1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:02,680 Speaker 1: Hey, y'all, We're rerunning two episodes today, which means that 2 00:00:02,720 --> 00:00:06,160 Speaker 1: you'll hear two hosts me and Tracy V. Wilson. Enjoy 3 00:00:06,280 --> 00:00:10,000 Speaker 1: the show. Welcome to this Day in History Class from 4 00:00:10,080 --> 00:00:12,360 Speaker 1: how Stuff Works dot Com and from the desk of 5 00:00:12,400 --> 00:00:14,680 Speaker 1: Stuff You Missed in History Class. It's the show where 6 00:00:14,720 --> 00:00:17,000 Speaker 1: we explore the past, one day at a time with 7 00:00:17,040 --> 00:00:23,880 Speaker 1: a quick look at what happened today in history. Hello, 8 00:00:23,920 --> 00:00:26,400 Speaker 1: and welcome to the podcast. I'm Tracy V. Wilson, and 9 00:00:26,400 --> 00:00:31,040 Speaker 1: it's November Honest Day. In seventeen and Bonnie and Mary 10 00:00:31,080 --> 00:00:35,200 Speaker 1: Reid were convicted of piracy. As is often the case 11 00:00:35,240 --> 00:00:37,960 Speaker 1: with pirates, their early life is something of a fog. 12 00:00:38,320 --> 00:00:41,080 Speaker 1: They each though, wound up aboard the ship of Calico 13 00:00:41,200 --> 00:00:46,919 Speaker 1: Jack Rackham. The story generally goes that Anne's husband, John Bonnie, 14 00:00:47,200 --> 00:00:50,120 Speaker 1: had been working in the Bahamas for Governor Woods Rogers, 15 00:00:50,280 --> 00:00:53,920 Speaker 1: and he had been a pirate informant. But then Anne 16 00:00:54,080 --> 00:00:56,120 Speaker 1: fell in love with one of the targets of her 17 00:00:56,200 --> 00:01:03,040 Speaker 1: husband's informant activity, which was Jack Rackham joined his pirate crew. Mary, 18 00:01:03,080 --> 00:01:05,840 Speaker 1: on the other hand, was disguising herself as a man 19 00:01:05,959 --> 00:01:08,280 Speaker 1: to join the crew, and earlier on in her life 20 00:01:08,319 --> 00:01:10,960 Speaker 1: she had similarly disguised herself to be a footboy and 21 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:15,399 Speaker 1: a soldier, basically occupations that weren't open to women. On 22 00:01:15,440 --> 00:01:19,080 Speaker 1: August of seventeen twenty, Jack, Rackham and Bonnie and the 23 00:01:19,080 --> 00:01:22,120 Speaker 1: rest of a party stole a ship called the William, 24 00:01:22,160 --> 00:01:25,560 Speaker 1: which belonged to a man named John Ham. They took 25 00:01:25,560 --> 00:01:28,320 Speaker 1: on a crew of twelve and started sailing the William 26 00:01:28,400 --> 00:01:32,039 Speaker 1: around the Bahamas, plundering as they went. They mostly went 27 00:01:32,080 --> 00:01:35,240 Speaker 1: after small boats, especially fishing boats. They would basically take 28 00:01:35,240 --> 00:01:37,280 Speaker 1: all the fish in the tackle and then be on 29 00:01:37,319 --> 00:01:41,959 Speaker 1: their way. Sources disagree about whether Bonnie and Reid say 30 00:01:42,040 --> 00:01:44,920 Speaker 1: disguised as men this whole time. In some versions when 31 00:01:44,920 --> 00:01:46,919 Speaker 1: they had a raid like this, they would be dressed 32 00:01:46,920 --> 00:01:49,040 Speaker 1: as men, but they were in women's clothes the rest 33 00:01:49,080 --> 00:01:52,880 Speaker 1: of the time, and others they were just dressed as women. Whatever. 34 00:01:53,840 --> 00:01:58,160 Speaker 1: It's really all over the map. An October of seventy though, 35 00:01:58,200 --> 00:02:00,880 Speaker 1: one of the boats they encountered was a canoe that 36 00:02:01,160 --> 00:02:04,480 Speaker 1: was being helmed by a woman named Dorothy Thomas, and 37 00:02:04,600 --> 00:02:08,320 Speaker 1: Rackham let her go over. Bonnie and reads objections that 38 00:02:08,400 --> 00:02:11,640 Speaker 1: she might notify the authorities of where they were. The 39 00:02:11,680 --> 00:02:16,280 Speaker 1: authorities already knew though Governor Woods Rogers had