1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:27,240 Speaker 1: Ridiculous History is a production of I Heart Radio. Oh boy, 2 00:00:27,400 --> 00:00:30,240 Speaker 1: welcome back to the show Ridiculous Historians. Thank you, as 3 00:00:30,320 --> 00:00:34,000 Speaker 1: always so much for tuning in. We are coming to 4 00:00:34,080 --> 00:00:38,239 Speaker 1: you with a whale of a tale. Heads up that 5 00:00:38,680 --> 00:00:42,280 Speaker 1: this episode might contain some stories that are not for 6 00:00:42,400 --> 00:00:45,479 Speaker 1: everyone in the crowd, so do be aware before we 7 00:00:45,560 --> 00:00:49,760 Speaker 1: get into a bunch of moby dick jokes. Let's introduce 8 00:00:49,800 --> 00:00:54,560 Speaker 1: our super producer, Mr Max Williams. Give him up. WHOA, Yeah, 9 00:00:54,680 --> 00:00:57,520 Speaker 1: I'm not looking forward to this story. I've asked me 10 00:00:57,640 --> 00:01:02,240 Speaker 1: heart these taking a trip downed into Davy Jones as locker, 11 00:01:03,080 --> 00:01:06,360 Speaker 1: which is a thing. Um. I always confused Davy Jones 12 00:01:06,360 --> 00:01:09,319 Speaker 1: with Casey Jones from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. They're 13 00:01:09,360 --> 00:01:12,240 Speaker 1: not the same. Um, just f y I if anyone 14 00:01:12,280 --> 00:01:16,160 Speaker 1: else that same mistake. Uh. And then there and I 15 00:01:16,160 --> 00:01:18,720 Speaker 1: think it was a missed opportunity for them not to 16 00:01:18,800 --> 00:01:23,600 Speaker 1: call the guy Long Jones Silver instead of long John Silver. Uh. 17 00:01:23,640 --> 00:01:27,800 Speaker 1: That's over there on the horizon as we record Scattered 18 00:01:27,800 --> 00:01:33,000 Speaker 1: to the winds. That's Mr Noel Brown. Hi. M Ben Bullen. 19 00:01:33,440 --> 00:01:39,600 Speaker 1: We are using the theater of the mind to go 20 00:01:39,800 --> 00:01:45,880 Speaker 1: on a sailing sojourn today a maritime journey that's gonna 21 00:01:45,920 --> 00:01:48,960 Speaker 1: be a two parter, folks. This week we're looking at 22 00:01:49,000 --> 00:01:55,800 Speaker 1: the Brutal and all two true stories that inspired Moby Dick, 23 00:01:56,200 --> 00:02:03,400 Speaker 1: the the story canonical novel by Herman Melville, loved by some, 24 00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:09,160 Speaker 1: hated by many. A high schooler, right, yeah, uh, chat 25 00:02:09,200 --> 00:02:11,640 Speaker 1: GPT can knock that right out for you, high school 26 00:02:11,680 --> 00:02:13,640 Speaker 1: or is just kidding? Did you hear about that? By 27 00:02:13,680 --> 00:02:16,040 Speaker 1: the way, did you have heard about this chat gpt 28 00:02:16,240 --> 00:02:19,680 Speaker 1: is is putting in some guardrails to supposedly prevent cheating 29 00:02:19,919 --> 00:02:23,799 Speaker 1: using this chatbot, but apparently it's not even very good 30 00:02:23,840 --> 00:02:27,040 Speaker 1: at detecting whether or not something is AI or not, 31 00:02:27,360 --> 00:02:30,440 Speaker 1: and more likely will lead to students being accused of 32 00:02:30,560 --> 00:02:33,960 Speaker 1: using a I when they're actually writing just bad essays. 33 00:02:34,480 --> 00:02:37,919 Speaker 1: And it's doing a great job with a continuing run 34 00:02:38,080 --> 00:02:41,160 Speaker 1: of Seinfeld. I don't know if you guys saw that, 35 00:02:41,200 --> 00:02:47,480 Speaker 1: but seven on twitch with even complete with poorly placed 36 00:02:47,560 --> 00:02:50,720 Speaker 1: laugh tracks. Yes, and there was a time when I 37 00:02:50,760 --> 00:02:53,160 Speaker 1: think there was a bit of a ghost in the 38 00:02:53,200 --> 00:02:56,120 Speaker 1: machine or a burp in the system, and the chat 39 00:02:56,160 --> 00:03:02,000 Speaker 1: GPT Seinfeld kind of stud and accidentally went into some 40 00:03:02,240 --> 00:03:05,240 Speaker 1: anti comedy and for ten minutes. It just stood there 41 00:03:05,280 --> 00:03:09,160 Speaker 1: in front of the microphone. It was great fun. Hey, 42 00:03:09,240 --> 00:03:11,880 Speaker 1: you know, they can't all be bangers. They can't all 43 00:03:11,960 --> 00:03:16,680 Speaker 1: be bangers. But Moby Dick certainly is a story full 44 00:03:16,760 --> 00:03:22,960 Speaker 1: of bangs and wallops and injustice and great hunts. Um, 45 00:03:23,000 --> 00:03:26,959 Speaker 1: it's about whales, Yes, the titular white whale Moby Dick, 46 00:03:27,120 --> 00:03:31,720 Speaker 1: which was actually named after a real creature. I didn't 47 00:03:31,720 --> 00:03:34,880 Speaker 1: know this thanks to research associate Zach Williams for hipping 48 00:03:34,960 --> 00:03:39,480 Speaker 1: us to Mocha Dick, which sounds like a cheeky name 49 00:03:39,600 --> 00:03:43,560 Speaker 1: for a coffee beverage. Um. Mocha Dick was the name 50 00:03:43,560 --> 00:03:47,120 Speaker 1: that was given to a a cetacean that was sited 51 00:03:47,240 --> 00:03:51,280 Speaker 1: off the coast of Chile near Mocha Island, and apparently 52 00:03:51,320 --> 00:03:55,560 Speaker 1: the dick part is thought to have been put there 53 00:03:56,040 --> 00:03:59,520 Speaker 1: out of a practice of giving whales deadly ones, in 54 00:03:59,560 --> 00:04:03,200 Speaker 1: particular names like Dick or Tom. You think those would 55 00:04:03,200 --> 00:04:05,880 Speaker 1: be the innocuous whales with the kind of more run 56 00:04:05,920 --> 00:04:09,000 Speaker 1: of the mill names like Dick or Tom. Yeah, maybe 57 00:04:09,040 --> 00:04:12,240 Speaker 1: it's like prison rules. The guys with the really innocuous 58 00:04:12,360 --> 00:04:13,880 Speaker 1: names are the ones you have to be the most 59 00:04:13,920 --> 00:04:17,960 Speaker 1: careful of. Yeah, like little John being the tallest, right, right, 60 00:04:18,120 --> 00:04:20,520 Speaker 1: like a guy named snake bite probably good dude, a 61 00:04:20,560 --> 00:04:25,200 Speaker 1: guy named Smurf watch out, Uh Papa Smurf or Smurfat 62 00:04:25,279 --> 00:04:28,880 Speaker 1: cower and terror. But yeah, we're talking about sperm whales. 63 00:04:29,120 --> 00:04:34,680 Speaker 1: And back in the day, sperm whales were prized for 64 00:04:34,880 --> 00:04:38,920 Speaker 1: and they were killed by the whale load for their 65 00:04:39,240 --> 00:04:42,120 Speaker 1: high quality oil that was used in a number of 66 00:04:42,120 --> 00:04:47,880 Speaker 1: industrial applications. Uh. They were also because they were apex 67 00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:51,400 Speaker 1: animals of the sea in a very real way. They 68 00:04:51,440 --> 00:04:56,039 Speaker 1: wouldn't take this stuff just uh laying down doing the backstroke. 69 00:04:56,160 --> 00:04:58,680 Speaker 1: They were very aggressive. And that's that's what a lot 70 00:04:58,720 --> 00:05:02,120 Speaker 1: of Melville's novel from eight fifty one is about. I 71 00:05:02,279 --> 00:05:07,159 Speaker 1: love that you're pointing out Mocha Dick so the first time, 72 00:05:07,839 --> 00:05:14,400 Speaker 1: the first time he encounters whalers, the whalers unsuccessfully attempt 73 00:05:14,560 --> 00:05:19,640 Speaker 1: to kill Mocha Dick. And what's strange about this is whales, 74 00:05:19,760 --> 00:05:24,360 Speaker 1: like many other cetaceans, are incredibly intelligent animals. We know 75 00:05:24,520 --> 00:05:28,880 Speaker 1: that they're able to communicate through multiple generations via the 76 00:05:29,279 --> 00:05:32,160 Speaker 1: whale songs, right, which are unique and are very much 77 00:05:32,680 --> 00:05:37,039 Speaker 1: um akin to language. So and beautiful by the way, 78 00:05:37,120 --> 00:05:39,080 Speaker 1: I mean, you know, there's sort of a bit of 79 00:05:39,080 --> 00:05:41,760 Speaker 1: a cliche of relaxing in a bath, you know, with 80 00:05:41,920 --> 00:05:45,279 Speaker 1: scented candles playing types of whale songs. I think that 81 00:05:45,320 --> 00:05:47,680 Speaker 1: was actually a scene in The Big Lebowski where the 82 00:05:47,760 --> 00:05:50,400 Speaker 1: dude is is really stressed out because of all the 83 00:05:50,440 --> 00:05:53,000 Speaker 1: crazy stuff going on in that movie, and then he's 84 00:05:53,000 --> 00:05:56,400 Speaker 1: in the bath smoking a j and listening to a 85 00:05:56,400 --> 00:06:01,000 Speaker 1: cassette of whale songs. Yes and to the And we 86 00:06:01,040 --> 00:06:05,400 Speaker 1: know that these creatures, in addition to being huge and intelligent, 87 00:06:05,920 --> 00:06:09,600 Speaker 1: they're also very long lived in the wild. And so 88 00:06:09,839 --> 00:06:14,080 Speaker 1: over the course of the next almost thirty years, this 89 00:06:14,240 --> 00:06:19,280 Speaker 1: one whale Mocha Dick earns a reputation as one of 90 00:06:19,320 --> 00:06:23,400 Speaker 1: the scariest folks on the maritime block. Uh. He has 91 00:06:23,440 --> 00:06:28,760 Speaker 1: been spotted and attacked by at least one hundred different 92 00:06:28,839 --> 00:06:35,920 Speaker 1: whaling ships, and he escaped everyone. He destroyed, like absolutely 93 00:06:36,160 --> 00:06:39,599 Speaker 1: scuttled and sank twenty of those ships. And it was 94 00:06:39,640 --> 00:06:42,440 Speaker 1: only the very last ship that put an end to 95 00:06:42,560 --> 00:06:45,120 Speaker 1: his life. And I'm gonna be honest just you know, folks, 96 00:06:45,240 --> 00:06:47,320 Speaker 1: you can be mad if you want when I say it, 97 00:06:47,800 --> 00:06:50,760 Speaker 1: But team Mocha Dick all the way here. I'm team whales. 