Sometime in the summer of 1860, just over 100 kidnapped africans children came ashore in Mobile Bay, part of the gulf coast of Alabama.

The reports on the specific number of slaves on board vary anywhere from 109 to 116. The slave trade had been outlawed for over 50 years at this point, but that didn’t stop William Foster from seeking a profit on the exploitation of human lives.

More than 8,000 captives were brought to the American South by slave traders following the 1807 ban.

American shipowners, merchants, seamen and corrupt officials, a majority of then based out of New York City, continued shipping captive Africans well past when it was legal. The ship that brought the slaves in was a 86 foot double masted Schooner, called the Clotilda.

SHOW NOTES:

1:00 William Foster

1:55 Voyage to Africa

3:10 Return to America

4:20 Scuttled to Silence

5:10 After the Emancipation

6:15 Africatown

Further Reading: 

 

The Last Slave Ship: The True Story of How Clotilda Was Found, Her Descendants, and an Extraordinary Reckoning By Ben Raines

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In the nineteenth century Darwin’s Origin of Species gave credence to the reality of mermaids. Darwin’s research concluded the possibility of mermaids as some evolutionary by-product or evidence of humankind’s descent from watery origins. When this happened, the Victorians of the nineteenth century became obsessed. Mermaids consumed everything. The fantasy of the ethereal creature from the deep moved from sailor’s folklore into the cultural mainstream. In this evolving folklore, the sight or sound of a mermaid was taken as a sign of storms or shipwreck.  There are many ballads that tell the same basic story: seamen spot a mermaid combing her hair, the win begins to blow, the ship is tossed on the stormy seas and is dashed on the rocks and the sailors go to heaven or hell. Connect with Sydney Zaruba:

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The ocean holds a power within her, a volume that our species is incapable of comprehending. She makes up nearly 75% of the planet we call home, yet we know only her surface. We know the seven seas, our major oceans, but we don’t know all her history. We know the great barrier reef and the inhabitants. We know the beautiful blue whale and we know of great whites.

 

We also know how we have used and abused the ocean, making her our trash bin, a place we could discard things and forget about them. But long before Europeans were sailing the ocean and trying to figure out how to calculate longitude and latitude, there was a group of people who respected the ocean, and listened to her. These people settled some of the farthest reaches of the world, and it all started nearly four thousand years ago, in a dugout canoe.

SHOW NOTES

:30THE FIRST POLYNESIAN VOYAGES

2:48 EUROPEAN OPPRESSION

3:39 THE STORIES

4:20 THE STARS

5:45 VENTURING INTO LOCAL WATERS

6:30 THE DEPARTURE

7:05 THE VOYAGE

8:07 THE ARRIVAL

9:20 EUROPEAN ARRIVAL TO POLYNESIA

11:50 TON TIKA

12:30 REVIVAL OF WAYFINDING

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In the early days of sailing and navigation, sailors had to stay close to the coast. They looked to the shore for landmarks to guide them. Hills, cliffs, churches, and windmills could all give a navigator key clues to his location. As local knowledge grew, and more people navigated coastal waters, books showcasing the horizon and specific landmarks regarding your route became available for purchase. A sailor knew as long as he could see land, he wasn’t truly lost. By keeping an eye on the coast, you had that rough idea of your location.

 

SHOW NOTES:

:58 Sir Cloudsley

1:40 Why Sailors Look Up

2:15 Red Sky at Night

4:05 Mackerel Sky & Mare’s Tails

6:06 Dead Reckoning

9:00 Celestial Navigation

9:10 Astrolabe

9:35 Cross Staff

10:00 Back Staff

10:20 Quadrants

10:30 Octant

10:55 Sextant

11:20 Determining Longitude

11:40 Chronometer

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Mackerel & Mackerel Sky

Mare’s Tail

Episode 10: The Story of Anne Bonny & Mary Read

Anne had flaming red hair, and the stereotypical fiery temper to go with it.

She was the illegitimate daughter of Irish lawyer, William Cormac. In those days, having a child out of wedlock was kind of a big deal. William Cormac’s maidservant, Mary, gave birth to Anne in sixteen ninety seven. Shortly after her birth and, not surprisingly, William’s wife found out about the child and his mistress.

So William fled with Mary and baby Anne to America, in order to avoid the scandal. They settled in Charleston, where they fell into a tumultuous life with a Troublesome Anne. As Anne got older, her father wanted nothing more than a respectable marriage for his daughter, but Anne had a mind of her own. A respectable marriage was not on her list of things to do.

SHOW NOTES:

1:50 The Birth of Mary Reed

3:33 Mary’s Youth

4:20 James & Anne Bonny’s Marriage

5:15 Calico Jack & Anne Bonny Meet

6:27  Who is Calico Jack Rackham?

7:45 Anne’s Escape into a life of Piracy

8:30 Anne & Mary Meet

9:20 Their Collective Capture

10:00 Anne & Mary’s Life After Piracy

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***

Research for Nautical Nonsense is Conducted by Dr. Martin Bellamy

Sources

Appleby, John C.. Women and English Piracy, 1540-1720: Partners and Victims of Crime. United Kingdom, Boydell Press, 2013.

Duncombe, Laura Sook. Pirate Women: The Princesses, Prostitutes, and Privateers Who Ruled the Seven Seas. United States, Chicago Review Press, 2017.

Druett, Joan. She Captains: Heroines and Hellions of the Sea. United Kingdom, Simon & Schuster, 2001.

Jo Stanley, Bold in Her Breeches: Women Pirates Across the Ages. United Kingdom, Pandora, 1995.

Rediker, Marcus. Villains of All Nations: Atlantic Pirates in the Golden Age. United States, Beacon Press, 2011.

Charles Johnson, A General History of the Pyrates, (London, 1724).

 

The S.S. Pulaski was built for the ocean, unlike her predecessor Home.

Pulaski was larger, faster, more robust and far more glamorous.

She was the who’s who of eastern seaboard ocean liners, everyone sought a berth aboard and dare to take a trip on board the new and elegant Pulaski. She was built so impressively not only to attract the attention of rich businessmen, but to allay passenger fears after what happened to the S.S. Home.

S.S. Pulaski departed on her fourth voyage on the thirteenth of June, 1838.  She was to set sail from Savannah, pick up more passengers in Charleston, then carry on to Baltimore.

Many of the passengers on board were wealthy businessmen with last names we have all heard of, Hamilton and Rochester to name a few. The passengers who traveled on the Pulaski were some of the richest folk in the Southeastern United States. But, not all of the names are recorded in the manifest for the transit. And truthfully, this was a pretty common occurrence for the time.

Sometimes tickets were exchanged, or someone signed on last minute, and there would be no record of that person on the ship. Sometimes, people just disappear from our written history. The North Carolina Coast is a mysterious place. There is one place in particular though, that leaves you with an eerie feeling.

Hatteras Island used to be known as Croatoa or Roanoke Island.

And yes, that’s the same Roanoak Island where the settlers disappeared from without a trace. A large part of Hatteras island is mad up by the sandy Cape Hatteras. And while it may seem like a lovely vacation spot with a quaint lighthouse, this mystifying jutting cape off the North Carolina Coast and the area surrounding it, is also known as the graveyard of the Atlantic.

Further Reading: Graveyard of the Atlantic

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But there is something to be said about why a sea shanty, a tune from a time most people know or think little about, happened to become a viral phenomena overnight Sea shanties and ballads have long been a way to bring people together.

Their simplicity of tune and rhythm means anyone can partake, so long as you can remember the words - or not, that’s fine too.  You can always just mumble along.

But the words to sea shanties are often very simple, allowing people of many languages, backgrounds, and cultures to be able to understand and participate in the communal activity of song.

While shanties were used for working - and exclusively so, ballads, like the Wellerman were used to entertain and tell stories. 

The sailors saw them as a way to pass the time, vent through a creative outlet, tell stories, and bring the crew together and ease into a form of peace, in whatever situation they may find themselves. 

[:39] Scottish Postman Sings Sea Shanty on TikTok

[1:35] Why Sailors and Modern Society in a Pandemic Love Sea Shanties

[3:00] When and Why Sea Shanties Were Sung

[3:35] Why Sea Shanties Were Important

[4:00] The Three Types of Shanties

[4:10 ] Hauling Shanties 

[4:20] Earlie in the Mornin’

[5:00] The Shantyman

[6:10]Blow the Man Down 

[7:10] Heaving Shanties

[8:25] Pump Shanties

[8:40] Shanty Superstitions

[9:40] Forecastle Shanties / Ditties /Forebitters

[10:34] Decline of the Sea Shanty

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Listen to Rummer the Rum Runner on Spotify

Episode 7: Edmund Fitzgerald

Not all tales of ships on the lakes come from a time of corsets and petticoats.

