Beyond the Breakers

Latest Episodes:

Episode 113 - Phoenix Aug 05, 2023

Show notes

For this week's episode we are back close to home for the tale of the steamer Phoenix, which burned off of Sheboygan WI in 1847, in what remains one of the worst tragedies on Lake Michigan.
The music at the end of the episode is 'Nader, mijn God, bij U' (Nearer, My God, To Thee) as performed by the Martin Mans Formation.
Sources:

Hilty, Maya. “Remains of the Phoenix, one of the Lake Michigan’s deadliest shipwrecks, discovered 175 years after sinking off Sheboygan’s shore.” Sheboygan Press, 21 Nov 2022.

“Phoenix (1845).” Wisconsin Shipwrecks. https://wisconsinshipwrecks.org/Vessel/Details/505

“Phoenix (Propeller), 17 Mar 1846.” Maritime History of the Great Lakes. https://images.maritimehistoryofthegreatlakes.ca/details.asp?ID=30035&n=2

Thompson, Mark L. Graveyard of the Lakes. Wayne State University Press, 2000.

Van Eyck, William O. “The Story of the Propeller Phoenix.” The Wisconsin Magazine of History, vol. 7, no. 3, March 1924, pp. 281 - 300.

https://www.linkstothepast.com/marine/chapt36.php

Support the show

Episode 112 - CSS Alabama Jul 28, 2023

Show notes

**a small correction to the episode - the French painter Édouard Manet did not observe the battle off Cherbourg personally, but used eyewitness and press accounts to reconstruct the events for his painting The Battle of the Kearsarge and the Alabama.
This week it's the story of the Confederate commerce raider Alabama, the terror of the US merchant fleet until she was turned into a marine archaeological site by the USS Kearsarge off of Cherbourg, France
Sources:
Ameur, Farid. "La guerre de Sécession au large de Cherbourg: La France impériale et l'affaire du CSS Alabama (juin 1864)." Relations Internationales, no. 150, Spring 2012, pp. 7 - 22.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)/Alabama Claims.
"CSS Alabama Wreck Site (1864): A Confederate Shipwreck in France." Naval History and Heritage Command, 2 Dec 2020. https://www.history.navy.mil/research/underwater-archaeology/sites-and-projects/ship-wrecksites/css-alabama.html
Langlois, Francis. "Neutralité, reconnaissance ou intervention." Diplomatie, no. 177, Sept-Oct 2022, pp. 91 - 95.
Roach, J. Ashley. "France Concedes United States has Title to CSS Alabama." The American Journal of International Law, vol. 85, no. 2, Apr 1991, pp. 381 - 383.
Symonds, Craig. "Kearsarge and Alabama: The Civil War’s Classic Ship-to-Ship Duel." American Battlefield Trust. battlefields.org/learn/articles/kearsarge-and-alabama

Support the show

Episode 111 - Pappy's Pride Jul 20, 2023

Show notes

We're back in the Galveston area to discuss a very recent incident involving the fishing vessel Pappy's Pride and the chemical tanker Bow Fortune

Sources:
NTSB Report - Collision Between Tanker Bow Fortune and Fishing Vessel Pappy’s Pride
Heath, Keri. "Pappy's Pride salvage continues, families file claims." The Daily News, 30 Jan 2020. https://www.galvnews.com/news/article_66b30e27-1479-514b-8d59-1f294ef303f4.html
"Incident with Bow Fortune in Galveston, Texas." Odfjell, 2 Feb 2020. https://www.odfjell.com/about/our-stories/incident-with-bow-fortune-in-galveston-texas/

Support the show

**unlocked** - "It's Better To Bingham Out Than To Fade Away" (September 2022 Bonus) Jul 13, 2023

Show notes

In this, one of our absolute favorite bonus episodes (originally released for patrons in September 2022), we discuss the brief but eventful life of the Pensacola lumber schooner Richard A. Bingham.
Sources:
Heier, Jan Richard. "The Development of American Ship-Accounting Practices to 1900: A Comparative Study of Three Vessels." The Accounting Historians Journal, vol. 26, no. 1, June 1999, pp. 27 - 52.
Heier, Jan Richard. "The Short Life of the Richard A. Bingham: A Pensacola Lumber Schooner." The Florida Historical Quarterly, vol. 79, no. 2, Fall 2000, pp. 137 - 158.

