Ep 281 - The Ashtabula port curse
In the early 1800s, Ashtabula shipbuilders lost nearly a dozen vessels in about 15 years, leading the superstitious industry to wonder if there was a curse on the port. We tell the stories behind five of those lost ships, including the Superior, which met a diabolical end, and the Elisha Whittlesey, upended in a terrible gale. The other three - the Tempest, the Elizabeth and the LaFayette Packet - were wrecked with Capt. Benjamin Napier at the helm. We also digress into the life of Napier, a man admired but mostly feared after he later became Lake Erie's land pirate, attempting to lay claim…
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