Some of our most famous and tragic stories are much more modern than that, and stick with us more notably because of the impact from falling so close to home. In 1976 Gordon Lightfoot released a folk ballad that reached the number one slot in Canada and the number two slot in the U -S on billboard charts. The song was nominated for two grammy awards, song of the year, and best Male pop vocal performance. A keen yachtsman, Lightfoot grew up sailing on the great lakes. So deeply touched by the news of the sinking of an ore carrier on Lake Superior in the November of 1975, he wanted to memorialise the crew and their lives lost.

Show Notes

[2:00] About the Edmund Fitzgerald

[2:50] Earnest McSorley

[3:10] Her final Departure

[3:37] The Witch of November

[3:50] Hours into the Storm Edmund Fitzgerald Radios into Headquarters

[4:13] The Snow Sets In

[4:44] The Big Blow

[5:10] Final Words from the Edmund Fitzgerald

[5:40] Arthur M Anderson reports Edmund Fitzgerald Missing

[6:00] Search and Attempted Rescue

[6:15] What’s left of the Edmund Fitzgerald

[6:54] Why the Edmund Fitzgerald Sank

[8:44] Why they Sailed in November

[9:20] The Mariner’s Church in Detroit

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Listen to the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald by Gordon Lightfoot on Spotify

As humans, we yearn for tradition.

We crave the companionship and comfort in the knowledge our actions were reflected in those before us and will be in those after us.

Some traditions that get passed on are obvious, like roasting a turkey on Thanksgiving or leaving out cookies and milk for Santa.

Language through the years has morphed, and thanks to immigration, our colloquialisms, and an increase in rapid communication, our vocabulary has both expanded and contracted.

Language is a living organism of its own.

You might remember from episode one, where I told you the origin story of minding your p’s and q’s - it came from sailing.

So it probably won’t come as a surprise to you, but HEAPS of the common phrases we say today come from a nautical background.

Show Notes:

[3:35] Slush Fund

[4:46] Toe the Line

[5:10] The Cat’s out of the Bag

[5:45] Pipe Down

[7:00] Three Square Meals

[7:38] Elbows off the Table

[8:50] Shanghied

[9:45] Three Sheets to the Wind

[10:50] Feeling Groggy

[11:25] Dressing Down

[12:03] Little Nippers

[13:33] Cut and Run

[13:51] Feeling Blue

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Eighteen men, five days of rations, and the equivalent of an Atlantic crossing.

People used to be made of tougher stuff. There aren’t many people in our lifetime who would willingly leave their families, knowing the potential of death, and also knowing our modern comforts and giving them up entirely. Society has, in a lot of ways, changed for the better, but not necessarily in all aspects. Many people would grimace at the idea of camping, let alone a lifetime of camping with rations, cold miserable weather, strict regulations, and little to no pay. As much as the British Empire has made some very questionable choices in history, we cannot deny the fact they created some truly remarkable sailors and loyalty-inspiring leaders. 

In the mid-1800s the royal navy acquired The  HMS Bounty, a converted merchant collier they planned to use to transport breadfruit from French Polynesia to the West Indies. The Bounty’s planned route sailed from Tahiti to the West Indies. Now the British and the French did not get along in the seventeen hundreds, and I don’t particularly think that has changed even now. Tahiti was chosen as a place to British dominance, in a sort of territorial standoff with the French. Shipping out the breadfruit from French Polynesia was a tactical political and militaristic display. In August of 1787, the British Royal Navy appointed William Bligh, of Plymouth, England as commanding Lieutenant aboard the Bounty.

Show Notes:

[02:35] Who is Captain William Bligh

[04:12] William Bligh was given command of the HMS Bounty

[04:55] HMS Bounty set sail from Spithead, England

[05:34] HMS Bounty finally reached Tahiti

[06:18] They departed Tahiti for the West Indies & Tensions Grew Between Captain and Crew

[08:03] Fletcher’s Mutiny 

[08:58] Bligh Taken Prisoner and Sent off in the Ship’s Boat

[10:46] HMS Bounty Returns to Tahiti and then Headed to Pitcairn Island

[11:45] HMS Bounty Crew Carry-On and Bligh’s Crew Arrives

[13:04] Mutineers Sent to Trail and Bligh Welcomed as Hero

[11:45] Bligh’s Career Continues

[14:37] Wreckage and Recreation of the HMS Bounty

 

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• A Narrative Of The Mutiny, On Board His Majesty's Ship Bounty; And The Subsequent Voyage Of Part Of The Crew, In The Ship's Boat