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The Mariner's Mirror Podcast
A Bronze Age Maritime Treasure: The Uluburun Ship
The Uluburun ship sank somewhere around 3,400 years ago near what is now Kas in Turkey and was discovered in 1982. The subsequent excavation was carried out at a time when underwater excavation was a new discipline and it had a profound change on the way both that we investigate underwater heritage and understand the ancient world. It still remains one of the oldest shipwrecks ever discovered and the wealth of knowledge provided by the wreck remains astonishing even to modern standards. To put its age into context, the period which it illuminates is 1000 years before Alexander the Great was born and it remains one of the best preserved Bronze Age sites of any description ever discovered. To find out more Dr Sam Willis spoke with Professor Micahel Scott, author of X Marks the Spot: The Story of Archaeology in Eight Extraordinary Discoveries.
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Finmen: The Inuit Who Paddled 1200 Miles
32:42|It is a little known and extraordinary fact that over 300 years ago the Inuit made crossings from Greenland to the Orkney Isles and northern Scotland. The journey across the hostile North Atlantic is over 1200 miles. Their traditional craft were made of nothing more than skin, bone and driftwood. The literature of Scotland, particularly in relation to the Orkneys, describes individuals in small boats appearing around the coast between 1684 and 1701. The name given to these people by the chroniclers was 'Finmen'. To find out more Dr Sam Willis spoke with Norman Rogers, a keen kayaker and author of 'Searching for the Finmen' which explores in detail this remarkable event.Lifesavers: How Conflict Innovation Can Build a Better World
48:48|We find out about an exciting project run by the Imperial War Museum which explores how conflict has driven innovation in science and technology. Sponsored by Lloyd’s Register Foundation, the project aims to discover how conflict has accelerated innovation, and how this has impacted on the world we live in today. Science and technology are the key factors in influencing the course of modern conflict. On land, at sea and in the air, innovation in technology has played a key role in the course of conflict during the twentieth Century. Warfare accelerates technological innovation as part of the wider war effort, and this in turn has a significant impact on civilian society. As the Imperial War Museum is a world-renowned authority on conflict history, the project gives audiences the opportunity to change their understanding about war. With over one million items in the IWM collection, this project will offer a range of a wide range of intellectual and emotional experiences.To find out more Dr Sam Willis spoke with Rob Rumble, lead curator of the project. They examine and discuss a number of artefacts in the collection, including the Cavity Magnetron, which became the preferred source of very high frequency radio waves in various radars and communication devices and led to a massive growth in microwave radar technology; public safety posters which educated and encouraged the public use of antiseptic to prevent infections, as well as for the use of safety harnesses whilst working from height; an example of the 'Davis' Submarine escape apparatus, an early type of oxygen rebreather invented in 1910; a lifejacket for a child; lifeboat navigation maps; a buoyant light; plastic armour; and a type of valve employed in early airborne interception and air to surface vessel radar equipment.King of the Beggars: The Extraordinary Life of Billy Waters
40:25|Billy Waters was born into enslavement in 1770s New York, before becoming a sailor in the royal navy. After losing his leg in a fall from the rigging, the talented Waters became London’s most famous street performer, celebrated on stage and in print. Towards the end of his life he was elected 'King of the Beggars' by his peers. Waters died destitute in 1823 but his legend lived on for decades. To find out more about life as a black man in the Royal Navy and on the streets of Regency London, Dr Sam Willis spoke with Mary Shannon, author of the excellent new book Billy Waters Is Dancing.My Yacht Was Sunk by Killer Whales
53:20|Today we hear from Douglas Robertson. In 1971 Douglas’s father, Dougal, a retired merchant navy sailor turned Staffordshire dairy farmer, sold his farm and bought a yacht. He planned to sail around the world with his wife, daughter and three sons. Douglas was then sixteen and today casts his mind back to that fateful voyage. He recalls in great detail the purchase and preparations of the yacht Lucette, their trans-Atlantic voyage and continuing journey to the Pacific. It was there, hundreds of miles from anywhere, that their yacht was sunk by killer whales and the Robertson family were cast adrift. The story of their survival is astonishing.Shipwreck Survivors
