Beyond the Breakers

Just a quick statement from us on the unfolding genocide in Gaza and what we feel are our responsibilities to speak out in opposition to a crime of historic magnitude. 

If you are looking for easily accessible information on the history of the Palestine-Israel conflict, the Institute for Middle East Understanding has wonderful resources for doing so:

https://imeu.org/

This includes the podcast This Is Palestine, which provides a look into Palestine both through analysis of current events and history.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-is-palestine/id1509337661

فلسطين حرة

Free Palestine

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This is Part I of what became a two-part series on the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley, with special guest host Nick Williams. It was not originally planned as such, so Part I ends somewhat abruptly.

**Tanner's mic quality is not great in this episode, but it has been cleaned up as much as possible**

***a portion of this month's Patreon payout goes to Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) https://www.map.org.uk/ - if you have the resources we urge you to give to one of several charities who are operating in impossible circumstances in Gaza under Israel's genocidal forced removal and bombing campaign.

Sources:

Chaffin, Tom. The H.L. Hunley: The Secret Hope of the Confederacy. Hill and Wang, 2010.

Kelln, Albert L. “Confederate Submarines.” The Virginia Magazine of HIstory and Biography, vol. 61, no. 3, July 1953, pp. 293 - 303. 

Schneller, Robert J. “A Littoral Frustration: The Union Navy and the Siege of Charleston, 1863 - 1865.” Naval War College Review, vol. 49, no. 1, Winter 1996, pp. 38 - 60. 

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This is Part Two of Episode 115 covering the Spanish galleon Santo Cristo de Burgos (or, The Beeswax Wreck)

Be sure to check out Craig's YouTube channel!

https://www.youtube.com/@CraigAndes1

Sources referred to in Part 1:

Sources:

Borao Mateo, Jose Eugenio. “The arrival of the Spanish galleons in Manila from the Pacific Ocean and their departure along the Kuroshio stream (16th and 17th centuries).” Journal of Geographic Research, no. 47

La Follette, Cameron, Dennis Griffin, and Douglas Deur. “The Mountain of a Thousand Holes: Shipwreck Traditions and Treasure Hunting on Oregon’s North Coast.” Oregon Historical Quarterly, vol. 119, no. 2, Summer 2018, pp. 282 - 313. 

La Follette, Cameron, Douglas Deur, and Esther González. “The Galleon’s Final Journey: Accounts of Ship, Crew, and Passengers in the Colonial Archives.” Oregon Historical Quarterly, vol. 119, no. 2, Summer 2018, pp. 210 - 249 

Lévesque, Rodrigue. “The Odyssey of Captain Arriola and His Discovery of Marcus Island in 1694.” The Journal of Pacific History, vol. 32, no. 2, Dec 1997, pp. 229 - 233. 

“The Myth of the Pacific Pirate Ship.” Drain the Oceans, Season 6, Episode 4, National Geographic, 2023. 

Tremml, Birgit M. “The Global and the Local: Problematic Dynamics of the Triangular Trade in Early Modern Manila.” Journal of World History, vol. 23, no. 3, Sept 2012.

Williams, Scott S., Curt D. Peterson, Mitch Marken, and Richard Rogers. “The Beeswax Wreck of Nehalem: A Lost Manila Galleon.” Oregon Historical Quarterly, vol. 119, no. 2, Summer 2018, pp. 191 - 209. 

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**This was originally the October 2022 bonus episode, but is being released on main to fill the recording gap from Taylor's wedding/honeymoon. Enjoy!**

In this bonus episode we delve into all the juicy  drama - the backbiting, the snark, the controversy - that came after the American victory at the Battle of Lake Erie.

It's Oliver Perry vs. Jesse Elliott in a climactic battle for fame, glory, sweet medals, and the eternal gratitude of the nation. Who will emerge victorious?

Sources:

Altoff, Gerry T. "Oliver Hazard Perry and the Battle of Lake Erie." Michigan Historical Review, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 25 - 57.

