Today's episode dives even deeper into the fascinating but complex familial history of Archibald Gracie IV, one of the most well-documented survivors of the Titanic disaster. We'll explore the layers of his lineage and how he viewed it, from his questionable passion for a Confederate military heritage to the personal tragedies that shaped the man who found himself aboard that ship in April 1912. 

In his memoir about the sinking, Archie the Fourth claimed that all lines of class had been blasted apart that night. Had they really? Did he have any perspective, really, to offer on this after a lifetime of leisure and wealth and rumination? Did the tragedy of his young daughter give him some that perhaps historians haven’t noted? Or is his account really just a classist and racist piece of fiction on par with the tome he wrote about his father’s Civil War servicer?

Yeah, we’re going there.

Support the show

Support Unsinkable on Patreon for as little as $1/month: https://www.patreon.com/unsinkablepod

Or buy me a coffee!: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/labeadles

Buy Unsinkable shirts here!: https://www.bonfire.com/unsinkable-the-first-t-shirt/

Support the pod via my Bookshop Storefront: https://bookshop.org/shop/unsinkablepod

Find me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unsinkablepod/

The Gracie family, starting with its original Scottish immigrant Archibald, built a shipping empire in 18th and 19th century America--New York to Alabama--that profoundly shaped economic development. But their wealth was deeply entangled with the slave trade, its plantation economy, and later the Civil War itself. Their legacy, memorialized in landmarks like Gracie Mansion (now the NYC mayor's residence), reflects the uncomfortable truth of how American prosperity was built on exploitation. When Archibald Gracie IV stepped on to the decks of Titanic, he'd inherited a complicated legacy and was fighting tooth and nail to prove the worth of his ancestors' fallen pride. 

Support the show

Support Unsinkable on Patreon for as little as $1/month: https://www.patreon.com/unsinkablepod

Or buy me a coffee!: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/labeadles

Buy Unsinkable shirts here!: https://www.bonfire.com/unsinkable-the-first-t-shirt/

Support the pod via my Bookshop Storefront: https://bookshop.org/shop/unsinkablepod

Find me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unsinkablepod/

Happy 2026! Join me in a new season as I take a look at Titanic's historiography, changing legacy, and questions of its over-commodification. Feel free to reach out with feedback!

All of the books I recommend can be found here, where you can purchase and support the podcast + local independent bookstores: https://bookshop.org/shop/unsinkablepod

Support the show

Support Unsinkable on Patreon for as little as $1/month: https://www.patreon.com/unsinkablepod

Or buy me a coffee!: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/labeadles

Buy Unsinkable shirts here!: https://www.bonfire.com/unsinkable-the-first-t-shirt/

Support the pod via my Bookshop Storefront: https://bookshop.org/shop/unsinkablepod

Find me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unsinkablepod/

Join author Richard Stone and myself as we discuss his work Project Mayflower: Building and Sailing a 17th Century Replica--a detailed and important dive into the legacy of the Mayflower and how its replica (a joint venture between the US and the UK) has also resonated for several generations. 

You can find the book here: https://bookshop.org/a/80949/9781493084364

The Titanic and the Mayflower stand as perhaps the two most iconic vessels in modern cultural memory, legacies enduring not through military conquest or commercial success, but through their profound symbolic resonance in the collective imagination. Both ships represent pivotal moments of transition and aspiration—the Mayflower carrying Pilgrims toward religious freedom and a new world in 1620, though as we discuss in the interview this isn’t 100 percent accurate, the Titanic embodying Edwardian confidence and technological hubris in 1912. Each voyage ended in a way that amplified its mythology: the Mayflower's grueling journey and harsh first winter became foundational to American identity and Thanksgiving tradition, even though that’s also more myth that reality, while the Titanic's catastrophic sinking on its maiden voyage became the ultimate cautionary tale about human overconfidence. What unites them most powerfully is how they've transcended their historical moments to become cultural touchstones—the Mayflower as shorthand for American origins and pioneer spirit, the Titanic as a universal metaphor for tragedy, class division, and the limits of progress. 

Support the show

Support Unsinkable on Patreon for as little as $1/month: https://www.patreon.com/unsinkablepod

Or buy me a coffee!: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/labeadles

Buy Unsinkable shirts here!: https://www.bonfire.com/unsinkable-the-first-t-shirt/

Support the pod via my Bookshop Storefront: https://bookshop.org/shop/unsinkablepod

Find me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unsinkablepod/

Come along as we unpack a veritable grab-bag of "what if" questions, some submitted by listeners! These are questions that perhaps can't warrant their own episode but are important to address nonetheless.

Thanks to Pablo as always and to you, the listeners, for being here!

Support the show

Support Unsinkable on Patreon for as little as $1/month: https://www.patreon.com/unsinkablepod

Or buy me a coffee!: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/labeadles

Buy Unsinkable shirts here!: https://www.bonfire.com/unsinkable-the-first-t-shirt/

Support the pod via my Bookshop Storefront: https://bookshop.org/shop/unsinkablepod

Find me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unsinkablepod/

Titaniac alert! This is a fun and moving one. 

Tim Baker is an actor, screenwriter, and firm believer that iced coffee should be its own food group. A Midwest-born, East Coast-raised transplant, he now calls Los Angeles home. Fueled by a healthy dose of sarcasm and a lifelong love for history, he writes about dynamic, flawed, and multifaceted characters—probably because he finds perfect people incredibly boring. His daily routine consists of a three-mile run, followed by several hours of trying to keep up with the stories in his head and petting every dog he sees.

Find his new novel here: https://www.amazon.com/He-Jumped-First-sweeping-forbidden-ebook/dp/B0FTTDDHJS?ref_=ast_author_mpb

Support the show

Support Unsinkable on Patreon for as little as $1/month: https://www.patreon.com/unsinkablepod

Or buy me a coffee!: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/labeadles

Buy Unsinkable shirts here!: https://www.bonfire.com/unsinkable-the-first-t-shirt/

Support the pod via my Bookshop Storefront: https://bookshop.org/shop/unsinkablepod

Find me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unsinkablepod/

Noah Angell is an artist who has exhibited and performed internationally. He's also an author - last year he published his first book, Ghosts of the British Museum, a meticulously-researched, genre-defying narrative non-fiction work about the storied museum's many ghosts. He's currently at work on his first feature-length documentary film, and is speaking to us today from Durham, North Carolina.

Join me for a truly meaningful conversation about artifacts, the energies they hold, the importance of oral history, and how we can denaturalize museums to further understand the oft-violent but infinitely important histories of cultures around the world. We discuss the similarities between his work on the British Museum's artifacts and those of Titanic, the hauntings of the museum and Titanic's alleged hauntings, plus many etcs. 

Buy your copy here to support Noah, the pod, and independent booksellers: https://bookshop.org/a/80949/9781800961357

Support the show

Support Unsinkable on Patreon for as little as $1/month: https://www.patreon.com/unsinkablepod

Or buy me a coffee!: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/labeadles

Buy Unsinkable shirts here!: https://www.bonfire.com/unsinkable-the-first-t-shirt/

Support the pod via my Bookshop Storefront: https://bookshop.org/shop/unsinkablepod

Find me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unsinkablepod/

Join me for a fantastic interview with renowned lawyer and journalist Adam Cohen, whose new non-fiction work--Captain's Dinner: A Shipwreck, an Act of Cannibalism, and a Murder Trial that Changed Legal History--takes a look at one of the most controversial maritime cases of all time, on the cusp of the age of steam.

From Author's Equity: "On May 19, 1884, the yacht Mignonette set sail from England on what should have been an uneventful voyage. When their vessel sank in the Atlantic, Captain Thomas Dudley and his crew found themselves adrift in a tiny lifeboat. As days turned to weeks, they faced an unthinkable choice: starve to death or resort to cannibalism.

Their decision to sacrifice the youngest—17-year-old cabin boy Richard Parker—ignited a firestorm of controversy upon their rescue. Instead of being hailed as heroes and survivors, Dudley and his crew found themselves at the center of Regina v. Dudley and Stephens, a landmark murder trial that would establish the legal precedent that necessity cannot justify murder—a principle that continues to shape Anglo-American law today.

In Captain's Dinner, acclaimed journalist, Pulitzer Prize juror, and New York Times bestselling author Adam Cohen masterfully depicts both the harrowing weeks at sea and the sensational trial that followed."

Purchase it here: https://bookshop.org/a/80949/9798893310597

Support the show

Support Unsinkable on Patreon for as little as $1/month: https://www.patreon.com/unsinkablepod

Or buy me a coffee!: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/labeadles

Buy Unsinkable shirts here!: https://www.bonfire.com/unsinkable-the-first-t-shirt/

Support the pod via my Bookshop Storefront: https://bookshop.org/shop/unsinkablepod

Find me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unsinkablepod/

*Yes, mange is real in humans, I looked it up!

*The film podcast I mention is Unspooled, with Amy Nicholson!

Enjoy this fun dive into the life, love and manic-pixie-dream-boy aura of our favorite fictional Titanic third class passenger. Thanks to Pablo, as always, for joining me on this adventure.

Support the show

Support Unsinkable on Patreon for as little as $1/month: https://www.patreon.com/unsinkablepod

Or buy me a coffee!: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/labeadles

Buy Unsinkable shirts here!: https://www.bonfire.com/unsinkable-the-first-t-shirt/

Support the pod via my Bookshop Storefront: https://bookshop.org/shop/unsinkablepod

Find me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unsinkablepod/

In this second part of my exploration of the Astor fortune and its relationship with Mackinac Island and native communities, I look at the ways by which the fur trader impacted the island and its ecosystems, both human and non-human. I also break down the evolution of the island into a tourist destination, how the Astors bowed out of it as the fur business died down, but how ultimately they ended up back there in spirit. The Grand Hotel’s history also highlights here the growth of tourism, a leisure class, and a century-long national obsession with Gilded Age romanticism and luxury. Finally, we unpack the life of Titanic passenger John Jacob Astor IV, who walked on board as its wealthiest passenger because of his ancestors’ decisions; he perished in the cold water that night, but the myths of his legacy live on. How is he somehow on Mackinac now? Who are the island’s ghosts? Come along and find out.

Support the show

Support Unsinkable on Patreon for as little as $1/month: https://www.patreon.com/unsinkablepod

Or buy me a coffee!: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/labeadles

Buy Unsinkable shirts here!: https://www.bonfire.com/unsinkable-the-first-t-shirt/

Support the pod via my Bookshop Storefront: https://bookshop.org/shop/unsinkablepod

Find me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unsinkablepod/