already heard 40 00:02:16,320 --> 00:02:20,120 Speaker 1: about Rackham's piratical activities off the coast of Jamaica, he 41 00:02:20,200 --> 00:02:24,000 Speaker 1: had already dispatched the privateer captain Jonathan Barnett to take 42 00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:26,760 Speaker 1: care of it. Bonnie and Read were the ones on 43 00:02:26,880 --> 00:02:30,079 Speaker 1: deck when Barnett's ship found an approached them on October 44 00:02:30,919 --> 00:02:34,640 Speaker 1: of seventeen twenty. Most of the rest of the crew, though, 45 00:02:34,800 --> 00:02:38,640 Speaker 1: were below decks. They were intoxicated, so Bonnie and Read 46 00:02:38,760 --> 00:02:41,280 Speaker 1: stayed above decks. They were fighting back to back with 47 00:02:41,320 --> 00:02:45,160 Speaker 1: both pistols and cutlasses and shouting below to the men 48 00:02:45,280 --> 00:02:48,680 Speaker 1: to come up and help. At one point, Read reportedly 49 00:02:48,840 --> 00:02:51,800 Speaker 1: fired her pistol below deck to try to get their 50 00:02:51,800 --> 00:02:55,840 Speaker 1: attention and wind up hitting one of them. Ultimately, though 51 00:02:56,040 --> 00:02:59,440 Speaker 1: they were all captured, trials for Rackham and his crew 52 00:02:59,480 --> 00:03:02,560 Speaker 1: started on November sixteen, seventeen twenty. They were all found 53 00:03:02,560 --> 00:03:07,760 Speaker 1: guilty and hanged. Rackham's last request was supposedly to see 54 00:03:07,880 --> 00:03:11,560 Speaker 1: and Bonnie again, and she had no patience for that, 55 00:03:11,800 --> 00:03:14,800 Speaker 1: saying quote, if you had fought like a man, you 56 00:03:14,919 --> 00:03:18,079 Speaker 1: need not have been hanged like a dog. And Bonnie 57 00:03:18,120 --> 00:03:21,520 Speaker 1: and Mary Reid were tried on November and according to 58 00:03:21,560 --> 00:03:24,720 Speaker 1: the general History of the Pirates quote to other pirates 59 00:03:24,720 --> 00:03:27,880 Speaker 1: were tried that belonged to Rackham's crew. That was Anne 60 00:03:27,919 --> 00:03:31,960 Speaker 1: and Mary being convicted. They were brought up and asked 61 00:03:31,960 --> 00:03:34,640 Speaker 1: if either of them had anything to say, why the 62 00:03:34,680 --> 00:03:37,640 Speaker 1: sentence of death should not pass upon them in like 63 00:03:37,960 --> 00:03:40,400 Speaker 1: manner as had been done to all the rest. And 64 00:03:40,520 --> 00:03:43,800 Speaker 1: both of them pleaded their bellies, being quick with child 65 00:03:43,920 --> 00:03:47,440 Speaker 1: and prayed that execution might be stayed, whereupon the court 66 00:03:47,520 --> 00:03:50,440 Speaker 1: passed sentence as in cases of piracy, but ordered them 67 00:03:50,480 --> 00:03:53,440 Speaker 1: back till a proper jury could be appointed to inquire 68 00:03:53,520 --> 00:03:56,360 Speaker 1: into the matter. So they basically both argued that they 69 00:03:56,400 --> 00:03:59,840 Speaker 1: should be spared hanging because they were pregnant. They were 70 00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:03,560 Speaker 1: into prison and and Bonnie apparently survived her time in prison, 71 00:04:03,640 --> 00:04:06,840 Speaker 1: but it's unclear what happened to her after that. Mary 72 00:04:06,920 --> 00:04:10,880 Speaker 1: Read died of a fever or possibly due to complications 73 00:04:10,880 --> 00:04:14,680 Speaker 1: of childbirth before she was released. She's probably the same 74 00:04:14,880 --> 00:04:17,520 Speaker 1: Mary Read who's listened in a death record for April 75 00:04:18,320 --> 00:04:22,440 Speaker 1: seventeen twenty one. You can learn more about all this 76 00:04:22,560 --> 00:04:26,000 Speaker 1: in the August fifteen episode of STUFH You missed in 77 00:04:26,080 --> 00:04:29,960 Speaker 1: History Class, including why that General History of the Pirates 78 00:04:30,000 --> 