Support the show

Episode 110 - HMT Aragon Jul 06, 2023

Show notes

This week we have a WWI story in the Mediterranean with the sinking of HMT Aragon off of Alexandria, Egypt.
Sources:
"100 Years Ago." Posted by fredarth09, 01 June 2014. https://fredarth.wordpress.com/tag/hmt-aragon/
"Aragon." The Yard, http://www.theyard.info/ships/ships.asp?entryid=367
"Chaplain recalls torpedoed ship drama." The Luton New, 31 Jan 1918. http://www.worldwar1luton.com/blog-entry/chaplain-recalls-torpedoed-ships-drama
"The British Ship HMT Aragon." The University of Newcastle, https://livinghistories.newcastle.edu.au/nodes/view/101374?keywords=
"The Forgotten Ally: Japanese escorts in the First World War." https://thewellingtontrust.wordpress.com/
"The sinking of the S.S. Aragon, 30th December 1917." The Bedfordshire Regiment in the Great War, http://bedfordregiment.org.uk/5thbn/ssaragon.html

Support the show

Episode 109 - FV Gaul Jun 29, 2023

Show notes

This week it's the tale of the stern trawler Gaul, and the mystery of her 1974 sinking in the Barents Sea fishing grounds, leading to a decades-long search for answers.
Sources:
Dispatches - "Secrets of the Gaul." 1997. https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=secrets+of+the+gaul
Re-opened Formal Investigation Report 2004
"Sinking of stern trawler Gaul with loss of 36 lives." Marine Accident Investigation Branch, April 1999. https://www.gov.uk/maib-reports/sinking-of-stern-trawler-gaul-in-the-barents-sea-with-loss-of-36-lives

Support the show

Episode 108 - HMS Royal Oak Jun 24, 2023

Show notes

This week we go back to a place near and dear to us - Scapa Flow - for the story of the Royal Navy battleship HMS Royal Oak.

Sources:
Gorbahn, Katja. "Perpetrators, victims, heroes – the Second World War and National
Socialism in Danish history magazines." Commercialised History: Popular History Magazines in Europe.
"Korvettenkapitän Günther Prien." uboat.net. https://uboat.net/men/prien.htm
Mason, Geoffrey B. "HMS Royal Oak, British battleship, WW2."
Service Histories of Royal Navy Warships in World War 2. 2008. http://www.naval-history.net/xGM-Chrono-01BB-Royal%20Oak.htm
Ritzel, Fred. "Das kann doch einen Seemann nicht erschüttern! Über ein Lied aus der Zeit des Kriegsanfangs, seine mediale Präsentation und seine Nachwirkungen." Lied und populäre Kultur, 2014, pp. 143 - 169.

Support the show

Episode 107 - KM Sinar Bangun Jun 17, 2023

Show notes

As we're in a new location this week, there's a good deal of background in this episode leading up to the sinking of the ferry Sinar Bangun on Lake Toba (Sumatra, Indonesia) in June 2018. This episode is being released just before the five-year anniversary of the incident.
**KM = Kapal Motor (Motor Vessel), equivalent to MV designation in English
Sources:
Bakkara, Binsar and Niniek Karmini. "Divers search Indonesian lake for 192 missing after sinking." AP News, 20 June 2018. https://apnews.com/article/indonesia-ap-top-news-sumatra-international-news-asia-pacific-e06826d999954aad9050ef96bca72e41