98 00:06:51,360 --> 00:06:54,159 Speaker 1: Oh absolutely, have you ever have you, either of you guys, 99 00:06:54,200 --> 00:06:57,440 Speaker 1: ever heard of the kind of b movie that was, 100 00:06:58,040 --> 00:07:00,560 Speaker 1: I think a response to Jaws, or might have been 101 00:07:00,680 --> 00:07:04,040 Speaker 1: just before Jaws, but it's called Orca. I've heard of it. 102 00:07:04,080 --> 00:07:06,960 Speaker 1: I can't remember the specifics of the plot. Yeah, I 103 00:07:06,960 --> 00:07:10,040 Speaker 1: mean it's mainly just a revenge tale because this the 104 00:07:10,040 --> 00:07:15,080 Speaker 1: titular whale uh her her, you know, pups what do 105 00:07:15,080 --> 00:07:17,680 Speaker 1: you call whale babies? Um, are killed by a w 106 00:07:18,200 --> 00:07:23,000 Speaker 1: ship calves correct, and this whale seeks revenge on them. 107 00:07:23,040 --> 00:07:27,360 Speaker 1: What did her wrong? Um? And it's actually pretty well shot. 108 00:07:27,400 --> 00:07:31,920 Speaker 1: I think it's a seventies movie, nineteen seventy seven, so 109 00:07:32,080 --> 00:07:35,160 Speaker 1: Jaws having come out in nineteen seventy five obviously, you know, 110 00:07:35,760 --> 00:07:39,160 Speaker 1: create a sort of a craze for unstoppable underwater creatures. 111 00:07:39,840 --> 00:07:42,520 Speaker 1: I think they actually used real whale footage in the 112 00:07:42,560 --> 00:07:45,680 Speaker 1: film too. But I think it is actually true because 113 00:07:45,680 --> 00:07:47,920 Speaker 1: of what you mentioned about the intelligence of these creatures, 114 00:07:47,960 --> 00:07:51,160 Speaker 1: and they don't forget, and that they can, in fact, 115 00:07:51,160 --> 00:07:54,720 Speaker 1: in the same way uh Corvid's target those that have 116 00:07:55,320 --> 00:07:58,440 Speaker 1: annoyed them or done them wrong. Uh. That is a 117 00:07:58,560 --> 00:08:00,600 Speaker 1: thing that could potentially happen, and it also a big 118 00:08:00,600 --> 00:08:04,040 Speaker 1: part of the plot of the new Avatar movie. Um, 119 00:08:04,080 --> 00:08:06,360 Speaker 1: there's a lot of whales, and you know, they talk 120 00:08:06,400 --> 00:08:10,280 Speaker 1: about the whales kind of having this magical secretion, which 121 00:08:10,360 --> 00:08:13,520 Speaker 1: is based on a real thing to something called ambergrease 122 00:08:13,720 --> 00:08:17,960 Speaker 1: that is a really stinky, kind of oily substance that 123 00:08:18,120 --> 00:08:22,760 Speaker 1: isn't the same as blubber and it is used in perfumes. Yeah. 124 00:08:22,840 --> 00:08:26,080 Speaker 1: I know about that one because of Futurama exactly. I 125 00:08:26,120 --> 00:08:28,480 Speaker 1: know about that one because of research I did on 126 00:08:28,560 --> 00:08:31,800 Speaker 1: how messed up the cosmetics industry is. So I think 127 00:08:31,800 --> 00:08:35,559 Speaker 1: it's illegal though to use, you know, I mean, it's 128 00:08:35,600 --> 00:08:39,040 Speaker 1: it's a legal deep birdenest soup. But that hasn't stopped 129 00:08:39,120 --> 00:08:43,080 Speaker 1: a lot of people because people are again you know, 130 00:08:43,200 --> 00:08:52,679 Speaker 1: I'll just say it team whale. And there's some interesting 131 00:08:53,160 --> 00:08:55,440 Speaker 1: threads I want to sew in here as we go, 132 00:08:55,760 --> 00:09:00,640 Speaker 1: So let's continue setting up this story. So very few 133 00:09:00,679 --> 00:09:06,319 Speaker 1: things occurred in a vacuum, uh Mocha dicks entire careers 134 00:09:06,600 --> 00:09:11,240 Speaker 1: is followed the way that some investigative reporters might follow 135 00:09:11,280 --> 00:09:14,839 Speaker 1: the career of criminals today. There's a guy named Jeremiah 136 00:09:14,920 --> 00:09:19,400 Speaker 1: and Reynolds who documents the life and Times of Moka 137 00:09:19,480 --> 00:09:23,400 Speaker 1: Dick in an issue of a magazine called The Knickerbocker 138 00:09:23,559 --> 00:09:28,160 Speaker 1: in eighteen thirty nine. We know that Moka Dick is 139 00:09:28,320 --> 00:09:33,320 Speaker 1: indeed a dude, a male, an old bull whale, and 140 00:09:33,440 --> 00:09:38,960 Speaker 1: he was white as wool like he uh he was 141 00:09:39,040 --> 00:09:41,760 Speaker 1: like a um, we're pulling some quotes here, but we 142 00:09:41,880 --> 00:09:47,040 Speaker 1: also just summarized, uh. He looked like people weren't sure 143 00:09:47,040 --> 00:09:50,400 Speaker 1: whether it was because he was so old, but he 144 00:09:50,520 --> 00:09:57,960 Speaker 1: probably had Albanism. And he also was terrifying to witness 145 00:09:58,000 --> 00:10:01,360 Speaker 1: if you're a human sailor, because out the horizon you 146 00:10:01,400 --> 00:10:06,880 Speaker 1: see this roar, right, this expansion of water flinging from 147 00:10:06,960 --> 00:10:12,400 Speaker 1: his uh flinging from this animal. And this guy even 148 00:10:12,440 --> 00:10:17,400 Speaker 1: had barnacles apparently that had clustered around his head, which 149 00:10:17,440 --> 00:10:21,760 Speaker 1: is very unusual. It looked like he almost had armor, 150 00:10:21,880 --> 00:10:26,079 Speaker 1: if we're being honest. And no one was sure when 151 00:10:26,320 --> 00:10:30,520 Speaker 1: Mocha had been discovered or like when Moco was born. 152 00:10:30,600 --> 00:10:34,600 Speaker 1: They think that he had been sited, as we mentioned 153 00:10:34,640 --> 00:10:41,560 Speaker 1: the top somewhere before eighteen ten, near the island of Mocha, 154 00:10:41,960 --> 00:10:46,000 Speaker 1: but they just followed his his his wake of shipwrecks 155 00:10:46,080 --> 00:10:48,960 Speaker 1: that he left, and then certainly in the eight, there 156 00:10:49,000 --> 00:10:51,760 Speaker 1: would be some amount of cataloging of these type of 157 00:10:51,800 --> 00:10:55,000 Speaker 1: creatures and a little bit more of a scientific approach 158 00:10:55,080 --> 00:10:58,160 Speaker 1: to these large sea creatures. But some of these sailors 159 00:10:58,400 --> 00:11:00,480 Speaker 1: may not have cared too much about that or had 160 00:11:00,520 --> 00:11:05,640 Speaker 1: access to and probably still thought these were demonic sea monsters. Yeah, 161 00:11:05,760 --> 00:11:07,800 Speaker 1: and and you know, it's something we talked about and 162 00:11:07,800 --> 00:11:10,560 Speaker 1: stuff that once you know, one thing you have to 163 00:11:10,600 --> 00:11:14,720 Speaker 1: realize when you hear stories of sea serpents or big 164 00:11:15,200 --> 00:11:19,080 Speaker 1: monsters from the sea demolishing ships. A lot of those 165 00:11:19,120 --> 00:11:23,680 Speaker 1: ships were much smaller than they're they're depicted in fiction. 166 00:11:23,880 --> 00:11:27,520 Speaker 1: So it's not outside the realm of possibility that something 167 00:11:27,600 --> 00:11:31,360 Speaker 1: as big as a sperm whale could absolutely put one 168 00:11:31,520 --> 00:11:34,360 Speaker 1: to ruin. Even the name of the ship in the 169 00:11:34,960 --> 00:11:37,520 Speaker 1: story Moby Dick the Peaquad, it just sounds like a 170 00:11:37,520 --> 00:11:40,800 Speaker 1: little tiny key thing, doesn't it. Yeah. Yeah, And and 171 00:11:40,840 --> 00:11:46,280 Speaker 1: of course that's not to diminish the Peaquad tribe which 172 00:11:46,400 --> 00:11:49,400 Speaker 1: the which is the namesake of the ship, at least 173 00:11:49,400 --> 00:11:53,760 Speaker 1: per Ishmael in the in the book. But speaking of names, 174 00:11:53,800 --> 00:11:56,319 Speaker 1: I do want to shout out how weird the English 175 00:11:56,400 --> 00:12:02,319 Speaker 1: language is. The study of set Asians broadly is satology, 176 00:12:02,440 --> 00:12:05,760 Speaker 1: so you would be a statologist, but you can also 177 00:12:06,160 --> 00:12:09,280 Speaker 1: go specifically to whales and uh. In the past you 178 00:12:09,320 --> 00:12:14,600 Speaker 1: would have been called a whaleologist or the inexpert in whaleology, 179 00:12:15,000 --> 00:12:17,800 Speaker 1: which sounds so very made up, like Tim and Eric 180 00:12:17,920 --> 00:12:24,000 Speaker 1: level made up. I'm a whaleologist in the institations are uh, 181 00:12:24,040 --> 00:12:28,559 Speaker 1: they include whales, dolphins, and porpoises, whales being obviously the 182 00:12:28,600 --> 00:12:32,679 Speaker 1: most massive of these three varieties. So and they are 183 00:12:32,679 --> 00:12:36,200 Speaker 1: also mammals because they do give live birth and they've 184 00:12:36,240 --> 00:12:39,960 Speaker 1: got they've got a lot of the same brain functions 185 00:12:40,000 --> 00:12:43,840 Speaker 1: that you would see in very intelligent mammals, um like 186 00:12:43,920 --> 00:12:49,560 Speaker 1: an elephant or uh, some primates, not all dolphins we know, 187 00:12:49,640 --> 00:12:51,640 Speaker 1: I mean all the dolphins studies, like some of the 188 00:12:51,640 --> 00:12:54,920 Speaker 1: experiments done by John C. Lily in terms of their 189 00:12:54,920 --> 00:12:58,000 Speaker 1: ability to communicate and even thought that they were potentially 190 00:12:58,040 --> 00:13:01,000 Speaker 1: like head telepathy or something. Right, A lot of a 191 00:13:01,040 --> 00:13:05,200 Speaker 1: lot of fuss made about the intelligence of dolphins. Yeah, yeah, 192 00:13:05,360 --> 00:13:09,959 Speaker 1: And that story is one that gets repeated on podcasts 193 00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:14,400 Speaker 1: of plenty for good reason. Not entirely family friendly, but 194 00:13:14,640 --> 00:13:18,400 Speaker 1: it shows you some of the bleeding edges of science 195 00:13:18,440 --> 00:13:25,120 Speaker 1: at the time. Max, your hand gesture is accurate and inappropriate. Yeah, 196 00:13:25,280 --> 00:13:28,280 Speaker 1: well it's not all the way dolphins sex. It's like 197 00:13:28,880 --> 00:13:33,400 Speaker 1: second base. Yeah, is that third base? I don't know, Uh, 198 00:13:33,320 --> 00:13:36,040 Speaker 1: you know, we're not we're not sports. Dolphins don't play baseball. 199 00:13:36,240 --> 00:13:38,640 Speaker 1: Is the issue that that's actually one of the big 200 00:13:38,679 --> 00:13:43,600 Speaker 1: issues they're so from from the first time that people 201 00:13:43,880 --> 00:13:51,199 Speaker 1: know of this Mocha Dick character, this this whale, we 202 00:13:51,200 --> 00:13:55,800 Speaker 1: we see that it has been actively hunted by this 203 00:13:55,920 --> 00:14:00,760 Speaker 1: very brutal whaling industry. And it's not a aping without 204 00:14:00,840 --> 00:14:04,200 Speaker 1: battle scars. This feels like a very heavy metal thing. 