00:04:32,400 Speaker 1: that I just read from is a source you should 79 00:04:32,400 --> 00:04:35,000 Speaker 1: really take with a grade of salt. That's why there's 80 00:04:35,040 --> 00:04:38,920 Speaker 1: also so much supposedly and reportedly in this episode. Thanks 81 00:04:38,960 --> 00:04:41,400 Speaker 1: to Casey Pigraham and Chandler Mays for their work on 82 00:04:41,440 --> 00:04:44,160 Speaker 1: this show, and you can subscribe to This Day in 83 00:04:44,240 --> 00:04:47,400 Speaker 1: History Class on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and where real 84 00:04:47,440 --> 00:04:49,719 Speaker 1: to get your podcasts. You can tune in tomorrow for 85 00:04:49,800 --> 00:05:02,440 Speaker 1: a massacre at sea. Greetings. I'm Eves and welcome to 86 00:05:02,520 --> 00:05:05,279 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class, a show that believes no 87 00:05:05,480 --> 00:05:17,080 Speaker 1: day in history is a slow day. The day was 88 00:05:17,120 --> 00:05:23,039 Speaker 1: November nineteen sixty seven, astro physicist Jocelyn Bill Burnell became 89 00:05:23,040 --> 00:05:26,719 Speaker 1: the first person to detect a radio pulsar. A pulsar 90 00:05:26,800 --> 00:05:30,880 Speaker 1: is a celestial source of pulsating electromagnetic radiation that is 91 00:05:30,880 --> 00:05:35,320 Speaker 1: thought to be a rapidly rotating neutron star. Pulsars amit 92 00:05:35,360 --> 00:05:40,440 Speaker 1: pulses of radiation like radio waves, at short, relatively constant intervals. 93 00:05:41,520 --> 00:05:44,640 Speaker 1: In nineteen sixty seven, Jocelyn Bell was pursuing her doctorate 94 00:05:44,720 --> 00:05:48,120 Speaker 1: at the University of Cambridge, where her advisor was radio 95 00:05:48,160 --> 00:05:53,360 Speaker 1: astronomer Anthony Hewish. That year, Hewish and his graduate students 96 00:05:53,440 --> 00:05:57,000 Speaker 1: completed a radio telescope that was designed to observe the 97 00:05:57,080 --> 00:06:02,080 Speaker 1: scintillation of stars, particularly quasar ours. A quasar is a 98 00:06:02,120 --> 00:06:04,720 Speaker 1: region at the center of a galaxy that omits an 99 00:06:04,760 --> 00:06:08,840 Speaker 1: exceptionally large amount of energy. The first quasars were discovered 100 00:06:08,960 --> 00:06:13,360 Speaker 1: by the early nineteen sixties. Bill helped build the telescope 101 00:06:13,400 --> 00:06:17,360 Speaker 1: at the Millard Radio Astronomy Observatory. Once the telescope went 102 00:06:17,360 --> 00:06:21,000 Speaker 1: into operation in July of nineteen sixty seven, Bill began 103 00:06:21,080 --> 00:06:25,159 Speaker 1: operating it and analyzing the data by hand. One day, 104 00:06:25,279 --> 00:06:28,440 Speaker 1: she noticed a strange signal at a wavelength of three 105 00:06:28,440 --> 00:06:31,840 Speaker 1: point seven meters. The signal continued to appear over the 106 00:06:31,880 --> 00:06:36,520 Speaker 1: next several months. On November she captured a recording of 107 00:06:36,520 --> 00:06:40,040 Speaker 1: the signal that gave more detail. Bill called the reading 108 00:06:40,200 --> 00:06:43,760 Speaker 1: a quote bit of scruff. In the data. It showed 109 00:06:43,760 --> 00:06:46,680 Speaker 1: that the signal corresponded to a burst of radio energy 110 00:06:46,920 --> 00:06:50,240 Speaker 1: that came in regular intervals of about one point three seconds. 111 00:06:51,080 --> 00:06:54,159 Speaker 1: The reading was synced with sidereal time rather than Earth time, 112 00:06:54,600 --> 00:06:57,960 Speaker 1: and it consistently came from the same part of the sky. 113 00:06:58,600 --> 00:07:01,120 Speaker 1: So she set about determining the source of the signal. 