Speaker 1: Our world is full of the unexplainable, and if history
Speaker 1: is an open book, all of these amazing tales right
Speaker 1: there on display, just waiting for us to explore. Welcome
Speaker 1: to the Cabinet of Curiosities. In seven, Mercedes was a
Speaker 1: secretary with grand ambitions, Having been born to an English
Speaker 1: mother and a German father. She was fluent in both
Speaker 1: languages and leveraged them to personal success while working in Westminster.
Speaker 1: But Mercedes wanted more. There was a great, big world
Speaker 1: out there, much of it covered in blue, and that
Speaker 1: was what she wanted to make her mark on. She
Speaker 1: began swimming in the River Thames, building up her stamina
Speaker 1: until she could swim for hours in the water. In
Speaker 1: October of ninety seven, she became the first woman to
Speaker 1: swim the English Channel. She had endured dense fog and
Speaker 1: frigid water tempts, as well as the very real threat
Speaker 1: of passing ships that couldn't see her. But she'd done it.
Speaker 1: She'd set a world record. At least she thought she had,
Speaker 1: until another woman came forward soon after, claiming that she
Speaker 1: had been the first woman to swim the English Channel.
Speaker 1: After an investigation, the other woman's claim had been debunked
Speaker 1: as a hoax, but its presence had poured doubt on
Speaker 1: mercedes own achievement. Through media pressure and a desire to
Speaker 1: prove her efforts as authentic, she took to the water
Speaker 1: once again fourteen days later. This time, however, she took
Speaker 1: a long proof. Not only was she followed by her
Speaker 1: trainer in a small boat, she also wore a small
Speaker 1: watch around her neck to track her time in the water.
Speaker 1: But there was a problem with this vindication swim. When
Speaker 1: she had first crossed the channel, the water had been
Speaker 1: roughly sixty degrees fahrenheit. This time, though, the water had
Speaker 1: dropped by six degrees, and although it was only slightly
Speaker 1: colder than before, it was enough of a change to
Speaker 1: take the wind out of her sails. Mercedes began her
Speaker 1: journey at a m By one pm, she was already
Speaker 1: feeling the effects of the cold. Her senses had dulled
Speaker 1: and she would fall asleep for seconds at a time.
Speaker 1: Her trainer tried to keep her alert, but Mercedes found
Speaker 1: herself in a constant loop of wakefulness followed by seconds
Speaker 1: of sleep. After an hour and a half without any
Speaker 1: real progress, her trainer lowered a ladder into the water,
Speaker 1: Mercedes refused to give up. She swam away from the boat,
Speaker 1: but her body knew that it was time to stop.
Speaker 1: Just before three pm, she took hold of the ladder
Speaker 1: and her trainer pulled her into the boat. She had
Speaker 1: failed to swim the channel for a second time, but
Speaker 1: her efforts had validated her first. No one questioned her
Speaker 1: any longer. That said, the idea of a sports celebrity
Speaker 1: at the time was pretty new. There were no wheaties,
Speaker 1: boxes or sneaker endorsements yet, and come the next news cycle,
Speaker 1: she'd be another forgotten name in history. There was the watch, though,
Speaker 1: the one she had worn around her neck as she
Speaker 1: attempted to cross the English Channel that second time. Now,
Speaker 1: the watches at the time were made with hinged backs
Speaker 1: so wearers and technicians could easily access the movements inside.
Speaker 1: They were designed for function over form, but that left
Speaker 1: them vulnerable in tropical climates, and when submerged in water,
Speaker 1: the watches would often malfunction due to the moisture getting inside.
Speaker 1: The watch around mercedes neck, though, was brand new. It
Speaker 1: was named after a watertight shell, and its design was revolutionary.
