All Episodes
Previous Next
Plain Text
April 28, 2020 - Skeptoid
19:30
Skeptoid #725: Pop Quiz: Astonishing Tales of the Sea

How well do you know your Skeptoid? Today's pop quiz focuses on tales of the sea. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Transcriber: nvidia/parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v2, sat-12l-sm, and large-v3-turbo
|

Time Text
Nautical Trivia Game 00:05:42
Everyone loves a good seafaring mystery, and everyone loves trivia.
So today we're going to put the two together.
I've selected some of the best Skeptoid episodes about famous nautical legends and assembled a little trivia game using one little factoid from each.
And the best part is, you don't have to have heard all those episodes to have a sporting chance at getting each one right.
Are you ready for some fun?
Our nautical pop quiz is today on Skeptoid.
Hi, I'm Alex Goldman.
You may know me as the host of Reply All, but I'm done with that.
I'm doing something else now.
I've started a new podcast called Hyperfixed.
On every episode of Hyperfixed, listeners write in with their problems and I try to solve them.
Some massive and life-altering, and some so minuscule it'll boggle your mind.
No matter the problem, no matter the size, I'm here for you.
That's HyperFixed, the new podcast from Radiotopia.
Find it wherever you listen to podcasts or at hyperfixedpod.com.
You're listening to Skeptoid.
I'm Brian Dunning from Skeptoid.com.
Pop Quiz, Astonishing Tales of the Sea.
So you think you know your urban legends?
Today, once again, we're going to test your knowledge to see how well you've been paying attention to Skeptoid.
In this round, we're going to look at Tales of the Sea, that romantic genre of storytelling dealing with Davy Jones, sunken pirate ships, and ghostly apparitions dripping salt water.
Put your finger on the pause button if you need time to think for each of these 10 questions of nautical trivia.
Here we go.
Number one, the Mary Celeste.
What storybook of nautical campfire tales would be complete without the Mary Celeste, perhaps the most popular story of the sea?
It was found creeping along under sail in the Atlantic in 1872, in perfect condition, but with the crew and passengers all missing.
A friend of the captain's, who was sailing another ship on the same route, and upon making the tragic discovery, brought her into port in Gibraltar.
Soon, a solid theory developed for what happened, which holds to this day.
Was it, A, something to do with dangerous or flammable cargo?
B.
An insurance fraud scheme between the two captains?
Or C.
A probable act of piracy by either mutineers or pirates?
The correct answer is A.
The Mary Celeste's cargo of 1,701 barrels of pure grain alcohol.
All were of white oak and still full, but nine were of red oak and empty.
Red oak should never be used for liquids because it leaks through pores in the wood.
All the evidence aboard the ship suggests that upon smelling the thick flammable alcohol fumes, the captain ordered the hatches opened for ventilation.
He then evacuated all hands to the ship's yawl, along with all the navigational equipment and necessities.
Somehow the tow line came loose or was severed, and captain and crew joined those countless souls claimed by the sea.
What mystery exists was added by authors like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Number two, the Philadelphia Experiment.
This famous urban legend tells of an experiment aboard a U.S. Navy ship that went awry, causing the ship to disappear and reappear, leaving some sailors materialized inside its steel and others driven mad.
We now know how the story was made up from whole cloth by a loner named Carl Allen, who lived with his parents after having served briefly in the U.S. Merchant Marine during World War II.
Among the wilder parts of his story is that he had been personally tutored in the physics of invisibility by which famous scientist?
A. Nikola Tesla.
B. Robert Oppenheimer or C. Albert Einstein.
The correct answer is C. Albert Einstein.
Carl Allen claimed that even though he was an ordinary sailor in the Merchant Marine, Albert Einstein somehow learned of him, recognized his extraordinary nature, brought him into the inner circle of those few who knew the details of the supposed Philadelphia experiment, and served as his personal mentor for weeks.
Number 3.
Into the Maelstrom.
Various maelstroms are found throughout the world, many with terrifying stories attached to them of sucking ships down to their doom.
The best known is the Moskstraumann in Norway.
It was made famous to English readers by which author?
A. Edgar Allan Poe.
B. Herman Melville.
C. H. P. Lovecraft.
The correct answer is A. Edgar Allan Poe's 1841 short story, A Descent into the Maelstrom, told the ludicrously exaggerated tale of a ship being lost in the Moskstraumann.
Other authors such as Jules Verne and Robert Louis Stevenson have used it in their own fiction as well, but Poe's original story was by far the most influential.
Ghost Ships and Legends 00:10:18
The Moskstraumann is not actually dangerous to ships, other than its currents pushing them toward rocks, and today tourist boats go out there with each turn of the tide to show off the spectacle.