114 00:07:01,600 --> 00:07:05,840 Speaker 1: It couldn't be coming from any natural sources like stars, galaxies, 115 00:07:05,920 --> 00:07:08,479 Speaker 1: or solar wind, and it did not come from any 116 00:07:08,560 --> 00:07:12,200 Speaker 1: human or human made sources like radar reflected off the Moon, 117 00:07:12,600 --> 00:07:17,640 Speaker 1: other radio astronomers, television signals, orbiting satellites, or buildings near 118 00:07:17,680 --> 00:07:21,880 Speaker 1: the telescope. After ruling out all those sources, she and 119 00:07:22,000 --> 00:07:25,080 Speaker 1: Huish called the signal l g M one because they 120 00:07:25,080 --> 00:07:28,240 Speaker 1: couldn't rule out Little Green men a k a. Aliens. 121 00:07:29,400 --> 00:07:32,480 Speaker 1: But soon Bill found another signal, this one pulsing at 122 00:07:32,520 --> 00:07:35,840 Speaker 1: one point to second intervals. This signal was coming from 123 00:07:35,880 --> 00:07:38,640 Speaker 1: a different part of the sky. That meant that the 124 00:07:38,640 --> 00:07:43,640 Speaker 1: signal was likely not sent by extraterrestrial beings. Later that year, 125 00:07:43,800 --> 00:07:47,160 Speaker 1: Bill noticed a couple more of these unusual signals. In 126 00:07:47,240 --> 00:07:51,400 Speaker 1: January nineteen sixty eight, Bell, Huish and colleagues submitted a 127 00:07:51,440 --> 00:07:56,000 Speaker 1: paper describing their discovery to the journal Nature, and the paper, 128 00:07:56,320 --> 00:08:02,280 Speaker 1: Observation of a Rapidly Pulsating Radio Source was published on February. 129 00:08:02,920 --> 00:08:06,080 Speaker 1: The paper noted that they had recorded unusual signals from 130 00:08:06,080 --> 00:08:10,040 Speaker 1: pulsating radio sources and positive that the radiation may be 131 00:08:10,160 --> 00:08:15,120 Speaker 1: associated with oscillations of white dwarf or neutron stars. But 132 00:08:15,240 --> 00:08:18,360 Speaker 1: even though they had announced the discovery, they still didn't 133 00:08:18,400 --> 00:08:21,920 Speaker 1: know the source of the signal. That didn't stop other 134 00:08:21,960 --> 00:08:25,720 Speaker 1: scientists from trying to discover more of these pulsating sources 135 00:08:25,760 --> 00:08:28,240 Speaker 1: and where they were coming from. By the end of 136 00:08:28,320 --> 00:08:31,360 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty eight, more had been discovered, and it had 137 00:08:31,400 --> 00:08:36,040 Speaker 1: been suggested that neutron stars were a source. Hewish first 138 00:08:36,240 --> 00:08:38,839 Speaker 1: used the word pulsar in an interview with the Daily 139 00:08:38,880 --> 00:08:43,200 Speaker 1: Telegraph in nineteen sixty eight. Bell and Hwish changed the 140 00:08:43,280 --> 00:08:45,480 Speaker 1: name of the signal from l g M to CP 141 00:08:46,040 --> 00:08:49,520 Speaker 1: or Cambridge pulsar, and the first radio pulsar they detected 142 00:08:49,640 --> 00:08:54,760 Speaker 1: was dubbed CP. Nineteen nineteen, Heish received the nineteen seventy 143 00:08:54,800 --> 00:08:57,360 Speaker 1: four a Nobel Prize in Physics for his role in 144 00:08:57,360 --> 00:09:01,640 Speaker 1: the discovery of pulsars, a controverse full decision because Bill's 145 00:09:01,640 --> 00:09:06,520 Speaker 1: contributions were not recognized. Since their discovery, pulsars have been 146 00:09:06,600 --> 00:09:09,680 Speaker 1: used to study extreme states of matter and search for 147 00:09:09,720 --> 00:09:14,200 Speaker 1: gravitational waves. I'm Eve Jefcote and hopefully you know a 148 00:09:14,200 --> 00:09:18,200 Speaker 1: little more about history today than you did yesterday. Send 149 00:09:18,240 --> 00:09:21,280 Speaker 1: your best history means to us at T D i 150 00:09:21,800 --> 00:09:28,160 Speaker 1: h C podcast on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Email still works. 151 00:09:28,400 --> 00:09:30,480 Speaker 1: Send us a note At this day at i heeart 152 00:09:30,559 --> 00:09:34,320 Speaker 1: media dot com. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you tomorrow.