In 1806, Frederic Tudor set out to build a fortune by shipping ice from his family’s pond near Boston to the tropical Caribbean—an audacious idea no one believed in. But turning frozen water into profit proved far harder than he imagined. By 1809, an embargo had halted his shipments, his debts had mounted, and Tudor himself landed in jail. Still, he refused to abandon the dream that everyone else mocked. Forced to improvise, innovate, and gamble, Tudor pushed ahead—determined to make the impossible pay. 

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