Speaker 1: For example, the crown on the side could be screwed
Speaker 1: down to create a seal, and rather than use a
Speaker 1: hinged back to hide the components, its front and back
Speaker 1: panels were screwed into place. The result was a waterproof
Speaker 1: and dustproof watch. After her swim, and after everyone saw
Speaker 1: how her watch was still working perfectly when she got
Speaker 1: out of the water, Mercedes Glites became its spokesperson. She
Speaker 1: was featured in print advertisements describing the most rigorous stress
Speaker 1: test any watch had ever undergone before ten hours in
Speaker 1: the water, a testament to the engineering feat that was
Speaker 1: this brand new watch. Lights didn't know it at the time,
Speaker 1: but she not only cemented her own legacy as an
Speaker 1: enduring name, but also one of the most famous watch
Speaker 1: brands in the world. She helped take them from a
Speaker 1: struggling to man operation all the way to a multibillion
Speaker 1: dollar titan of luxury jewelry. Thanks to Mercedes Glights, a
Speaker 1: new watch company was able to keep its head above water,
Speaker 1: a company called Rolex. Animals have been used in war
Speaker 1: since the beginning of time. Hannibal, the Carthaginian general, famously
Speaker 1: used war elephants as he crossed the Alps, conquering much
Speaker 1: of Europe in the process. Though you wouldn't see them
Speaker 1: in use today. Elephants were a common site on the battlefield.
Speaker 1: They functioned much like today's tanks, plowing through scores of
Speaker 1: soldiers and intimidating horses. The U. S. Army has also
Speaker 1: utilized unusual animals in its military campaigns. During World War Two,
Speaker 1: for example, napalm charges were strapped to thousands of bats
Speaker 1: bound for Japan. Unfortunately, a few got loose and ended
Speaker 1: up bombing an Air Force hanger, and that was the
Speaker 1: end of the bat bomb idea. Dolphins have been trained
Speaker 1: by the Navy to find underwater mines and interfere with
Speaker 1: enemy divers. But perhaps the most unusual and ingenious use
Speaker 1: of animals in the military came during the eighteen thirties.
Speaker 1: As Americans migrated West, they quickly discovered how nefarious the
Speaker 1: terrain was compared to the developed cities back in the East.
Speaker 1: There were deserts and mountains to cross. The environment was
Speaker 1: often too harsh for horses to navigate safely. But one man,
Speaker 1: Lieutenant George Croftsman of the United States Army, wrote back
Speaker 1: to Washington, d c. With an idea camels. Camels could
Speaker 1: carry hundreds of pounds on their backs, and go for
Speaker 1: tens of my els with very little food or water,
Speaker 1: and unlike horses, they didn't need metal shoes to protect
Speaker 1: their hoofs either. But Crossman's idea didn't pan out at first,
Speaker 1: his superiors in Washington didn't see the benefit. However, years later,
Speaker 1: after Crossman had achieved the rank of major, he spoke
Speaker 1: to Major Henry Wayne of the Army's Quartermaster Department. Major
Speaker 1: Wayne knew how useful camels could be as well. On
Speaker 1: Crossman's suggestion, Wayne wrote to the War Department. His letter
Speaker 1: found its way to the desk of Senator Jefferson Davis,
Speaker 1: future President of the Confederate States and a major player
Speaker 1: during the Civil War. It took several years, but in
Speaker 1: eighteen fifty three, Davis was able to convince Congress to
Speaker 1: approve funding for Wayne's camels. Thirty dollars were appropriated for
Speaker 1: the project, and Wayne was sent to the Navy ship
Speaker 1: the USS Supply to acquire them. He first traveled to London,
Speaker 1: then Paris to speak with camel experts and zookeepers. He
Speaker 1: needed to learn how to handle the animals once they
Speaker 1: were on board the ship. From there, he traveled to
Speaker 1: Tunisia for five months, Wayne and the supplies commander Lieutenant
Speaker 1: David Porter, sailed to Greece, Turkey, and Egypt, purchasing camels
Speaker 1: along the way. With thirty three camels in tow, they
Speaker 1: traveled back to America in roughly three months. The ship
Speaker 1: had to deal with choppy seas and heavy storms much
Speaker 1: of the way, but on May fourteenth, the USS supply
Speaker 1: docked in Texas, finally home. From there, the animals were
Speaker 1: marched for almost two hundred miles to a camp much
Speaker 1: like the ones Wayne had encountered in the Middle East.
