Shipwrecks and Sea Dogs

Just after midnight on March 24, 1989, the oil tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground on Bligh Reef, in Prince William Sound, Alaska. Over 10 million gallons of crude oil spilled into the waters, killing hundreds of thousands of animals, and devastating the fragile ecosystem. This episode provides a detailed account of how this accident happened, and its ramifications. Written, edited, and produced by Ri...

In 1864, the American packet ship Adriatic was on voyage from London to New York when it was captured and burned by the notorious Confederate raider CSS Tennessee. The passengers and crew were taken prisoner, but the ship fell out of memory. In 2016, Captains John Noonan and John Bricker, and their team of divers discovered the old sailing vessel, along with some of its artifacts. John Noonan and...

Rich chats with Deb Whitcraft, of the New Jersey Maritime Museum, which houses the world's largest collection of artifacts and memorabilia related to the Morro Castle. https://njmaritimemuseum.org/ This bonus Flotsam & Jetsam episode is available for everyone. To hear more, please subscribe to the Officer's Club on Patreon, or subscribe to the Into History Podcast Channel. Written, edited, and pro...

The Morro Castle shipwreck of 1934 was a tragic maritime disaster involving a luxury passenger liner operated by the Ward Line. On September 8, 1934, while en route from Havana to New York, the ship caught fire off the coast of New Jersey near Asbury Park, resulting in the deaths of 137 passengers and crew. The fire, which was later suspected to be an act of arson, spread rapidly due to strong win...

In 2025, a team of eight students, scientists, and engineers from the University of Rhode Island conducted the first survey of known shipwrecks in the Lake Ontario National Marine Sanctuary. Using URI’s new, state-of-the-art remotely operated vehicle, named “Rhody”, the student-led team documented 17 shipwrecks. Having embarked from Oswego, New York, aboard the research vessel Lake Guardian, which...

The Mary Rose was a warship of the Tudor era of the English monarchy, built in 1510 during the reign of King Henry VIII. The hulking ship was the king's favorite for many years, until it inexplicably sank in Portsmouth Harbour in 1545 as it sailed out to meet the invading French fleet. Over 400 years later, the Mary Rose was raised and its artifacts preserved. My guest is author and historian Rich...

Listener Appreciation Week Day 5 When the SS Central America sank off the coast of South Carolina in 1857, it went down with millions of dollars worth of gold from California. The loss of the badly needed gold caused a run on the banks, and a financial crisis called the Panic of 1857. As a thank you to all Shipwreck and Sea Dogs listeners, I am bringing you a bonus mini-episode each day this week....

Listener Appreciation Week Day 4 Renowned French explorer Jean-Baptiste Charcot explored the polar regions for many years aboard his ship, the Pourquoi Pas. When fellow explorer Roald Amundsen's plane went missing in 1928, Charcot joined the search for the Norwegian. Amundsen himself was searching for the crashed Italian airship, Italia, and its captain Umberto Nobile. As a thank you to all Shipwr...

Listener Appreciation Week, Day 3During World War 2, the Germans captured several Dutch submarines, which included an experimental air venting device. The Germans put this to use, and used it on board some of their own U-boats. This led to the creation of a high-pressure, deepwater toilet waste system, and things did not quite go as planned. As a thank you to all Shipwreck and Sea Dogs listeners,...

Listener Appreciation Week, Day 2 Renowned ocean explorer Robert Ballard found the legendary Titanic in 1985, but it was a top-secret mission sponsored by the U.S. Navy that allowed Ballard to make his discovery. As a thank you to all Shipwreck and Sea Dogs listeners, I am bringing you a bonus mini-episode each day this week. As another bonus, all merchandise is 25% OFF during Listener Appreciatio...

Listener Appreciation Week, Day 1: Heroes of Two Shipwrecks Musicians Moss and Tracy Hills survived the sinking of the Greek cruise ship Oceanos in 1991, and then the Italian ship Achille Lauro in 1994. During both sinkings, the married couple stepped up and provided leadership and assistance to the passengers, and were critical to rescue efforts. As a thank you to all Shipwreck and Sea Dogs liste...

Announcing the first ever Shipwrecks and Sea Dogs Listener Appreciation Week! From June 16 - 20, 2025 a bonus mini-episode will be published each day as a special thank you to listeners. June 16: The Heroes of Two Shipwrecks June 17: The Top Secret Mission That Found the Titanic June 18: The Toilet That Sunk a German U-Boat June 19: The Pourquoi Pas and Roald Amundsen June 20: The Shipwreck That C...