"BASARNAS, continuing to improve." Asia Corporate News Network, 11 July 2018. https://www.acnnewswire.com/press-release/english/44710/basarnas,-continuing-to-improve
Bowo, Ludfi Pratiwi, Masao Furusho, and Mohammad Arif Kurniawan. "A Causal Study of Indonesian Sinar Bangun Ferry Accident by HEART Methodology." Navigation, https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jinnavi/207/0/207_34/_pdf/-char/ja
Hutajulu, Rithaony. "Tourism's Impact on Toba Batak Ceremony." Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, 1995, pp. 639 - 655.
Jensen, Fergus. "Indonesians face daunting task to recover bodies from ferry sunk in crater lake." Reuters, 22 June 2018. https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-indonesia-ferry-recovery-idUKKBN1JI1FM
"Overhaul maritime safety after Lake Toba tragedy: Indonesian President Joko Widodo." The Straits Times, 21 June 2018. https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/overhaul-maritime-safety-after-lake-toba-tragedy-indonesian-president-joko-widodo
Salim, Hanz Jimenez. "Jokowi Perintahkan Menhub Evaluasi Standar Keamanan Angkutan Penyeberangan." Liputan 6, 20 June 2018. https://www.liputan6.com/news/read/3564822/jokowi-perintahkan-menhub-evaluasi-standar-keamanan-angkutan-penyeberangan
"Ship Safety Standards Ignored on Lake Toba." Kompas, 6 July 2018. https://www.kompas.id/baca/english/2018/07/06/ship-safety-standards-ignored-on-lake-toba
Videos referenced:
Short news segment showing cell phone footage from the accident
About 11 minutes of cell phone footage showing the incident and immediate aftermath
Segment of the TV program Hitam Putih (Black and White) featuring an interview with Sinar Bangun survivor Hernando Lingga

Support the show

Episode 106 - Walk-In-The-Water Jun 11, 2023

Show notes

This week we travel back to the early days of steamers on the Great Lakes - Walk-In-The-Water. With the power of 73 horses and a little bit of a horned breeze, who knows what adventures we can have?
Sources:
Carroll, Francis M. "The Search for the Canadian-American Boundary along the Michigan Frontier, 1819-1827: The Boundary Commissions under Articles Six and Seven of the Treaty of Ghent." Michigan Historical Review, vol. 30 no. 2, Fall 2004, pp. 77 - 104.
Palmer, Mary A. Witherell. "The Wreck of the Walk-In-The-Water, Pioneer Steamboat on the Great Lakes." Communicated to the Buffalo Historical Society, 1865. https://www.maritimehistoryofthegreatlakes.ca/documents/walkinthewater/default.asp?ID=c1
"Walk-In-The-Water." Encyclopedia of Cleveland History. https://case.edu/ech/articles/w/walk-water
"Walk-in-the-water (Steamboat), aground, 1 Nov 1821." Maritime History of the Great Lakes. https://images.maritimehistoryofthegreatlakes.ca/details.asp?ID=47525

Support the show

**unlocked** Dead Reckoning #2- Haunted Lights of Connecticut Jun 08, 2023

Show notes

**this was originally released on the bonus feed for Patrons in July 2022; enjoy! And consider supporting the show on Patreon!**
This is the second installment in our sporadic Dead Reckoning bonus series. This episode takes us to the haunted coast of Connecticut, where spirits are said to linger at New London Ledge Light and Penfield Reef.
Sources:
Blake, Kevin. "Lighthouse Symbolism in the American Landscape." FOCUS on Geography, Summer 2007, pp. 9 - 15.
Carter, Donald. Connecticut's Seaside Ghosts. Schiffer, 2008.
“Lighthouse Facts.” United States Lighthouse Society. https://uslhs.org/education/glossaries-facts-trivia/lighthouse-facts.

Miller, Allen S. “‘The Lighthouse Top I See’: Lighthouses as Instruments and Manifestations of State Building in the Early Republic.” Buildings & Landscapes: Journal of the Vernacular Architecture Forum, vol. 17, no. 1, Spring 2010, pp. 13 - 34.

Support the show

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected