Beyond the Breakers

This week we're talking about the loss of the steamer R.G. Coburn in October 1871. Other sub-topics include the Great Chicago Fire, the Peshtigo Fire, the Chicago iron & steel industry, and the dazzling array of fonts in 1800s newspaper advertisements. 

Sources:

Bensman, David and Mark R. Wilson. "Iron and Steel." Encyclopedia of Chicago, 2005. http://encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/653.html

"Coburn, R.G." Historical Collections of the Great Lakes, Bowling Green State University. https://greatlakes.bgsu.edu/item/434440

Donahue, James L. Steaming Through Smoke and Fire: True Stories of Shipwreck and Disaster on the Great Lakes. Thunder Bay Press, 1990.

Green, Russ. "Shipwreck Vignettes."  Thunder Bay 2010: Cutting Edge Tech and the Hunt for Lake Huron's Lost Ships, NOAA Ocean Exploration, https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/10thunderbay/background/wrecks/wrecks.html

This bonus episode spun off from Episode 87 covering the steamship Metropolis, which spent part of its career serving in the Atlantic Blockading Squadron. We look at the effectiveness of the blockade and impact that the contraband trade had on life in the Confederacy.

**note, the last 5-ish minutes of the episode is just some hot mic / behind the scenes discussion from between recordings that we left in**

Sources:

Byrne, Frank J. "Rebellion and Retail: A Tale of Two Merchants in Confederate Atlanta." The George Historical Quarterly, vol. 79, no. 1, 1995, pp. 30 - 56.

Ruminski, Jarrett. "'Tradyville': The Contraband Trade and the Problem of Loyalty in Civil War Mississippi." Journal of the Civil War Era, vol. 2, no. 4, 2012, pp. 511 - 537.

Still, William N. "A Naval Sieve: The Union Blockade in the Civil War." Naval War College Review, vol. 36, no. 3, 1983, pp. 38 - 45.

This week we discuss the story of the steamship Metropolis, formerly known as the USS Stars And Stripes, which ran aground near Currituck, NC in 1878.

Sources:

Gentile, Gary. Shipwrecks of North Carolina from Hatteras Inlet South. G. Gentile Productions, 1992.

Tabb, Kip. "Beach wreckage revives mystery of the Metropolis." Outer Banks Voice, 14 Oct 2020. https://www.outerbanksvoice.com/2020/10/14/beach-wreckage-revives-the-mystery-of-the-metropolis/

"The Wreck of the Metropolis, 1878." NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, 2016, https://www.ncdcr.gov/blog/2016/01/31/wreck-metropolis-1878

Link to Ko-Fi as mentioned in the episode:
https://ko-fi.com/beyondthebreakers

Welcome to Season Three of Beyond the Breakers!

We are starting the new year by talking about the 1982 sinking of the mobile offshore drilling unit Ocean Ranger in the Hibernia Field of the Grand Banks.

Sources:

Collier, Keith. "The Loss of the Ocean Ranger, 15 February 1982." Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage, October 2016. www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/economy/ocean-ranger.php

Dodd, Susan. The Ocean Ranger: Remaking the Promise of Oil. Fernwood Publishing, 2012

Heffernan, Mike. Rig: An Oral History of the Ocean Ranger Disaster. Creative Publishers, 2009.

Higgins, Jenny. "Response to the Ocean Ranger Disaster." Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage, August 2018. https://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/politics/ocean-ranger-disaster-response.php

Moore, Lisa. February. Black Cat, 2009.

Royal Commission on the Ocean Ranger Marine Disaster

USCG Marine Casualty Report - Mobile Offshore Drilling Unit (MODU) Ocean Ranger

Further Reading:

Babaian, Sharon. "View of Evidence From a Disaster: The Ocean Ranger Collection at the Canada Science and Technology Musuem" 

Dodd, Campbell, and Dalziel. "The Ocean Ranger Disaster taught us much but lack of action by governments, corporations still fails workers." Saltwire, 14 Feb 2022. https://www.saltwire.com/atlantic-canada/opinion/commentary-the-ocean-ranger-disaster-taught-us-much-but-lack-of-action-by-governments-corporations-still-fails-workers-100693052/

This bonus episode is a discussion of the article "Dead Men Do Tell Tales: Folklore, Fraternity, and the Forecastle"

Source: 

Rouleau, Brian J. "Dead Men Do Tell Tales: Folklore, Fraternity, and the Forecastle." Early American Studies, vol. 05, no. 01, Spring 2007, pp. 30-62

This is the conclusion of our four part series on RMS Lusitania, meaning it is also the conclusion to Season Two of Beyond the Breakers. We discuss contemporary reactions to the sinking, the inquiry headed by Lord Mersey, and explanations about how this tragedy occurred in the way that it did.

Thank you for all the listens, the support, and the interactions on social media this season. We look forward to bringing you Season Three next year.

Sources:

“Atrocity and the Lusitania.” The Advocate of Peace, vol. 77, no. 6, June 1915, p. 129.

Beesly, Patrick (1982). Room 40: British Naval Intelligence, 1914–1918. Long Acre, London: Hamish Hamilton Ltd

Gullace, Nicoletta E. “Friends, Aliens, and Enemies: Fictive Communities and the Lusitania Riots of 195.” Journal of Social History, Winter 2005, pp. 345 - 363.

Hübner, Andreas. “A People of ‘Patriotic Hearts’: German-Americans, U.S. Neutrality, and the Building of an Inclusive Coalition in New Orleans, 1915.” Louisiana History, vol. 60, no. 3, 2019, pp. 261 - 288.

Larson, Erik. Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania. Broadway Books, 2015.

“The Lusitania’s ‘Guns’. The New York Times Current History of the European War, vol. 2, no. 4, July 1915, pp. 623 - 631

Preston, Diana. Lusitania: An Epic Tragedy. Walker, 2002.
 
Stack, Liam. “The Lusitania Telegraph Has Been Recovered, but It May Not Solve Any Mysteries.” The New York Times, 3 Aug 2017.

Here is Part Three of our season finale series - covering U-20's activities up until she encountered Lusitania, the sinking itself, passenger stories, and the evacuation of the vessel. 

Sources:

Beesly, Patrick (1982). Room 40: British Naval Intelligence, 1914–1918. Long Acre, London: Hamish Hamilton Ltd

Butler, Daniel Allen. The Lusitania: The Life, Loss, and Legacy of an Ocean Legend. Stackpole Books, 2000.

Hoehling, A.A. and Mary Hoehling. The Last Voyage of the Lusitania. Madison Books, 1996. 

Larson, Erik. Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania. Broadway Books, 2015.

Preston, Diana. Lusitania: An Epic Tragedy. Walker, 2002. 

https://www.rmslusitania.info/people/second-cabin/theodore-naish/

https://digital.library.villanova.edu/Item/vudl:91533#?c=&m=&s=&cv=6&xywh=-2036%2C-1%2C5606%2C2669

Click here to sign up and join the group!

Password: Sh!pwreck

In Part Two of our season finale, we discuss the history of RMS Lusitania, Cunard Line, the man who ultimately sank her, and the dedicated team of British intelligence personnel meticulously tracking the movement of German U-boats.

Sources:

Butler, Daniel Allen. The Lusitania: The Life, Loss, and Legacy of an Ocean Legend. Stackpole Books, 2000.

Hübner, Andreas. “A People of ‘Patriotic Hearts’: German-Americans, U.S. Neutrality, and the Building of an Inclusive Coalition in New Orleans, 1915.” Louisiana History, vol. 60, no. 3, 2019, pp. 261 - 288.

Larson, Erik. Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania. Broadway Books, 2015. 

“Lusitania Breaks All Records.” Scientific American, vol. 99, no. 9, 29 Aug 1908, p. 139

This week we begin our three-part (correction, four-part) season finale, in which we'll discuss one of the most famous maritime calamities in history - the sinking of RMS Lusitania.

Sources for Part 1:

Butler, Daniel Allen. The Lusitania: The Life, Loss, and Legacy of an Ocean Legend. Stackpole Books, 2000. 

Hübner, Andreas. “A People of ‘Patriotic Hearts’: German-Americans, U.S. Neutrality, and the Building of an Inclusive Coalition in New Orleans, 1915.” Louisiana History, vol. 60, no. 3, 2019, pp. 261 - 288.

Tucker, Robert W. “An Inner Circle of One: Woodrow Wilson and His Advisers.” The National Interest, no. 51, Spring 1998, pp. 3 - 26.

Watts, Jarica. “Submerged by Fear: The Politics of Wartime Hysteria in Conrad and Conan Doyle.” Conradians, vol. 49, no. 1, Spring 2017, pp. 17 - 42. 

Reading:

Danger! And Other Stories (Project Gutenberg)
- a PDF of the reading will also be in a public Patreon post

Here we wrap up our long discussion of prison ships and prison hulks in the British Empire. 

Listen to Parts 1 and 2 if you haven't already! All three parts have now been unlocked for everyone on the main podcast feed. 

Sources:

Forbes, Thomas R. "Coroners' Inquisitions on the Deaths of Prisoners in the Hulks at Portsmouth, England, in 1817 - 1827." Journal of the History of Medicine, July 1978, pp. 356 - 365

Foxhall, Katherine. "From Convicts to Colonists: The Health of Prisoners and the Voyage to Australia, 1823 - 1853." The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, vo. 39, no. 1, March 2011, pp. 1 - 19

Hobsbawm, E.J. and George Rudé. Captain Swing. Phoenix Press, 2001.

James, Jeff. "'Raising Sand, Soil and Gravel' - Pardon Refusers On-Board Prison Hulks (1776 - 1815)." Family & Community History, vol. 20/1, April 2017

Townsend, Norma and David Kent. "The Men of the Eleanor, 1831: A Case Study of the Hulks and Voyage to New South Wales." The Great Circle, vol. 17, no. 2, pp. 109 - 119

This week we're joined by special guest Ian to discuss the tale of the schooner barge Madeira and the harrowing survival story of her crew, featuring Olympian feats of strength and agility on the icy cliffs of Minnesota's North Shore.

Sources:

Hübner, Andreas. “A People of ‘Patriotic Hearts’: German-Americans, U.S. Neutrality, and the Building of an Inclusive Coalition in New Orleans, 1915.” Louisiana History, vol. 60, no. 3, 2019, pp. 261 - 288.

Wolff, Julius F. Lake Superior Shipwrecks. Lake Superior Port Cities, 1990.

Additional source material from Kathryn A. Martin Library, Minnesota Historical Society Collections, and the Duluth Public Library

This week we discuss a fatal incident involving the cargo vessel Karina C while she was docked in Seville, Spain, on May 24th 2019. We discuss guidelines, precautions, and how they don't mean anything without a culture of safety on board.

Sources:

Marine Accident Investigation Branch. "Crush incident on general cargo vessel Karina C with loss of 1 life." https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5fbfaf60d3bf7f572e8cbf43/2020-18-Karina-C.pdf

Maritime Executive. "Report: Alcohol Contributed to Fatal Crushing Accident on Freighter." 27 Nov 2020. https://maritime-executive.com/article/report-alcohol-contributed-to-fatal-crushing-accident-on-freighter

**no main episode this week, but we're unlocking a bonus for you**

The January 2022 bonus episode, a continuation of our Part 1 discussion prison hulks in the British empire, with an emphasis on their use in Australia. 

Hosty, Kieran and Bridget Berry. "Convict Hulks." Sydney Living Museums. https://sydneylivingmuseums.com.au/stories/convict-hulks

McKay, Anna. "A Day in the Life: Convicts on board Prison Hulks." https://staffblogs.le.ac.uk/carchipelago/2017/10/10/a-day-in-the-life-convicts-on-board-prison-hulks/

Stavely-Wadham, Rose. "'Colleges of Villainy' - Life Onboard the Prison Hulks." The British Newspaper Archive, 31 Mar 2021. https://blog.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/2021/03/31/life-onboard-a-prison-hulk/

We're celebrating Halloween in style with some spooky stories of the Eastland, the Kamloops, and the ghosts of Maryland's Point Lookout. And we're joined by returning champion Kaylee!

Sources:

"Chicago Hauntings: The Ghosts of the Eastland." CBS Chicago, 26 Oct 2021. https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/chicago-hauntings-ghosts-eastland-disaster/

Coleman, Dorcas. "The Spirits of Point Lookout." Maryland Department of Natural Resources, https://dnr.maryland.gov/Pages/Spirits-of-Point-Lookout.aspx

Eastland Disaster Historical Society. https://eastlanddisaster.org/people/

Flavion, Gary. "Civil War Prison Camps: Suffering and Survival." American Battlefield Trust, https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/civil-war-prison-camps?ms=googlegrant&gclid=Cj0KCQjwwfiaBhC7ARIsAGvcPe7F4qhLTgFcOTMP7ddXg_Hp7I4EsOH4F4Ixss_zUU0r0RFYk53-kQUaAiZkEALw_wcB

Higgins, David M. "Scariest stories of the Chesapeake Bay Region." The Southern Maryland Chronicle, 10 Oct 2018. https://southernmarylandchronicle.com/2018/10/10/scariest-stories-of-the-chesapeake-bay-region-part-5-point-lookout-state-park/ 

Newkirk, Greg. "Meet Old Whitey, the Preserved Corpse of the SS Kamloops, Lake Superior's Most Haunted Shipwreck." Week In Weird, 27 Nov 2016. https://weekinweird.com/2016/11/27/old-whitey-preserved-corpse-kamloops/

"Point Lookout: America's Most Haunted Lighthouse." Unexplained Cases, 21 Feb 2022. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKY6arZH9v8

Taylor, Troy. "The Eastland Disaster." American Hauntings, 24 Jan 2016. http://troytaylorbooks.blogspot.com/2016/01/the-eastland-disaster.html

This week we are excited and honored to be joined by Professor Karen Barton to further discuss the Senegalese RORO ferry Le Joola. Professor Barton has been an enormously important voice in sharing the story of Le Joola with an English-speaking audience on a wider scale and we are so grateful to her for spending some time answering our questions. 

Sources:

Barton, Karen Samantha. Africa’s Joola Shipwreck: Causes and Consequences of a Humanitarian Disaster. Lexington Books, 2020.

Barton, Karen. "The Joola: The Geographical Dimensions of Africa's Greatest Shipwreck." Focus on Geography.
www.focusongeography.org/publications/articles/joola/index.html
^this is the interactive article referred to in the episode

Commission d'enquete technique sur les causes du naufrage du Joola. 4 Nov 2002. https://www.au-senegal.com/IMG/pdf/joola_041102.pdf

Peltier, Elian. "Deadlier Than The Titanic: A Ferry Set Out With About 1,900 Aboard. Only 64 Survived." New York Times, 25 Sept 2022. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/25/world/africa/senegal-ferry-joola.html
^this article is also available in PDF form in a public post on Patreon

Additional Resources:

The Joola: Africa's Titanic (BBC documentary) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QW84OZeXJog

"Report blames army for delay in Joola rescue." The New Humanitarian, 6 Nov 2002. www.thenewhumanitarian.org/report/35577/senegal-report-blames-army-delay-joola-rescue

Wiley, Pat. The Sinking of the MV Le Joola, Africa’s Titanic: True Story from One of the Worst Maritime Disasters in History. First Steps Publishing, 2013.

This week we're on Lake Erie again to discuss the sinking of the wooden-hulled steam barge Margaret Olwill near Kelley's Island in 1899.

Don't miss Tanner's livestream appearance on OTD Canadian Military History (@OTDCanMilHis), discussing the Battle of Lake Erie from the War of 1812 - Tuesday, October 18th @ 7 PM Eastern Time. 

Sources:

Boyer, Dwight. Ships and Men of the Great Lakes. 1977

Johnston, Laura. "New shipwreck of Margaret Olwill discovered in Lake Erie." Rock the Lake, 15 Mar 2018. https://www.rockthelake.com/buzz/2018/03/new-shipwreck-discovered-in-lake-erie/

"Margaret Olwill (+1899)." Wrecksite. https://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?216342

Patch, David. "Long-sought ship that sank more than 100 years ago found in Lake Erie." Toledo Blade, 15 Mar 2018. https://www.toledoblade.com/State/2018/03/15/Ship-that-sank-more-than-100-years-ago-found-in-Lake-Erie.html

"Sacramento." Great Lakes Vessel History. https://www.greatlakesvesselhistory.com/histories-by-name/s/sacramento

This week we discuss the sinking of the craft designated SIEV-221 at Christmas Island (Australia) on December 15 2010.

Sources:

Hope, Alastair Neil. "Inquest..." Coroner's Court of Western Australia, 23 Feb 2012. https://www.coronerscourt.wa.gov.au/_files/Christmas_Island_Findings.pdf

Needham, Kirsty. "Asylum boat deaths avoidable, coroner rules." Sydney Morning Herald, 24 Feb 2012. https://www.smh.com.au/national/asylum-boat-deaths-avoidable-coroner-rules-20120223-1tqt7.html

O'Brien, Natalie. "Dirty tricks aboard a doomed boat." Sydney Morning Herald, 21 May 2011. https://www.smh.com.au/national/dirty-tricks-aboard-a-doomed-boat-20110520-1ewi1.html

This week we're on Lake Erie to discuss one of the Great Lakes' most enduring mysteries - the fate of the train ferry Marquette & Bessemer No. 2, lost in December 1909. 

Sources:

Boyer, Dwight. Ghost Ships of the Great Lakes. Dodd, Mead, and Co. 1968.

"Captain Robert Rowan McLeod." History of the Great Lakes, https://www.maritimehistoryofthegreatlakes.ca/GreatLakes/Documents/HGL2/default.asp?ID=s800

Feather, Carl E. "Still lost after all these years." Star Beacon, 27 May 2012. https://www.starbeacon.com/community/still-lost-after-all-these-years/article_afd3b3fe-63f3-5f20-989d-cc32ec3087b4.html

Johnston, Laura. "Phantom ship hides in Lake Erie." Cleveland.com, 05 Nov 2018. https://www.cleveland.com/news/erry-2018/11/e7fd7cda265617/phantom-ship-hides-in-lake-eri.html#incart_river_index

"The Marquette and Bessemer Dock and Navigation Company." Bessemer and Lake Erie Archives, https://blearchive.weebly.com/car-ferries.html

This week we're joined by Brianna (@brinnabea), who's going to teach us a thing or two about weather on the Great Lakes and how it correlates with peak times for shipwrecks during the year. 

Relevant charts, graphs, and slides will be posted to Patreon.