pay 19 00:01:24,160 --> 00:01:26,960 Speaker 1: attention to the tones that rang out when calls were 20 00:01:27,040 --> 00:01:30,760 Speaker 1: routed or ended. Breakers with perfect pitch could then replicate 21 00:01:30,800 --> 00:01:33,479 Speaker 1: those tones with a whistle to open a phone line 22 00:01:33,520 --> 00:01:37,920 Speaker 1: to connect themselves long distance for free. As time went on, however, 23 00:01:38,040 --> 00:01:41,280 Speaker 1: those who couldn't whistle wound up relying on simple devices 24 00:01:41,319 --> 00:01:44,399 Speaker 1: to create those sounds for them. One such device was 25 00:01:44,440 --> 00:01:48,600 Speaker 1: made famous by former United States Air Force engineer John Draper. 26 00:01:49,440 --> 00:01:52,240 Speaker 1: Draper had come into the possession of a Bosun's pipe, 27 00:01:52,360 --> 00:01:54,720 Speaker 1: a kind of signaling tool used by the Navy to 28 00:01:54,840 --> 00:01:57,960 Speaker 1: send commands to a ship's crew. But how did a 29 00:01:58,040 --> 00:02:00,280 Speaker 1: member of the U. S. Air Force get hold of 30 00:02:00,280 --> 00:02:03,639 Speaker 1: a Navy whistle? Why straight from a captain, of course, 31 00:02:04,280 --> 00:02:08,280 Speaker 1: Captain Crunch. The little plastic pipes were given away as 32 00:02:08,320 --> 00:02:12,040 Speaker 1: prizes and boxes of cereal starting in the mid nineteen sixties. 33 00:02:12,360 --> 00:02:14,799 Speaker 1: It didn't take long for Draper to discover a hidden 34 00:02:14,840 --> 00:02:17,800 Speaker 1: secret about them, though. When he blew into the mouthpiece 35 00:02:17,840 --> 00:02:21,680 Speaker 1: of his phone, the whistle made a perfect hurts tone, 36 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:24,960 Speaker 1: the exact frequency needed to take over a phone line 37 00:02:25,040 --> 00:02:28,320 Speaker 1: on a T and T. Draper's little hack and the 38 00:02:28,360 --> 00:02:30,800 Speaker 1: tool he used to do it, earned him the nickname 39 00:02:30,880 --> 00:02:34,120 Speaker 1: Captain crunch and led to the creation of new technology 40 00:02:34,240 --> 00:02:38,800 Speaker 1: centered around bypassing onerous telephone company charges. They were called 41 00:02:38,880 --> 00:02:43,120 Speaker 1: blue boxes, small electronic pads capable of generating the same 42 00:02:43,160 --> 00:02:46,640 Speaker 1: tones as the serial toy they were based on. Phone 43 00:02:46,639 --> 00:02:50,200 Speaker 1: freaking was not as widespread as computer hackiness today, but 44 00:02:50,320 --> 00:02:53,239 Speaker 1: it did spread pretty far and wide. Still, from its 45 00:02:53,240 --> 00:02:55,440 Speaker 1: inception in the nineteen fifties all the way to the 46 00:02:55,480 --> 00:02:59,800 Speaker 1: nineteen seventies, freaking hadn't caught on beyond pockets of enthusiasts 47 00:02:59,800 --> 00:03:03,560 Speaker 1: who enjoyed pushing the limits of social and telephone engineering. 48 00:03:04,200 --> 00:03:08,280 Speaker 1: But around the blue box would grow beyond its limited 49 00:03:08,360 --> 00:03:11,000 Speaker 1: user group to a wider audience with the help of 50 00:03:11,040 --> 00:03:14,560 Speaker 1: a couple of guys from California. Steve was in high 51 00:03:14,560 --> 00:03:16,760 Speaker 1: school when he became best friends with a student at 52 00:03:16,800 --> 00:03:20,679 Speaker 1: nearby UC Berkeley. They spent much of their downtime tinkering 53 00:03:20,760 --> 00:03:24,280 Speaker 1: around with electronics, and that's when Steve realized the widespread 54 00:03:24,320 --> 00:03:27,840 Speaker 1: potential in a digitized blue box, not just as a 55 00:03:27,880 --> 00:03:31,320 Speaker 1: nerdy hobby for board teenagers and college kids, that as 56 00:03:31,360 --> 00:03:34,560 Speaker 1: a real business. So they reached out to John Draper 57 00:03:34,600 --> 00:03:37,480 Speaker 1: and learned everything they could before building and selling their 58 00:03:37,520 --> 00:03:40,760 Speaker 1: own blue boxes. Looking back, it was the start of 59 00:03:40,760 --> 00:03:44,880 Speaker 1: a legendary and lucrative partnership. Steve tried his hand at 60 00:03:44,920 --> 00:03:48,680 Speaker 1: college after graduating high school, but realized after one semester 61 00:03:48,760 --> 00:03:52,000 Speaker 1: it just wasn't for him, and so he dropped out. Instead, 62 00:03:52,160 --> 00:03:54,800 Speaker 1: he got a job in the relatively new video game 63 00:03:54,880 --> 00:03:58,200 Speaker 1: industry at a little company called Atari. He moved in 64 00:03:58,240 --> 00:04:01,280 Speaker 1: with his girlfriend and even took a spiritual journey to India. 65 00:04:01,680 --> 00:04:05,080 Speaker 1: Upon his return home, though, Atari presented him with a challenge. 66 00:04:05,400 --> 00:04:08,119 Speaker 1: They were working on a new arcade game called Breakout, 67 00:04:08,480 --> 00:04:11,080 Speaker 1: and Steve was put in charge of building the circuit board. 68 00:04:11,520 --> 00:04:15,160 Speaker 1: They even incentivized him by promising a larger bonus if 69 00:04:15,160 --> 00:04:19,040 Speaker 1: he could reduce the boards size. There was just one problem. 70 00:04:19,080 --> 00:04:22,400 Speaker 1: Steve couldn't really build circuit boards. In fact, he'd lied 71 00:04:22,480 --> 00:04:25,039 Speaker 1: his way into the job at the company. He wasn't 72 00:04:25,080 --> 00:04:27,680 Speaker 1: really an engineer at all, but his friend from UC 73 00:04:27,839 --> 00:04:32,279 Speaker 1: Berkeley sure was. With his help, Steve earned a whopping 74 00:04:32,400 --> 00:04:35,560 Speaker 1: five thousand dollars for handing in a smaller, more efficient 75 00:04:35,600 --> 00:04:37,960 Speaker 1: circuit board for the game. He told his friend that 76 00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:40,680 Speaker 1: they'd only made seven hundred and gave him half just 77 00:04:40,680 --> 00:04:44,760 Speaker 1: three fifty dollars, pocketing the rest for himself. Even when 78 00:04:44,800 --> 00:04:47,080 Speaker 1: his friend eventually found out what Steve had done, though 79 00:04:47,480 --> 00:04:51,080 Speaker 1: it didn't change their partnership. They soon went into business 80 00:04:51,120 --> 00:04:55,280 Speaker 1: together again, designing their own circuit boards, oh and screens 81 00:04:55,680 --> 00:04:58,640 Speaker 1: and software. And if you haven't figured it out by now, 82 00:04:58,720 --> 00:05:02,400 Speaker 1: our Steve was Steve Jobs, co founder of Apple Computer, 83 00:05:02,880 --> 00:05:07,080 Speaker 1: and his friend, also a Steve Steve Wozniak or was. 84 00:05:07,839 --> 00:05:10,479 Speaker 1: Together they helped build one of the most successful and 85 00:05:10,600 --> 00:05:14,480 Speaker 1: influential companies in the world, and, thirty years after its founding, 86 00:05:14,720 --> 00:05:18,040 Speaker 1: Jobs took the phone companies on one more time. This 87 00:05:18,120 --> 00:05:20,560 Speaker 1: time though he traded in his blue box for a 88 00:05:20,600 --> 00:05:24,160 Speaker 1: glass rectangle the beginning of a sensation that changed the 89 00:05:24,160 --> 00:05:27,880 Speaker 1: way we communicate forever. And that, my friends, is how 90 00:05:28,000 --> 00:05:31,800 Speaker 1: Captain Crunch, in a roundabout sort of way, gave the 91 00:05:31,839 --> 00:05:48,280 Speaker 1: world the iPhone. The ship had a name meant for greatness. 