Speaker 1: Here he could train his camels to perform specific military duties.
Speaker 1: He set a caravan of three wagons pulled by six
Speaker 1: mules each to San Antonio. Along for the trip were
Speaker 1: six of his camels. To measure against the mules their
Speaker 1: mission bring a supply of oats back to the camp.
Speaker 1: The wagons were only able to carry about eighteen hundred
Speaker 1: pounds of oats back to the camp in five days.
Speaker 1: The camels, however, could carry more than double that amounts
Speaker 1: in half the time. The test was a success. Wayne
Speaker 1: continued to put the animals through their paces and was
Speaker 1: impressed over and over again with their ability to handle
Speaker 1: the southwestern terrain. Meanwhile, Porter returned to Egypt for forty
Speaker 1: one more camels, which he brought back at the end
Speaker 1: of January eighteen fifty seven. However, a few months later,
Speaker 1: newly elected President James Buchanan had Wayne moved back to
Speaker 1: d c without him there to move the camel experiment along.
Speaker 1: The animals remained dormant at the camp. Then the westward
Speaker 1: expansion hit a major milestone. A railroad was commissioned by
Speaker 1: Congress to build a more direct route between New Mexico
Speaker 1: and California. Horses alone wouldn't be able to make it
Speaker 1: that far, but luckily for California militiaman Edward Beale, there
Speaker 1: was a whole corral full of camels just waiting for
Speaker 1: their time to shine. Twenty camels joined forty four soldiers,
Speaker 1: a dozen wagons, and almost a hundred dogs and mules
Speaker 1: as they worked their way west. Each camel could tote
Speaker 1: around seven hundred pounds without slowing down, often going over
Speaker 1: rocks and sand that would bring the horses to a halt.
Speaker 1: They ate very little and performed reliably, earning them a
Speaker 1: potential position among the United States militaries other animal forces.
Speaker 1: When a new road needed to be built. The camels
Speaker 1: were there to carry materials and surveyors from site to site.
Speaker 1: By the Civil War, however, the camel experiment had hit
Speaker 1: a major roadblock. Some were captured by Confederate troops and
Speaker 1: abused or even killed. Technology had also come a long
Speaker 1: way in that time, and the camels were becoming less necessary. Eventually,
Speaker 1: no one knew what to do with the remaining stock anymore,
Speaker 1: so they were sold at auction, often to circuses or
Speaker 1: private ranches. Kids attending the circus had never seen a
Speaker 1: camel up close, and the animals drew large crowds for
Speaker 1: a while. But when the crowd stopped coming, the owners
Speaker 1: didn't sell them or donate them to local zoos. Instead,
Speaker 1: they let them loose into the wild. For decades, these
Speaker 1: camels roamed the deserts of California and New Mexico, the
Speaker 1: last one reportedly passing away in April of nineteen thirty
Speaker 1: four in Los Angeles. It was eighty years old. The U. S.
Speaker 1: Army Camel Corps was a short lived idea with a
Speaker 1: lot of potential and think All it really needed were
Speaker 1: supporters who could see the bigger picture and help it
Speaker 1: get over the final hump into mainstream use. I hope
Speaker 1: you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities.
Speaker 1: Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about
Speaker 1: the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show
Speaker 1: was created by me Aaron Manky in partnership with how
Speaker 1: Stuff Works. I make another award winning show called Lore,
Speaker 1: which is a podcast, book series, and television show, and
Speaker 1: you can learn all about it over at the World
Speaker 1: of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious.