Latest / Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities / Unleashed

Transcript

Unleashed · Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. Our world is full of
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: of these amazing tales are right there on display, just
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: There's an old saying that no good deed goes unpunished.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: Most of us can probably think of a time when
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: someone took advantage of our kindness. It made us regrets
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: ever trying to help. That's all one sea captain was
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: trying to do, step up in a moment of crisis
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: and say the day. But he would soon learn that
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: sometimes doing the right thing can land you in a
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: world of trouble, or, in this case, in the ocean.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: In early April of eighteen thirteen, Richard Brooks woke up
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: to a beautiful site, a ship on the horizon, its
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: white sails billowing in the breeze. Brooks shouted with joy
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: and raced out of the crewed shelter he had built
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: from fallen palm fronds. He barreled down the beach, desperately
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: waving his arms trying to attract the ship's attention. Other
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: members of his crew realized what Brooks was doing and
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: ran down the beach to help him. Soon, the distant
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: ship changed course and began sailing directly for them. The
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: entire crew erupted in cheers. Finally, after months of being
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: marooned struggling to survive on a deserted tropical island, they
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: were being saved. Brooks and the other crew members of
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: the Isabella originally set out from Port Jackson Harbor in
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: New South Wales, the British prison colony that we know
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: today as Australia. They left on December fourth of eighteen twelve,
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: headed for London. There were fifty four people on board
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: the ship, captain by a weather sea dog named George Higdon.
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: Richard Brooks was a captain in his own right of
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: numerous convict transport ships, the ships that brought prists from
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: Great Britain to the prison colony. But aboard the Isabella,
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: he was just a passenger traveling home. But once they
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: were out at sea, Brooks realized that Captain Higdon was incompetent, lazy,
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: and a drunk. A few weeks into their journey around
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: Cape horn. For example, Higdon nearly crashed them into Campbell Island,
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: south of New Zealand. Shortly after that, his inept leadership
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: during a raging storm nearly sank the ship. About two
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: months into the tumultuous journey, around two am on February
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: eighth of eighteen thirteen, Brooks was wandering on deck when
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: he realized that the Isabella was sailing dangerously close to land.
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: Then he saw it dead ahead, a jagged rock formation
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: jutting out of the sea. Brooks raised the alarm and
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: he took control of the ship. He and the other
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: crew members jumped into action, desperately trying to steer the
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: Isabella clear of danger. They swerved just in time to
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: miss the rocks, only to crash into a reef with
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: such force that the rudder was torn from the ship.
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: Now they had no way to steer and were at
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: the mercy of the wind. The waves around them swelled,
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: lifting the ship off the reef and ramming it into
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: a rock ledge, shattering the hull. The wind then pushed
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: the broken ship toward a sandy beach, where it ran aground.
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: And that was two months before Brooks and the other
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: fifty four passengers had been stuck on the deserted island
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: ever since, living off provisions. They saved from the ship,
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: but conditions on the island were harsh and morale was
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: in the gutter, so when a merchant ship appeared in
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: the distance, the whole crew ran out to flag it down.
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: Soon the rescue ship dropped anchor offshore, and a boat
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: of American merchant sailors made their way to the beach.
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: They offered to take all fifty four passengers of the
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: Isabella to safety as payment. They just wanted whatever was
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: left of the Isabella's provisions to help them make the
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: journey home, and of course Brooks and his fellow passengers
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: were elated. They made plans to transfer the Isabella's provisions
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: back to the American ship called the Nanina. The passengers
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: and merchants got to work, and before long had the
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: Nanina loaded up and ready to go. And then another
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: ship came sailing into view. It was a fierce British
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: warship called the Nancy, and the warship spotted the Nanina
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: and the broken remains of the Isabella and sent soldiers
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: ashore to see what was going on. Brooks recounted the
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: harrowing ordeal that he and his fellow passengers had endured
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: over these past few months, and expressed how grateful he
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: was to the American merchants for coming to their rescue.
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: And it was then that the captain of the Nancy
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: delivered surprising news. Britain and America had been at war
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: for almost a year, the War of eighteen twelve, so
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: technically Brooks and his crew were accepting help from the enemy.
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: But the captain told Brooks not to worry. He would
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: take all fifty four Isabelle passengers aboard the Nancy. He
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: would also be taking the American crew as prisoners of war,
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: and he would keep their ship as a war prize.
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: As you'd imagine, Brooks was stunned, but there was little
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: he could do to help his new American friends. A
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: few days later, the Nancy sailed away with a brig
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: full of American prisoners and a new merchant ship in tow.
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: Although not everybody made it onto the warship. For whatever reason,
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: the captain of the Nancy chose to leave five men behind,
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: including the captain of the Nanina. They endured brutal living
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: conditions for five hundred and thirty four days before finally
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: being rescued themselves, although thankfully by that time the War
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: of eighteen twelve was over and the marooned crew members
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: could catch a ride back to civilization without a trip
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: to the brig. Most people don't think about this, but
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: dog breeds are inherently an unnatural creation. Ever since the
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: domestication of dogs, breeders have made an art of carefully
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: selecting for traits, behaviors, and physical characteristics that would not
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: occur in nature. It has grown into a whole industry,
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: not just for the average pet owner, but for public
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: spectacle at large. And there is no one who handles
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: public spectacles quite like the British royal family. We've talked
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: a lot here about the quirks of royalty in the
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: twenty first century, so today I'd like to focus on
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: something that got a lot of focus with the recent
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: passing of Queen Elizabeth the Second her small army of
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: stubby legged Corgies. These dogs were as pampered as animals
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: can possibly be. They had a whole room to themselves
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: in Buckingham Palace and their own gourmet chef to prepare
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: meals for them. From her first dog at the age
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: of eighteen. Until her death at the age of ninety six,
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: Queen Elizabeth the Second owned sixty three dogs. All of
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: them were Corgies, though some were technically called Dorgies, which
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: is a cross between a Corgi and a doxend. The
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: first of this line was a nobly named Rosevel Golden Eagle,
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: a Welsh Corgie adopted by the Queen mother after her
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: daughter fell in love with corgi's. It would become known
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: by the slightly less noble nickname Dukie, short for the
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: Duke of York. But the first dog owned by Queen
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: Elizabeth II herself was Susan, a gift on her eighteenth birthday.
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: Ever since, she was not without one of these stubby
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: dogs or another, even quoting to the press, the Corgies
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: are my family, and like the rest of the royal family,
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: they were no strangers to public scandal. Now Elizabeth's children
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: were reportedly much less fond of the dogs than the
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: Queen herself. They complained the press about barking keeping them
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: up at night. They seem to respond aggressively to the princes,
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: although some guests got special treatment. Megan Markell, for instance,
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: wasn't barked or bitten once when she came to visit
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: the royal family for the first time. Not everyone has
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: been so lucky, though. Susan, Elizabeth's first Corgi, attacked a
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: palace clockwinder in nineteen fifty four. Mailman and police officers
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: have also been bitten by the corgies at several points
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: throughout British history, prompting at least one suggestion that Buckingham
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: Palace should install a Beware the Dogs signed for unwitting visitors.
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: Elizabeth had her own dog breeding program, which created a
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: mini dynasty within the walls of the British Palace. They
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: were to be treated with as much respect as other
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: members of the royal family. In nineteen ninety nine, for example,
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: one of the Queen's footmen was demoted when it was
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: discovered that he enjoyed getting the corgies drunk as a
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: party trick to amuse the other members of the staff.
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: The corgi breeding, however, stopped in twenty twelve when Queen
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: Elizabeth the Second realized that her children did not share
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: her love of the little dogs. Publicly, she said that
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: she did not want to leave a bunch of puppies
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: stranded when she passed away. Ultimately, she would leave two
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: Corgies behind, Muick and Sandy. One of these went to
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: Prince Andrew and the other to Prince Andrew's ex wife,
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: Sarah Ferguson. Though their reign is at an end, these
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: dogs had a stranglehold on popular culture, not just inspiring
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: dog shows or bringing a touch of whimsy to the
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: Queen's photo ops, but as symbols of Queen Elizabeth the
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: Second herself. In the same way that the Prime Minister
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: Winston Churchill was often depicted as a bulldog, Queen Elizabeth
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: would be alongside her Corgies constantly in the public imagination,
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: in artwork, political cartoons, and media depictions. She was rarely
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: seen without one of her famous dogs. The popular TV
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: series in Australia Bluey even depicted Elizabeth I as an
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: anthropomorphic Corgi in a weird way. The Corgi as a
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: dog breed is a metaphor for the Royal family itself,
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: an elaborate family tree of whimsical names which only the
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: most dedicated British dog lover would know, whose primary purpose
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: is to exist in the public eye and charm diplomats,
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: prime ministers, foreign dignitaries, anyone the Queen needs an icebreaker
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: with and it has to be said, an immense amount
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: of state funding and power went into the lavish lifestyles
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: these dogs led. While ultimately harmless, the scale of it
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: is astonishing, much like the British Royal family themselves. The
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: world's most extravagant dog show. I hope you've enjoyed today's
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show by
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created by
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: me Aaron Mankey in partnership with how Stuff Works. I
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: make another award winning show called Lore, which is a podcast,
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: book series, and television show, and you can learn all
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: about it over at the Worldolore dot com. Next time,
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: stay curious. H