205 00:14:04,320 --> 00:14:07,800 Speaker 1: And he was carrying heavy metal. He would he was 206 00:14:08,160 --> 00:14:12,200 Speaker 1: hit by all sorts of harpoons that had chains attached, 207 00:14:12,640 --> 00:14:16,480 Speaker 1: and they dragged after him for up to a hundred 208 00:14:16,559 --> 00:14:21,280 Speaker 1: yards at least per the per the contemporary reports. And uh, 209 00:14:21,360 --> 00:14:24,120 Speaker 1: it's I don't know, I mean that must be so 210 00:14:24,160 --> 00:14:28,160 Speaker 1: traumatic to the animal. Yeah, And I mean obviously, um, 211 00:14:28,280 --> 00:14:33,240 Speaker 1: James Cameron is a you know, professed naturalists. He uh, 212 00:14:33,320 --> 00:14:36,520 Speaker 1: you know, has just done deep sea expeditions with his 213 00:14:36,760 --> 00:14:40,440 Speaker 1: you know, vast resources that even some scientists couldn't afford 214 00:14:40,480 --> 00:14:43,440 Speaker 1: to do. Um, and he is very you know, enamored 215 00:14:43,440 --> 00:14:48,160 Speaker 1: by sea creatures and the whales in Avatar to whatever 216 00:14:48,160 --> 00:14:50,000 Speaker 1: you wanted the with the Shape of Water. No, it's 217 00:14:50,000 --> 00:14:53,720 Speaker 1: a different movie, very similar. There there's you know, there's 218 00:14:53,760 --> 00:14:59,360 Speaker 1: battle scars. The whaling industry is very much paralleled in 219 00:14:59,480 --> 00:15:03,000 Speaker 1: this kind of future, you know, society in Avatar. And 220 00:15:03,240 --> 00:15:05,000 Speaker 1: I a should really like the movie a lot, And 221 00:15:05,080 --> 00:15:08,520 Speaker 1: I was very skeptical when he announced, you know, this 222 00:15:08,560 --> 00:15:10,880 Speaker 1: movie I made fifteen years ago or whatever, we're gonna 223 00:15:10,880 --> 00:15:14,560 Speaker 1: make like ten more. It is already, I think, in 224 00:15:14,720 --> 00:15:18,440 Speaker 1: on par with the grosses of the first Avatar movie. 225 00:15:18,520 --> 00:15:21,640 Speaker 1: So Jay's camera man. He's a bit of a megalomaniac 226 00:15:21,640 --> 00:15:23,960 Speaker 1: and apparently a nightmare to work for, but he knows 227 00:15:24,120 --> 00:15:27,320 Speaker 1: his business, and thank goodness, he likes the ocean. So 228 00:15:27,720 --> 00:15:34,040 Speaker 1: Moka Dick becomes so famous that whaling captain's talk about 229 00:15:34,120 --> 00:15:37,600 Speaker 1: him as a way of greeting each other when you 230 00:15:37,680 --> 00:15:42,120 Speaker 1: see another ship going across the Pacific. One of the 231 00:15:42,200 --> 00:15:44,880 Speaker 1: things that you always say in your conversation with the 232 00:15:44,880 --> 00:15:49,800 Speaker 1: other captain is any news from Mocha Dick. Like every 233 00:15:49,800 --> 00:15:55,840 Speaker 1: whaling captain wants to nail this poor whale. The the 234 00:15:55,960 --> 00:15:58,960 Speaker 1: idea is that this is like the Golden Grail. This 235 00:15:59,080 --> 00:16:05,000 Speaker 1: is the ultimate huntsman's trophy. And the weird thing is 236 00:16:05,160 --> 00:16:10,280 Speaker 1: that if you didn't, if he didn't mess with this, 237 00:16:11,120 --> 00:16:15,080 Speaker 1: not in the natural wonder of the world, then he 238 00:16:15,120 --> 00:16:18,920 Speaker 1: would just swim by and probably be like, hey, thank 239 00:16:19,000 --> 00:16:23,400 Speaker 1: you for not inexplicably trying to kill me and giving 240 00:16:23,440 --> 00:16:26,920 Speaker 1: me these non consensual piercings. Well, that was a thing. 241 00:16:27,160 --> 00:16:30,320 Speaker 1: I can't remember where I heard it, but it was recently, 242 00:16:30,360 --> 00:16:33,000 Speaker 1: maybe on NPR. I was talking about sea life and 243 00:16:33,520 --> 00:16:36,840 Speaker 1: mentioning the fact that in general, like, of course there's 244 00:16:36,880 --> 00:16:41,120 Speaker 1: a food chain and creatures eat other creatures, but there 245 00:16:41,120 --> 00:16:45,240 Speaker 1: are no like just agro species that are just like 246 00:16:45,280 --> 00:16:49,080 Speaker 1: trying to mess with other species just because um, it's 247 00:16:49,120 --> 00:16:52,800 Speaker 1: all very kind of carefully balanced sort of system, and 248 00:16:52,920 --> 00:16:55,840 Speaker 1: humans are just not like that. We go after things 249 00:16:55,840 --> 00:16:59,480 Speaker 1: because they freak us out and because we are made 250 00:16:59,520 --> 00:17:02,320 Speaker 1: to feel smaller by them, and therefore we want to, 251 00:17:02,760 --> 00:17:05,200 Speaker 1: rather than find out what their deal is, just you know, 252 00:17:05,400 --> 00:17:08,760 Speaker 1: murder them. It reminds me of one of the most 253 00:17:08,920 --> 00:17:13,880 Speaker 1: insightful far Side cartoons that Gary Larson ever made. It's 254 00:17:13,920 --> 00:17:17,800 Speaker 1: a caveman who watches a bird fly, then flaps its 255 00:17:17,920 --> 00:17:21,640 Speaker 1: arms and then builds a