Number 4.
The Sargasso Sea The infamous Sargasso Sea in the middle of the North Atlantic has long fed sailors yarns of ships being trapped until their crews starve and die.
Which of the following hindrances to navigation is true of the Sargasso Sea?
A. There are no special problems sailing through the Sargasso Sea.
B.
The dense growth of Sargassum seaweed can stop sailing ships.
C.
A lack of wind in the Sargasso Sea can stop sailing ships.
The correct answer is C.
A lack of wind.
The Sargasso Sea happens to be geographically located for a confluence of two conditions.
First, it's at the center of the North Atlantic gyre due to the shape of the continents, which brings up nutrients from deeper waters and feeds a rich population of Sargassum seaweed.
But contrary to rumor, nowhere is this dense enough to trouble sailors.
Second, its latitude puts it at about 30 to 35 degrees north, which is the location of the subtropical ridge, also known as the horse latitudes.
It's right between the trade winds and the westerlies, so is characterized by notoriously calm winds, called the doldrums.
Sailors looking to make good time should avoid.
Number 5.
The Lost Ship of the Desert.
There are always tales of an ancient ship inexplicably being found buried in a landlocked desert, most famously that of a Viking longship reported protruding from a canyon wall in the American Southwest's Carrizo Badlands by a prospector in 1933.
Although his story was both temporally and geologically impossible, he did write down directions to find it on a paper that survives today.
Where can that letter be found today?
A.
The Julian Pioneer Museum in Julian, California.
B. The Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. C. The Bowers Museum in Santa Ana, California.
The correct answer is A. The Julian Pioneer Museum, one of the history museums closest to where this happened.
The letter was written to a Mrs. Myrtle Botts.
She claims to have followed the directions and found the ship, but it was buried by an earthquake before she could return to show it to her husband.
Aw, bad luck.
Due to the story's impossibility, it's possible that the letter was a hoax by Mrs. Botts herself.
Hey everyone, I want to remind you about a truly unique and once-in-a-lifetime adventure.
Join me and Mediterranean archaeologist Dr. Flint Dibble for a skeptoid sailing adventure through the Mediterranean Sea aboard the SV Royal Clipper, the world's largest full-rigged sailing ship.
This is also the only opportunity you'll have to hear Flint and I talk about our experiences when we both went on Joe Rogan to represent the causes of science and reality against whatever it is that you get when you're thrown into that lion pit.
We set sail from Málaga, Spain on April 18th, 2026 and finished the adventure in Nice, France on April 25th.
You'll enjoy a fascinating, skeptical mini-conference at sea.
You'll visit amazing ports along the Spanish and French coasts and Flint will be our exclusive onboard expert sharing the real archaeology and history about every stop.
We've got special side quests and extra skeptical content planned at each port.
This is a true sailing ship.
You can climb the rat lines to the crow's nest, handle the sails.
You can even take the helm and steer.
This is a real bucket list adventure you don't want to miss.
But cabins are selling fast and this ship does always sell out.
Act now or you'll miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Get the full details and book your cabin at skeptoid.com slash adventures.
Hope to see you on board.
That's skeptoid.com slash adventures.
Number six, the Ellen Austin.
A ghostly tale frightened sailors aboard the full-rigged ship Ellen Austin in 1881.
She encountered an abandoned yet seaworthy ship out at sea and sent a skeleton crew aboard to salvage her.
They became separated but found each other again, the skeleton crew having vanished.
A second crew was sent over, but this time both crew and ship were never seen again.
How plausible is this story of encountering an abandoned yet perfectly seaworthy vessel in the 19th century?
A. Abandoned yet seaworthy vessels would almost never be encountered.
B. Abandoned yet seaworthy vessels would be encountered quite frequently.
C.
The Mary Celeste is the only reliable case of an abandoned yet seaworthy vessel.
The correct answer is B. Abandoned yet seaworthy vessels were encountered quite frequently.
A few years before the Ellen Austin story, one ship encountered two, one with only minor damage and the other in perfect condition with a full cargo aboard.
A survey in 1894 found over 1600 derelict vessels drifting in just the North Atlantic alone, hundreds of which were in perfectly serviceable condition.
The most common cause was grounding on the outer banks, and after abandoning and disembarking of cargo, the tide would naturally refloat these ships.
A story like that of the Ellen Austin or the Mary Celeste was not all that remarkable.
Number 7.
Flanon Light Christmas of 1900 was when three lighthouse keepers mysteriously vanished from the Flanon Isles Lighthouse.
The island itself was cloaked in strange tales of magical beings and bizarre rituals held by ancient religious sects.
Off what country's mainland are the Flannon Isles located?
A. Ireland.
B. Wales.
C. Scotland.
The correct answer is C. Scotland.