41:49|We hear about an exciting project to save and record accounts of shipwreck survivors. The project's goal is to raise awareness and understanding of the experiences of those who have been unfortunate enough to experience shipwreck. This is crucially important at a time when familiarity with life at sea is diminishing and there is a noticeable absence of empathy for seafarers in distress - and yet, as a maritime nation, seafaring remains a huge part of our history and shipping is a growing industry that brings us ever more of our worldly needs. To find out more Dr Sam Willis spoke with Daniel Jamieson who is running the research project at the University of Plymouth. They discuss the long and fascinating history of shipwreck survivors' accounts before discussing the many interviewees who have already contributed to the project, providing eyewitness insights into a variety of contemporary and well known maritime disasters as well as far more personal stories of maritime disaster. The stories include Helen Cawley, who survived the sinking of the liner Lakonia in 1963 as a 14-year old; Sheelagh Lowes, stranded on Suwarrow of the Cook Islands in the South Pacific 1996 for 6 months, her yacht Short Time having been thrown on a reef; a number of survivors of the sinking of the liner Andrea Doria in 1956; Sara Hedrenius, who survived the sinking of the ferry Estonia in 1994 in the Baltic; and Ben “Skippy” Cummings whose vessel capsized andsank on a reef off Antigua, four miles from the finish of his trans-Atlantic race.Sea Monsters Part 2: The Eyewitness Accounts
23:04|An entire episode dedicated to historical accounts of sea monsters! In the last episode we learned how sailors' encounters with sea monsters inform us of a changing world and link themes of religion and science with exploration of the natural world and safety at sea. In this episode we hear what they actually had to say, in their own voices. We hear about 'The Great Sea-Serpent' spotted from the decks of HMS Daedalus in 1848; the 'Anchertroll Horror' off West Africa of April 1871; a snake with a white mane seen in 1746 off Norway and a 'Devil-Fish' that swallowed a schooner east of Sri Lanka in 1874. The episode was put together with the help of Graham Faiella, maritime historian and author of 'Mysteries and Sea Monsters.'Sea Monsters Part 1: The Analysis
33:12|In this episode we hear about the extraordinary and long history of sailors coming across monsters from the deep. It’s a complex and fascinating topic intimately linked with the human experience of sea, but for historians it exists as a strand of knowledge and experience which runs alongside developing ideas of faith and developing understanding of science. It’s a topic that links superstition, myth and legend with the imagination – the imaginable and the unimaginable – and all experienced within the context of the age of reason and the scientific enlightenment. It’s a topic that will bring out the believer or the sceptic in you and in so doing will inspire you to learn a little more about the particular monster that inspires you because of what it tells us about the past.WW2 Battle Convoy: HG-76
33:42|In December 1941 HG-76 sailed from Gibraltar to Britain and was specially targeted by a wolfpack of U-boats whilst, in a rare example of German inter-service cooperation, the Luftwaffe pounced from French airfields. In Gibraltar and Spain, German intelligence agents had known every detail of HG-76 before it had even sailed.Nonetheless, the convoy fought its way through. Improved radar and sonar gave the convoy's escorts an edge over their opponents, and the escort group was led by Commander Walker, an anti-submarine expert who had developed new, aggressive U-boat hunting tactics. The convoy was also accompanied by HMS Audacity, the Royal Navy's first escort carrier – a new type of warship purpose-built to defend convoys from enemy aircraft and U-boats.Through seven days and nights of relentless attack, the convoy reached the safety of a British port for the loss of only two merchant ships. Its arrival was seen as the first real convoy victory of the war.To find out more about this, one of the most dramatic maritime stories of the Second World War, Dr Sam Willis spoke with Angus Konstam, author of a new book 'The Convoy HG-76: Taking the Fight to Hitler's U-boats' that brings the story to life.Smugglers, Pirates and Terrorists: Maritime Crime and Security
33:05|Recent conflict in the Red Sea caused by Houthi attacks on commercial shipping has brought the subject of maritime crime and security into focus. In this episode Dr Sam Willis speaks with Christian Bueger, Professor of International Relations at the University of Copenhagen, Director of the SafeSeas Network for Maritime Security and author of the important new book Understanding Maritime Security. They discuss historical perspectives on maritime crime including smuggling, pirate attacks and terrorism and highlight just how significant maritime crime and security is to the modern world with over 80% of contemporary global trade transported by sea.