bow and arrow and shoots 256 00:17:21,680 --> 00:17:25,399 Speaker 1: the bird and that's classic human And with that, let's 257 00:17:25,400 --> 00:17:28,080 Speaker 1: talk about me, and let's talk about how Mocha Dick 258 00:17:28,200 --> 00:17:32,520 Speaker 1: met his his end. Uh. He went out like a 259 00:17:32,600 --> 00:17:35,439 Speaker 1: g he went out like a hero. Because according to 260 00:17:35,480 --> 00:17:41,720 Speaker 1: the story, Mocha Dick, after surviving all these attempted assassinations, 261 00:17:42,320 --> 00:17:46,520 Speaker 1: sees a mother whale and her calf, and the calf 262 00:17:46,560 --> 00:17:49,880 Speaker 1: has just been this juvenile well has just been killed 263 00:17:49,960 --> 00:17:53,639 Speaker 1: by whalers, so it went belly up. And when the 264 00:17:53,800 --> 00:17:58,320 Speaker 1: mother realized her child was dead, she turned on the 265 00:17:58,359 --> 00:18:02,560 Speaker 1: whalers and tried to destroy the ship. They harpooned her 266 00:18:03,320 --> 00:18:06,520 Speaker 1: and mortally wounded her before she was able to strike 267 00:18:06,600 --> 00:18:10,240 Speaker 1: this ship. Mocha Dick was in the area, saw this 268 00:18:10,760 --> 00:18:16,000 Speaker 1: and attacked the whaling ship directly. Uh. He destroyed one 269 00:18:16,000 --> 00:18:19,040 Speaker 1: of the smaller boats, but they have multiple boats. He 270 00:18:19,119 --> 00:18:22,360 Speaker 1: was injured by a harpoon. Yeah, and this is almost 271 00:18:22,600 --> 00:18:25,800 Speaker 1: exactly the plot of that that seventies movie Orca that 272 00:18:25,840 --> 00:18:29,080 Speaker 1: I was talking about. It's very much like a revenge tale. 273 00:18:35,840 --> 00:18:38,160 Speaker 1: So again I mean this this. You know, Mocha Dick 274 00:18:38,400 --> 00:18:45,359 Speaker 1: was not operating on full capacity after numerous encounters with 275 00:18:45,359 --> 00:18:49,359 Speaker 1: with man uh and and all of man's implements of 276 00:18:49,520 --> 00:18:54,240 Speaker 1: you know, murder and and torture. So inevitably Mocha Dick 277 00:18:54,440 --> 00:19:01,679 Speaker 1: succumbed to his wounds. Yeah. Unfortunately, this this giant was 278 00:19:01,880 --> 00:19:06,920 Speaker 1: brought down by the Lily Putchin forces of man. Right, 279 00:19:07,000 --> 00:19:13,920 Speaker 1: is that right? The it's in Gulliver's Travels the Tiny Yeah. Yeah, 280 00:19:14,160 --> 00:19:17,399 Speaker 1: so so I think that's an accurate comparison. Um. You 281 00:19:17,440 --> 00:19:22,359 Speaker 1: can see the writing about his death, which is coming 282 00:19:22,359 --> 00:19:25,919 Speaker 1: to people's second hand in many cases, and is also 283 00:19:26,080 --> 00:19:30,600 Speaker 1: embellished a little bit as a modern myth with each retelling. So, 284 00:19:31,119 --> 00:19:35,040 Speaker 1: according to the story, he shoots up twenty feet above 285 00:19:35,080 --> 00:19:41,000 Speaker 1: the waves. Uh. He tries to dart away. They pursue 286 00:19:41,119 --> 00:19:44,720 Speaker 1: him through rough water for a quarter of a mile 287 00:19:44,800 --> 00:19:48,040 Speaker 1: because he's that big, and he's messed the surface of 288 00:19:48,080 --> 00:19:51,600 Speaker 1: the water up that much. Uh. He is quivering and twitching. 289 00:19:51,680 --> 00:19:55,840 Speaker 1: He's under his death throws. The reporting uses the phrase 290 00:19:55,960 --> 00:19:58,960 Speaker 1: as if under the influence of Galvinism, which means it 291 00:19:58,960 --> 00:20:02,480 Speaker 1: looks like he's being elect tricute. It the waist twitching. Yeah, 292 00:20:02,600 --> 00:20:06,480 Speaker 1: And they came near him. They were able to get 293 00:20:06,480 --> 00:20:10,120 Speaker 1: close enough because he was weakened, and they started just 294 00:20:10,560 --> 00:20:14,760 Speaker 1: hacking at him. Uh. And he tried to he tried 295 00:20:14,800 --> 00:20:20,280 Speaker 1: to fight back, but he was just too They were 296 00:20:20,440 --> 00:20:24,000 Speaker 1: up on him, like stabbing him, and uh, he was 297 00:20:24,080 --> 00:20:28,840 Speaker 1: just too wounded to make to make an escape when 298 00:20:28,880 --> 00:20:34,360 Speaker 1: she was trying to do and uh, they killed him. 299 00:20:34,600 --> 00:20:40,400 Speaker 1: Isn't it funny how oftentimes man thinks they're so great 300 00:20:40,440 --> 00:20:43,640 Speaker 1: and powerful, but it's totally cheating. You know, they're using 301 00:20:43,640 --> 00:20:46,159 Speaker 1: all these other implements and they have the deck stacked 302 00:20:46,160 --> 00:20:50,720 Speaker 1: in their favor. You know, this whale survived multiple encounters 303 00:20:50,760 --> 00:20:54,280 Speaker 1: and they just wore him down over time and then 304 00:20:54,280 --> 00:20:58,400 Speaker 1: finally just you know, dealt the death blow. But good lord, 305 00:20:58,720 --> 00:21:01,720 Speaker 1: what a fight, mocha Dick. But I think we're all 306 00:21:01,760 --> 00:21:06,240 Speaker 1: on team team Dick here, team whale for sure. Yeah. 307 00:21:06,720 --> 00:21:09,960 Speaker 1: And it's weird because in this rewarding you will see, 308 00:21:10,440 --> 00:21:12,439 Speaker 1: you know, this is a story of adventure on the 309 00:21:12,520 --> 00:21:18,640 Speaker 1: high seat. So the UM it occurs in the larger 310 00:21:18,800 --> 00:21:24,920 Speaker 1: literary ecosystem of man conquering nature heroically. And that's how 311 00:21:24,960 --> 00:21:29,200 Speaker 1: all these things are, That's how all these adventure narratives 312 00:21:29,200 --> 00:21:33,719 Speaker 1: are depicted, just like UM thirty seven days apparel from ephemeral. 313 00:21:33,840 --> 00:21:37,600 Speaker 1: That's that's one to one kind of encounter, right, except 314 00:21:37,680 --> 00:21:41,040 Speaker 1: in this case, the wild happens to be the whale 315 00:21:41,359 --> 00:21:45,199 Speaker 1: and uh, and here there is a kaiju story exactly. 316 00:21:45,240 --> 00:21:48,280 Speaker 1: And it wasn't until later in America or in literature 317 00:21:48,359 --> 00:21:50,480 Speaker 1: or the cannon. I guess that you had folks like 318 00:21:50,600 --> 00:21:54,919 Speaker 1: Jack London who were more identifying with the animals, you know, 319 00:21:55,040 --> 00:21:57,359 Speaker 1: and it was more about how can we live in 320 00:21:57,480 --> 00:22:01,600 Speaker 1: balance with with these uh, with these creatures. And so 321 00:22:02,720 --> 00:22:08,080 Speaker 1: we say that because if you read the reporting of 322 00:22:08,160 --> 00:22:11,720 Speaker 1: the death of Mocha Dick, then you see that it 323 00:22:11,840 --> 00:22:16,160 Speaker 1: comes like gets depicted as the humans heroically getting so 324 00:22:16,200 --> 00:22:21,280 Speaker 1: close to death themselves. It's like UM on a much 325 00:22:21,400 --> 00:22:25,160 Speaker 1: larger mythical level. It's like if you've ever played tech 326 00:22:25,240 --> 00:22:28,240 Speaker 1: In or Street Fighter or Soul Caliber, and you get 327 00:22:28,280 --> 00:22:32,040 Speaker 1: to the point where if either side takes one hit, 328 00:22:32,160 --> 00:22:35,119 Speaker 1: the game is over. And the humans got that that 329 00:22:35,240 --> 00:22:38,959 Speaker 1: at last hit. So that's that's how it's depicted. Uh. 330 00:22:39,119 --> 00:22:43,200 Speaker 1: You can see UM. You can see the first first 331 00:22:43,240 --> 00:22:46,840 Speaker 1: person narratives where they're saying things like he's fit up 332 00:22:46,840 --> 00:22:51,359 Speaker 1: at last I screened at the very top of my voice, Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah, 333 00:22:51,400 --> 00:22:54,199 Speaker 1: And you know, they're literally throwing up their caps and 334 00:22:54,320 --> 00:22:58,480 Speaker 1: dancing around around the corpse of this whale and presumably singing, 335 00:22:59,400 --> 00:23:04,159 Speaker 1: presuming we singing, And so hilay around me, boys, and 336 00:23:04,240 --> 00:23:07,680 Speaker 1: let us set on him. I cried for I saw 337 00:23:07,720 --> 00:23:10,920 Speaker 1: his spirit was broken at last, But the lands and 338 00:23:11,080 --> 00:23:14,800 Speaker 1: spade were needless. Now the dying animal was struggling in 339 00:23:14,840 --> 00:23:18,880 Speaker 1: a whirlpool of bloody foam, and the ocean far around 340 00:23:19,400 --> 00:23:23,080 Speaker 1: was tinted with crimson. Yeah, and it just it just 341 00:23:23,960 --> 00:23:28,200 Speaker 1: goes on and this, and so we know that Herman 342 00:23:28,320 --> 00:23:32,960 Speaker 1: Melville what was aware of the story, right, it's this 343 00:23:33,040 --> 00:23:40,480 Speaker 1: albino whale that is captured global imagination. Mocha Dick, is it? 344 00:23:41,240 --> 00:23:44,440 Speaker 1: I mean, Moka Dick, Moby Dick. It's not too long 345 00:23:44,480 --> 00:23:48,880 Speaker 1: of a logical leap, but it is only part of 346 00:23:48,920 --> 00:23:54,359 Speaker 1: the inspiration for the novel Moby Dick. And in the 347 00:23:54,400 --> 00:23:56,920 Speaker 1: next like in part two, I think we're going to 348 00:23:57,040 --> 00:24:00,679 Speaker 1: talk about the crew. But before we end, I had 349 00:24:00,720 --> 00:24:03,159 Speaker 1: I had an update. I know you've probably heard this 350 00:24:03,200 --> 00:24:05,960 Speaker 1: story because we talked about it before at some point, 351 00:24:06,400 --> 00:24:11,040 Speaker 1: The World's Loneliest whale. Remember this guy who sung we 352 00:24:11,119 --> 00:24:14,440 Speaker 1: haven't Okay? So you know, all whale songs have some 353 00:24:14,480 --> 00:24:17,160 Speaker 1: stuff in commons so they can communicate with each other. 354 00:24:17,760 --> 00:24:21,600 Speaker 1: There was one whale who was called the fifty two 355 00:24:21,680 --> 00:24:26,800 Speaker 1: Hurts whale because his song He's a blue whale, not 356 00:24:26,880 --> 00:24:29,120 Speaker 1: a sperm whale. His song, which are the bigger? Which 357 00:24:29,160 --> 00:24:34,840 Speaker 1: are bigger? Even? Right? Aren't the great blue whales the biggest? Art? Yeah? 358 00:24:34,920 --> 00:24:40,480 Speaker 1: And uh, the blue whales have a frequency of ten 359 00:24:40,680 --> 00:24:45,359 Speaker 1: to thirty nine hurts and this this guy's voice was 360 00:24:45,520 --> 00:24:51,479 Speaker 1: so so different that he couldn't really communicate with other whales, 361 00:24:51,520 --> 00:24:55,879 Speaker 1: and so he's called the loneliest whale. He actually inspired 362 00:24:56,040 --> 00:24:59,760 Speaker 1: a song by the K pop group BTS. It's called 363 00:25:00,000 --> 00:25:05,320 Speaker 1: Walian fifty two. It's like alien whale. And uh, I 364 00:25:05,400 --> 00:25:08,600 Speaker 1: just mentioned this because there's a happy ending with this guy. Apparently, 365 00:25:09,480 --> 00:25:14,400 Speaker 1: as of October of twenty twenty two, some stytologists or 366 00:25:14,480 --> 00:25:19,160 Speaker 1: who allologists, they prefer the term marine scientists. Uh, they 367 00:25:19,240 --> 00:25:24,760 Speaker 1: heard two different fifty two hurts calls within ten minutes 368 00:25:24,800 --> 00:25:28,639 Speaker 1: of each other off the coast of California. So finally, 369 00:25:29,600 --> 00:25:33,159 Speaker 1: our our poor buddy who is standing in the corner 370 00:25:33,280 --> 00:25:37,200 Speaker 1: of the ocean, uh talking to fifty two hurts, found 371 00:25:37,200 --> 00:25:42,800 Speaker 1: someone who heard him, who hurts him? If oh no, wait, 372 00:25:42,840 --> 00:25:45,800 Speaker 1: that's worth it? Yes, from the perspective to have an 373 00:25:45,800 --> 00:25:48,679 Speaker 1: audio nerd. You said ten to fifty two hurts, So 374 00:25:48,840 --> 00:25:53,400 Speaker 1: fifty two hurts is like sub base frequencies, like if 375 00:25:53,400 --> 00:25:55,760 Speaker 1: you think of, like, you know, a song, those are 376 00:25:55,800 --> 00:25:58,800 Speaker 1: frequencies that are gonna be like eight oh eight kick drums, 377 00:25:58,840 --> 00:26:02,240 Speaker 1: like in the lowest part of that. And ten isn't 378 00:26:02,320 --> 00:26:06,080 Speaker 1: even on the graph of what would you'd use in 379 00:26:06,119 --> 00:26:09,400 Speaker 1: an audio recording because it's outside of the realm of 380 00:26:09,400 --> 00:26:12,800 Speaker 1: of human hearing. Yes, so most blue whales again are 381 00:26:12,880 --> 00:26:15,200 Speaker 1: like ten to thirty die and hurts. So for some reason, 382 00:26:15,240 --> 00:26:17,240 Speaker 1: this guy is on his eight oh eights on his 383 00:26:17,400 --> 00:26:21,320 Speaker 1: fifty two hurts. But we wanted to uh, we wanted 384 00:26:21,320 --> 00:26:24,800 Speaker 1: to have at least one part of this of today's 385 00:26:24,880 --> 00:26:32,040 Speaker 1: story that wasn't us uh excoriating whalers of the past. 386 00:26:32,600 --> 00:26:35,119 Speaker 1: It's like the part in the blind melon video or 387 00:26:35,160 --> 00:26:37,680 Speaker 1: the little be girl finds her people and then they 388 00:26:37,760 --> 00:26:42,359 Speaker 1: frolic gleefully together in the meadow. What a wonderful image. 389 00:26:42,359 --> 00:26:45,720 Speaker 1: Now imagine that breaks me up every time with two 390 00:26:45,760 --> 00:26:50,080 Speaker 1: wheel two whales dancing, And that's gonna be part one 391 00:26:50,359 --> 00:26:53,240 Speaker 1: of our journey. But tune in in a few days 392 00:26:53,359 --> 00:26:58,159 Speaker 1: for part two, where we look at the story of 393 00:26:58,200 --> 00:27:03,840 Speaker 1: the crew that likely inspired the crew in Moby Dick. 394 00:27:03,920 --> 00:27:09,280 Speaker 1: In the meantime, thanks to our super producer call him 395 00:27:09,280 --> 00:27:13,720 Speaker 1: is Ishmael or call him Max Williams, just don't call 396 00:27:13,800 --> 00:27:17,560 Speaker 1: him during dinner. Yes, yes, uh. And also big big 397 00:27:17,600 --> 00:27:21,960 Speaker 1: thanks of course to Alex Williams. We have some breaking news. 398 00:27:22,040 --> 00:27:27,480 Speaker 1: We might have our dear old pal Mr Casey Pegram 399 00:27:27,520 --> 00:27:32,200 Speaker 1: returning for an episode in the near future. Ah Casey 400 00:27:32,280 --> 00:27:35,680 Speaker 1: on the case indeed um. Also huge thanks to Christopher 401 00:27:35,680 --> 00:27:39,600 Speaker 1: hasciotis here in spirit uh he's Jeff Coades, Jonathan Strickland, 402 00:27:39,800 --> 00:27:43,520 Speaker 1: and and to you Ben for for for being my 403 00:27:43,720 --> 00:27:49,880 Speaker 1: uh my mate. I don't know anything about nautical terms 404 00:27:50,040 --> 00:27:55,240 Speaker 1: this ocean voyage and where is friendship found? It's not 405 00:27:55,400 --> 00:27:59,680 Speaker 1: down on any map. True places never are under the scene. 406 00:28:00,680 --> 00:28:10,159 Speaker 1: We'll see you next time. For more podcasts from my 407 00:28:10,200 --> 00:28:12,840 Speaker 1: Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, 408 00:28:12,960 --> 00:28:15,080 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.