Despite extensive fictionalization and dramatization of what happened, the evidence suggests, though there's no proof, that two of the men were swept into the ocean by storm waves while attempting to secure some tackle, and the third, who didn't have time to put on his oilskins, was also lost when he rushed down to throw them align.
Number eight, the fate of Fletcher Christian.
Another great tale of the sea is the famous Mutiny on the Bounty, after which the lead mutineer, Fletcher Christian, took the bounty to Pitcairn Island.
There a motley crew of mutineers and 17 Tahitians settled permanently and scuttled their ship.
Nineteen years later, an American whaling ship arrived at Pitcairn and found a population of all women and children, with a single adult man.
Was he, A, Fletcher Christian?
B. Another mutineer.
C.
A Tahitian man.
The correct answer is B. John Adams, an able seaman of the bounty and a mutineer.
The other men, English and Tahitian alike, had all long since murdered one another in disputes over women, authority, and slavery.
On Pitcairn Island had Fletcher Christian met his bloody end.
Number 9.
Captain Kidd.
It seems as if all the stories of the most notorious buried pirate treasures all belong to Captain William Kidd, the illustrious 17th century privateer.
Today you can hardly turn on a TV show on history or the other pseudo-history networks without hearing them connect some treasure of Captain Kidd's to some urban legend or ancient mystery.
Which of the following statements is true of Captain Kidd's treasure?
A. Kidd buried one known treasure, but it netted nothing for modern treasure hunters.
B. Kidd buried treasures that have yielded millions for modern treasure hunters.
C. Kidd is not known to have buried any treasure.
The correct answer is A. Kidd buried only one known treasure.
When he sailed to Boston to face charges for piracy in 1699, he and the half-dozen or so men who were still with him were allowed to stop at the privately owned Gardner's Island to bury whatever personal valuables they had.
They were fearful of being robbed by former crew members who were waiting in New York.
These stashes were all retrieved by the court and either kept as evidence or returned to their owners.
Kidd is not suspected to have buried any other treasure during his career, which explains why nobody has ever found any.
Number 10.
The Flying Dutchman When it comes to stories of ghost ships, one tale rules them all, that of the Flying Dutchman.
In some versions, it's the name of the ship, in others, the name refers to its captain.
Both are condemned to weather stormy seas for all eternity, never seeing their home port.
Maritime Myths Explained 00:03:25
Which of these is true?
A.
The source for the stories remains unknown.
B.
The Flying Dutchman was the nickname of a 17th century captain with the Dutch East India Company.
C.
The story originated with Richard Wagner's 1840 opera, De Fliegende Hollande.
The correct answer is A.
It's unknown.
It was already an old story by the time Wagner wrote his version of it, and no captain of the Dutch East India Company is known to have been called any such nickname, though much later authors have added this fictional claim to the canon.
Certainly, the company had many illustrious captains.
So, how did you do?
As always, tweet me your score at at Brian Dunning.
If you got five or fewer right, you need to turn off the TV and listen to more Skeptoid.
If you got nine or ten right, then congratulations, you truly do know your nautical lore.
Just remember that whenever you hear virtually any maritime legend, you can rest assured that it's been gilded with plenty of exaggerated nonsense.
Because if it wasn't, hey, it wouldn't be half as much fun.
But of course, nobody is as much fun as our premium supporters like Terry McGrath, a very grateful Selena O'Brien, Lori Serafin, and Jeremy Buffington.
Thanks to you and the many more premium members out there who make Skeptoid possible.
Remember, premium members listen ad-free and get more than 10 times as many shows in their feed.
It's easy to join.
All you have to do is come to skeptoid.com and click Go Premium.
For as little as $5 a month, you can support non-profit educational podcasting and get the ad-free show and an awesome free gift at the same time.
Skeptoid.com and click Go Premium.
You're listening to Skeptoid, a listener-supported program.
I'm Brian Dunning from Skeptoid.com.
Hello, everyone.
This is Adrian Hill from Skookum Studios in Calgary, Canada, the land of maple syrup and moose.
And I'm here to ask you to consider becoming a premium member of Skeptoid for as little as $5 per month.
And that's only the cost of a couple of Tim Horton's double doubles.
And that's Canadian for coffee with double cream and sugar.
Why support Skeptoid?
If you are like me and don't like ads, but like extended versions of each episode, premium is for you.
If you want to support a worthwhile non-profit that combats pseudoscience, promotes critical thinking, and provides free access to teachers to use the podcast in the classroom via the teacher's toolkit, then sign up today.
Remember that skepticism is the best medicine.
Next to giggling, of course.
Until next time, this is Adrian Hill.
From PRX
Export Selection