92 00:05:48,680 --> 00:05:51,240 Speaker 1: It's hard to believe they were shooting for anything less 93 00:05:51,279 --> 00:05:55,120 Speaker 1: when they christened the clippers ship Neptunes Car. A few 94 00:05:55,120 --> 00:05:57,680 Speaker 1: people would have known that better than Mary Patton. After all, 95 00:05:57,720 --> 00:06:00,680 Speaker 1: her husband was the ship's captain, and Ry had traveled 96 00:06:00,720 --> 00:06:04,320 Speaker 1: with him on his successful voyages to San Francisco, China 97 00:06:04,560 --> 00:06:08,159 Speaker 1: and London. On those trips he had turned Neptune's car 98 00:06:08,600 --> 00:06:12,279 Speaker 1: into a symbol of swift sailing. So in eighteen fifty 99 00:06:12,360 --> 00:06:14,880 Speaker 1: six there were more than a few clients. New York 100 00:06:14,960 --> 00:06:18,479 Speaker 1: merchants had machines and supplies ready for California gold mines, 101 00:06:18,839 --> 00:06:21,680 Speaker 1: so Neptune's car was loaded with cargo and on the 102 00:06:21,720 --> 00:06:25,160 Speaker 1: first of July the ship headed out to open sea. Again. 103 00:06:25,320 --> 00:06:27,719 Speaker 1: Mary was on board, and this journey would be a 104 00:06:27,760 --> 00:06:30,120 Speaker 1: long one, all the way from New York to San 105 00:06:30,200 --> 00:06:33,520 Speaker 1: Francisco by way of the dangerous Cape Horn far to 106 00:06:33,600 --> 00:06:36,280 Speaker 1: the south. It was going to be a fifteen thousand 107 00:06:36,320 --> 00:06:39,760 Speaker 1: mile trip. She might have been a quiet New Englander, 108 00:06:39,880 --> 00:06:44,240 Speaker 1: but Mary was also educated, curious, and fiercely intelligence. On 109 00:06:44,320 --> 00:06:47,200 Speaker 1: their earlier voyages, Mary's husband had taught her the art 110 00:06:47,279 --> 00:06:51,280 Speaker 1: and science of navigation, measuring the son's angle and calculating 111 00:06:51,320 --> 00:06:53,920 Speaker 1: the ship's position. She even turned out to be the 112 00:06:54,000 --> 00:06:57,680 Speaker 1: quicker mathematician, and she watched him command the three dozen 113 00:06:57,720 --> 00:07:00,680 Speaker 1: men on his crew as they pushed the tunes Car 114 00:07:00,760 --> 00:07:04,720 Speaker 1: to incredible speed. It's a good thing too, because their 115 00:07:04,800 --> 00:07:07,160 Speaker 1: journey in eighteen fifty six would turn out to be 116 00:07:07,200 --> 00:07:09,880 Speaker 1: a fateful one. To start with, there was trouble with 117 00:07:09,920 --> 00:07:13,280 Speaker 1: the first mate, Mr Keeler. He'd been a last minute 118 00:07:13,320 --> 00:07:15,840 Speaker 1: addition to their crew, and as the days rolled by, 119 00:07:15,920 --> 00:07:18,800 Speaker 1: it became clear that he wasn't taking his work seriously. 120 00:07:19,360 --> 00:07:22,680 Speaker 1: He slept through his watches, he ignored orders to furral 121 00:07:22,720 --> 00:07:25,600 Speaker 1: and unfurrel sales. In fact, it became clear that he 122 00:07:25,640 --> 00:07:28,840 Speaker 1: wasn't doing much of anything at all. Soon enough, Mary 123 00:07:28,880 --> 00:07:31,600 Speaker 1: and the rest of the crew would learn why. You see, 124 00:07:31,800 --> 00:07:34,440 Speaker 1: Neptune's Car wasn't the only ship that had left New 125 00:07:34,520 --> 00:07:38,360 Speaker 1: York that summer headed for San Francisco. Others had launched 126 00:07:38,360 --> 00:07:40,840 Speaker 1: as well, and as you can guess, there were plenty 127 00:07:40,880 --> 00:07:43,280 Speaker 1: of people who had placed bets on which ship would 128 00:07:43,320 --> 00:07:47,080 Speaker 1: reach their destination first. It was something of a race, actually. 129 00:07:47,760 --> 00:07:50,360 Speaker 1: Mr Keeler, though, thought he had an ace up his sleeve. 130 00:07:50,840 --> 00:07:54,200 Speaker 1: He bet against the Neptune's Car his own ship. He 131 00:07:54,240 --> 00:07:56,480 Speaker 1: thought he could do enough to slow down the clipper 132 00:07:56,560 --> 00:07:59,600 Speaker 1: and collect winnings on his return, but he got something 133 00:07:59,600 --> 00:08:03,240 Speaker 1: else and stead. Mary's husband had him seized and thrown 134 00:08:03,280 --> 00:08:06,640 Speaker 1: into the brig. It was only after that drama that 135 00:08:06,680 --> 00:08:10,080 Speaker 1: the ship sailed into a massive storm. Wind and rain 136 00:08:10,240 --> 00:08:13,960 Speaker 1: and powerful waves crashed against the ship for eight days straight. 137 00:08:14,480 --> 00:08:16,960 Speaker 1: On the other side, the ship came through unscathed, but 138 00:08:17,160 --> 00:08:20,800 Speaker 1: Mary's husband wasn't as lucky. After the effort of surviving 139 00:08:20,800 --> 00:08:24,960 Speaker 1: the storm, he collapsed. He was delirious and couldn't even stand. 140 00:08:25,280 --> 00:08:29,520 Speaker 1: The crew said he had what they called brain fever. First, 141 00:08:29,680 --> 00:08:33,240 Speaker 1: Mary ordered her thrashing, raving husband tied down to his bunk. 142 00:08:33,559 --> 00:08:35,520 Speaker 1: She tried to nurse him back to health, but he 143 00:08:35,559 --> 00:08:38,880 Speaker 1: didn't seem to respond, and with Mr Keeler locked up 144 00:08:38,920 --> 00:08:41,760 Speaker 1: for his attempt to sabotage the journey, there was no 145 00:08:41,800 --> 00:08:45,600 Speaker 1: one in command, so that's when Mary stepped in. On 146 00:08:45,679 --> 00:08:48,280 Speaker 1: top of nursing her sick husband, Mary was soon enough 147 00:08:48,280 --> 00:08:51,240 Speaker 1: setting the ship's course. Working with the second mate, she 148 00:08:51,320 --> 00:08:54,520 Speaker 1: had the crew working overtime, headed again for San Francisco. 149 00:08:54,920 --> 00:08:58,080 Speaker 1: But that's where Mr. Keeler saw an opportunity. From his 150 00:08:58,160 --> 00:09:00,360 Speaker 1: place in lock up, he scribbled and out that the 151 00:09:00,400 --> 00:09:03,720 Speaker 1: crew brought to Mary. Think of the dangers, he wrote, 152 00:09:04,080 --> 00:09:07,120 Speaker 1: think of the huge weights of responsibility. Wouldn't it just 153 00:09:07,160 --> 00:09:09,560 Speaker 1: be easier if you let me out and let me 154 00:09:09,640 --> 00:09:13,640 Speaker 1: take control of the ship. Mary's response was brief. He 155 00:09:13,679 --> 00:09:17,080 Speaker 1: had proved himself unfit for command, so he would stay below. 156 00:09:17,640 --> 00:09:20,520 Speaker 1: Furious with Mary, Mr Keeler tried to rally the crew 157 00:09:20,600 --> 00:09:22,920 Speaker 1: against her, but when Mary caught wind of the plot, 158 00:09:23,240 --> 00:09:25,240 Speaker 1: she called the mates and sailors to the aft of 159 00:09:25,240 --> 00:09:28,400 Speaker 1: the ship and she addressed them. They knew what had 160 00:09:28,440 --> 00:09:31,480 Speaker 1: happened before, They knew what Mr Keeler had done, and 161 00:09:31,520 --> 00:09:34,600 Speaker 1: they were beginning to sense Mary's medal as well. If 162 00:09:34,640 --> 00:09:36,840 Speaker 1: they stood by her, she said she would get them 163 00:09:36,880 --> 00:09:40,240 Speaker 1: safely to San Francisco. Every single man in the weather 164 00:09:40,320 --> 00:09:43,839 Speaker 1: beaten crew gave her their word they would stand by her. 165 00:09:44,800 --> 00:09:48,560 Speaker 1: For weeks, Mary guided the Neptune's car through its treacherous voyage. 166 00:09:48,760 --> 00:09:51,720 Speaker 1: They slipped through storms as they rounded Cape Horn, they 167 00:09:51,760 --> 00:09:54,920 Speaker 1: dodged icebergs in the narrow passage. Mary held the crew 168 00:09:55,000 --> 00:09:58,000 Speaker 1: together as they waited out duldrums, and when the clouds 169 00:09:58,000 --> 00:10:01,080 Speaker 1: were too impenetrable for Mary to use her sextant, she 170 00:10:01,240 --> 00:10:04,480 Speaker 1: led them by dead reckoning. So it was under her 171 00:10:04,559 --> 00:10:07,560 Speaker 1: firm hand that the ship, crew and cargo got back 172 00:10:07,600 --> 00:10:11,559 Speaker 1: on course and reached San Francisco on November. When they 173 00:10:11,600 --> 00:10:14,760 Speaker 1: neared the Golden Gate Bay, Mary personally took the helm 174 00:10:14,800 --> 00:10:17,560 Speaker 1: and guided the ship to port. She had managed a 175 00:10:17,600 --> 00:10:20,800 Speaker 1: crew of three dozen men and kept her husband alive 176 00:10:21,200 --> 00:10:26,200 Speaker 1: through storm, sickness, and a failed insurrection. When she stepped 177 00:10:26,200 --> 00:10:29,280 Speaker 1: off of Neptune's car, Mary told the company officers that 178 00:10:29,320 --> 00:10:32,479 Speaker 1: she hadn't been able to change her clothes for fifty days. 179 00:10:32,520 --> 00:10:34,520 Speaker 1: She was happy to leave the vessel in their care 180 00:10:34,880 --> 00:10:37,480 Speaker 1: and find herself and her husband a place to rest 181 00:10:37,559 --> 00:10:41,040 Speaker 1: and recover. I can only imagine their dumbfounded looks as 182 00:10:41,040 --> 00:10:44,560 Speaker 1: they agreed. It took some time for the enormity of 183 00:10:44,559 --> 00:10:47,720 Speaker 1: Mary's achievement to hit home. She had commanded a clipper 184 00:10:47,760 --> 00:10:50,760 Speaker 1: ship for fifty six days, and the newspapers at the 185 00:10:50,800 --> 00:10:53,600 Speaker 1: time said she brought it into ports better than any 186 00:10:53,640 --> 00:10:56,520 Speaker 1: of her competitors, not to mention that she beat all 187 00:10:56,559 --> 00:10:59,520 Speaker 1: of them but one. By some accounts, this made her 188 00:10:59,559 --> 00:11:02,840 Speaker 1: the first woman to command an American merchant vessel. But 189 00:11:02,920 --> 00:11:05,559 Speaker 1: there are a couple more things that make her achievements 190 00:11:05,600 --> 00:11:09,880 Speaker 1: even more remarkable. First, when they left New York that July, 191 00:11:10,559 --> 00:11:14,920 Speaker 1: Mary was already four months pregnant. And second, when Mary 192 00:11:14,920 --> 00:11:18,679 Speaker 1: Patton took command of Neptune's car, she was just nineteen 193 00:11:18,760 --> 00:11:24,240 Speaker 1: years old. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of 194 00:11:24,240 --> 00:11:28,240 Speaker 1: the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, 195 00:11:28,320 --> 00:11:31,840 Speaker 1: or learn more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast 196 00:11:32,080 --> 00:11:36,040 Speaker 1: dot com. The show was created by me Aaron Manky 197 00:11:36,160 --> 00:11:39,640 Speaker 1: in partnership with how Stuff Works. I make another award 198 00:11:39,640 --> 00:11:43,199 Speaker 1: winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, 199 00:11:43,280 --> 00:11:45,880 Speaker 1: and television show, and you can learn all about it 200 00:11:45,960 --> 00:11:49,520 Speaker 1: over at the World of Lore dot com. And until 201 00:11:49,559 --> 00:11:51,520 Speaker 1: next time, stay curious.