We Would Be Dead

The Short Straw (The Horrible Fate of the Francis Spaight)


Listen Later

It's our Irish episode fiends, and boy did we find an eerie tale this year!

Just before Christmas in 1835 the British merchant ship, The Angerona, was on it's way from Newfoundland to Teignmouth when the captain spotted something strange. Off in the distance he saw a large vessel, ravaged by a storm, with no masts. Normally this would have signified a total loss of life, but as they got closer the captain saw something that would be burned into his brain for the rest of his life. There were men on the deck of this ruined ship, and they were jumping up and down, waving dismembered human arms and legs. The ship was called The Francis Spaight, it was an Irish transport ship from Limerick. The men aboard had been stranded for 20 days without food or water in freezing tempretures. Of the 18 original crew members, just 11 had survived... and 4 had fallen victim to an ancient tradition called: The Custom of the Sea.

Click to learn more

http://www.irelandoldnews.com/Clare/1836/JAN.html

https://www.rte.ie/radio/doconone/1314029-the-custom-of-the-sea

https://www.rte.ie/culture/2022/0812/1315357-irish-cannibals-on-the-high-seas-documentary-on-one/

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/71608919

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Spaight-24

 

 

WWBD Merch

Buy your WWBD swag here! 

Join the Conversation

    

 

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

We Would Be DeadBy We Would Be Dead

  • 4.7
  • 4.7
  • 4.7
  • 4.7
  • 4.7

4.7

199 ratings


More shows like We Would Be Dead

View all
True Crime All The Time by Emash Digital / Wondery

True Crime All The Time

13,974 Listeners

True Crime Couple by True Crime Couple

True Crime Couple

2,456 Listeners

Criminology by Emash Digital & Mike Ferguson, Mike Morford

Criminology

6,975 Listeners

MURDERISH by Cloud10

MURDERISH

3,451 Listeners

Morbid by Morbid Network | Wondery

Morbid

96,783 Listeners

Going West: True Crime by Dark West Productions

Going West: True Crime

10,493 Listeners

Crime Salad by Crime Salad

Crime Salad

3,052 Listeners

True Crime Campfire by True Crime Campfire

True Crime Campfire

1,500 Listeners

Women and Crime by Cloud10

Women and Crime

2,894 Listeners

Serialously with Annie Elise by 10 to LIFE & Audioboom Studios

Serialously with Annie Elise

8,616 Listeners

And Then They Were Gone by Little Monster Productions

And Then They Were Gone

762 Listeners

Gruesome: Horrific True Crime by gruesomepodcast

Gruesome: Horrific True Crime

958 Listeners

Strange and Unexplained with Daisy Eagan by Strange and Unexplained with Daisy Eagan

Strange and Unexplained with Daisy Eagan

9,946 Listeners

Crime and Coffee Couple - True Crime Podcast by Allison and Mike, Bleav

Crime and Coffee Couple - True Crime Podcast

608 Listeners

Killer Minds: Inside the Minds of Serial Killers & Murderers by Crime House

Killer Minds: Inside the Minds of Serial Killers & Murderers

555 Listeners