Friedman, Lawrence J. and David Curtis Skaggs. "Jesse Duncan Elliott and the Battle of Lake Erie: The Issue of Mental Stability." Journal of the Early Republic, vol. 10, no. 4, pp. 493 - 516.

Skaggs, David Curtis. "Aiming at the Truth: James Fenimore Cooper and the Battle of Lake Erie." The Journal of Military History, vol. 59, no. 2, pp. 237- 255. 

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In this third and final part of the story, we see the men of the whaleship Essex embark on a journey of thousands of miles in open whaleboats in the hope of reaching the safety of the South American coast.

Less than half of them will survive the ordeal, but for some their role in the story will continue even beyond death. 

Sources:

Brantlinger, Patrick. “Missionaries and Cannibals in Nineteenth-century Fiji.” History and Anthropology, vol. 17, no. 1, 2006, pp. 21-38. 

Heffernan, Thomas Farel. Stove By a Whale: Owen Chase and the Essex. Wesleyan University Press, 1990.

Hernández Gutierrez, José María. "Traveling Anthropophagy: The Depiction of Cannibalism in Modern Travel Writing, 16th to 19th Centuries." The Journal of World History, vol. 30, no. 3, Sept 2019.

Philbrick, Nathaniel. In the Heart of the Sea. Penguin Books, 2000.

The Shipwreck of the Whaleship Essex: The True Story that Inspired Herman Melville's Moby Dick. Warbler Classics, 2022.

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Part Two of our series on the whaleship Essex brings us from Nantucket all the way around Cape Horn to the Pacific whaling grounds, and the climactic showdown with 'the largest and most terrible of all created animals.' 

Sources:

Dolin, Eric Jay. Leviathan: The History of Whaling in America. W.W Norton & Company, 2008.

Ellis, Richard. The Great Sperm Whale: A Natural History of the Ocean's Most Magnificent and Mysterious Creature. University Press of Kansas, 2011.

Heffernan, Thomas Farel. Stove By a Whale: Owen Chase and the Essex. Wesleyan University Press, 1990.

Pappas, Stephanie. "Why Has a Group of Orcas Suddenly Started Attacking Boats?" Scientific American, 24 May 2023. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-has-a-group-of-orcas-suddenly-started-attacking-boats/

Philbrick, Nathaniel. In the Heart of the Sea. Penguin Books, 2000.

Philbrick, Nathaniel. "'Every Wave Is a Fortune': Nantucket Island and the Making of an American Icon." The New England Quarterly, vol. 66, no. 3, Sep 1993, pp. 434 - 447.

The Shipwreck of the Whaleship Essex: The True Story that Inspired Herman Melville's Moby Dick. Warbler Classics, 2022.

Shoemaker, Nancy. "Oil, Spermaceti, Ambergris, and Teeth." RCC Perspectives, no. 5 (New Histories of Pacific Whaling), 2019, pp. 17 - 22. 

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This week begins our multi-part episode on the whaleship Essex, famously 'stove by a whale' in 1820, leading to an epic tale of survival, determination, and just a bit of cannibalism.

Part I focuses on the history of whaling industry in (first) Britain's American colonies and (then) the young United States, with special attention to the island of Nantucket. 

Sources:

Bouk, Dan and D. Graham Burnett. "Knowledge of Leviathan: Charles W. Morgan Anatomizes His Whale." Journal of the Early Republic, Fall 2008, pp. 433 - 466.

Dolin, Eric Jay. Leviathan: The History of Whaling in America. W.W Norton & Company, 2008.

Ellis, Richard. The Great Sperm Whale: A Natural History of the Ocean's Most Magnificent and Mysterious Creature. University Press of Kansas, 2011.

Jacob, Karl. "Nantucket's Bid for Survival During the War of 1812." Nantucket Historical Association, 2023, https://nha.org/research/nantucket-history/history-topics/nantuckets-bid-for-survival-during-the-war-of-1812/

Lu, Donna. "Nearly 200 stranded pilot whales die on Tasmanian beach but dozens saved and returned to sea." The Guardian, 22 Sep 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/sep/22/nearly-200-stranded-pilot-whales-die-on-tasmanian-beach

Michaels, Debra. "Lucretia Mott (1793 - 1880)". National Women's History Museum. https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/lucretia-mott

Philbrick, Nathaniel. In the Heart of the Sea. Penguin Books, 2000.

Philbrick, Nathaniel. "'Every Wave Is a Fortune': Nantucket Island and the Making of an American Icon." The New England Quarterly, vol. 66, no. 3, Sep 1993, pp. 434 - 447.

Shoemaker, Nancy. "Oil, Spermaceti, Ambergris, and Teeth." RCC Perspectives, no. 5 (New Histories of Pacific Whaling), 2019, pp. 17 - 22. 

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Kaylee (@kayleefabulous) is back this week to share a story from Duluth - the sinking of the whaleback Thomas Wilson after a collision with the George Hadley.

Kaylee's Duluth dive bar write-up: https://racketmn.com/best-dive-bars-duluth-mn

Sources:

Duluth Evening Herald, 29 Nov 1905.

Duluth Evening Herald, 7 Jun 1902.

Engman, Elmer. In the Belly of a Whale. Innerspace, 1988.

Stonehouse, Frederick. Haunted Lakes. Lake Superior Port Cities Inc., 1997.

Miller, Al. Tin Stackers: The History of the Pittsburgh Steamship Company. Wayne State University Press, 1999.

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**this episode does contain some instances of language that would normally be edited out in the main feed, but has been kept in the episode to preserve the direct quotes reported in Casey's article**

In the first of our "current events" episodes, we discuss Susan Casey's Vanity Fair article on the Oceangate submersible incident from earlier this year.

Source:

Casey, Susan. "The Titan Submersible Disaster Was Years in the Making, New Details Reveal." Vanity Fair, 17 Aug 2023. https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/08/titan-submersible-implosion-warnings

**Article is also posted on our Patreon (unlocked post) in PDF form**

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This week we tell Part 1 of the tale of the Manila galleon Santo Cristo de Burgos - alternatively referred to as 'The Beeswax Wreck' for reasons that will be made apparent.

This episode sets the background and historical context for Part Two, which will feature an interview with a special guest involved with the story of the wreck.

Sources:

Borao Mateo, Jose Eugenio. “The arrival of the Spanish galleons in Manila from the Pacific Ocean and their departure along the Kuroshio stream (16th and 17th centuries).” Journal of Geographic Research, no. 47

La Follette, Cameron, Dennis Griffin, and Douglas Deur. “The Mountain of a Thousand Holes: Shipwreck Traditions and Treasure Hunting on Oregon’s North Coast.” Oregon Historical Quarterly, vol. 119, no. 2, Summer 2018, pp. 282 - 313. 

La Follette, Cameron, Douglas Deur, and Esther González. “The Galleon’s Final Journey: Accounts of Ship, Crew, and Passengers in the Colonial Archives.” Oregon Historical Quarterly, vol. 119, no. 2, Summer 2018, pp. 210 - 249 

Lévesque, Rodrigue. “The Odyssey of Captain Arriola and His Discovery of Marcus Island in 1694.” The Journal of Pacific History, vol. 32, no. 2, Dec 1997, pp. 229 - 233. 

“The Myth of the Pacific Pirate Ship.” Drain the Oceans, Season 6, Episode 4, National Geographic, 2023. 

Tremml, Birgit M. “The Global and the Local: Problematic Dynamics of the Triangular Trade in Early Modern Manila.” Journal of World History, vol. 23, no. 3, Sept 2012.

Williams, Scott S., Curt D. Peterson, Mitch Marken, and Richard Rogers. “The Beeswax Wreck of Nehalem: A Lost Manila Galleon.” Oregon Historical Quarterly, vol. 119, no. 2, Summer 2018, pp. 191 - 209. 

Support the show