William Bligh makes his miraculous voyage to Timor in the small launch, and Fletcher Christian and his fellow mutineers take the Bounty to the uninhabited Pitcairn Island. Meanwhile, 16 of the Bounty crew remain on Tahiti and are captured by Captain Edward Edwards of HMS Pandora. The Pandora itself wrecks on the Great Barrier Reef, killing 31 crew and 4 of the prisoners. The court martials result...

The legendary story of the Mutiny on the Bounty. In part 1 of this 2-part series, the Bounty departs England for Tahiti to obtain breadfruit. The crew become comfortable on Tahiti and form relations with the women. Commanding Lt. William Bligh becomes increasingly hostile toward his officers, and insults and humiliates them regularly, setting up the muitiny led by Acting Lt. Fletcher Christian. Wr...

This guest episode is from History Daily hosted by Lindsay Graham. November 16, 1720. The trials of notorious pirates Anne Bonny, Mary Read, and John Rackham begin in Spanish Town, Jamaica. A co-production from award-winning podcasters Airship and Noiser. For more information about History Daily, please visit https://www.historydaily.com/ For ad-free episodes of History Daily, shipwrecks and Sea D...

The H.L. Hunley was a submarine built by the Confederate States of America in 1863, during the American Civil War. Two tragic mishaps during testing resulted in the deaths of 13 crewmen in Charleston Harbor, including its namesake, Horace Lawson Hunley. The Hunley was finally put into action in 1864, when it successfully ventured into the Atlantic Ocean, and rammed the USS Housatonic with its spar...

The American sailing vessel Adriatic collided with the French steamship Le Lyonnais on November 2, 1856, off the coast of Nantucket in what can best be described as a maritime hitand-run. Adriatic’s captain, Jonathan Durham, rendered no aid and left the passenger steamship to fend for herself. 114 people died in the collision and in the days that followed. In August of 2024, Jennifer Sellitti, her...

The Princess Sophia was a Canadian passenger steamship that tragically sank on October 25, 1918, after striking Vanderbilt Reef in Lynn Canal near Juneau, Alaska. Caught in a severe snowstorm with strong winds and poor visibility, the ship ran aground and was unable to be evacuated due to worsening weather. Despite rescue ships waiting nearby, conditions prevented any safe transfer of passengers....

Rich joins Lindsay Graham, host of History Daily, American History Tellers, and American Scandal, for a discussion of the book The Wager by David Grann. HMS Wager HMS Wager was a British Royal Navy ship that became famous for its dramatic wreck and subsequent mutiny in 1741, off the desolate coast of Chilean Patagonia. Written, edited, and produced by Rich Napolitano. All episodes can be found at...

On July 30, 1945, the USS Indianapolis was struck by two torpedoes from the Japanese submarine I-58. The ship sank in just 12 minutes, leaving almost 900 men stranded in the water. For 4 days, the men suffered from horrific shark attacks, dehydration, and exposure. Of the 1,195 on board, only 316 ultimately survived. Written, edited, and produced by Rich Napolitano. All episodes can be found at ⁠h...

The SS Western Reserve was the first steel-hulled bulk carrier on the Great Lakes, launched in 1890 for the Minch Transportation Company. Its owner and designer, Peter G. Minch, took his family for a vacation cruise on a late summer day in 1892. The vessel was caught in a strong gale on Lake Superior on August 30th, 1892, and all but one of its 28 occupants was lost, including Peter G. Minch and h...

Famed pirate Henry Every went by many names, but earned his nickname "King of Pirates" when he plundered the Mughul treasure ship, Ganj-i-Swai in 1695. Valued at over $100 million today, it is believed to be the most lucrative pirate haul in history. His brutal savagery also was notorious, leading to a worldwide manhunt for his capture. Henry Every mysteriously disappeared from history in 1696, bu...

This special bonus episode features guests Dr. Scarlett Smash and Dr. Craken McCraik from the Marine Conservation Happy Hour Podcast. Join us as we discuss the conspiracy theories of the Titanic/Olympic switch, the legend of the supposedly prophetic "Titan" novel written 2 decades before the Titanic sank, and the story of an interracial married couple who boarded the Titanic. Written, edited, and...

The barque Cataraqui crashed into the rocks of King Island, Tasmania, in the Bass Strait, August 4, 1845. The ship was carrying emigrants, mostly families, from England to New South Wales to start a new life. Of 409 on board, only 9 survived, including only 1 passenger. All of the women and children perished. The wreck of the Cataraqui is Australia’s deadliest civil maritime disaster in history. W...

Roald Amundsen was a Norwegian explorer renowned for being the first to reach the South Pole on December 14, 1911, beating Robert Falcon Scott's British expedition. A skilled navigator and leader, he used innovative techniques learned from the Inuit, such as dog sledding and wearing fur clothing, to survive in extreme polar conditions. Amundsen also led the first successful navigation of the North...