Episodes

  • Samuel Plimsoll, the ‘Sailors’ Friend’

    Samuel Plimsoll, the ‘Sailors’ Friend’
    Aug 5 2026

    Samuel Plimsoll was an advocate for better working conditions for sailors, and for a lot of other things. A lot of contemporary accounts refer to him as an agitator.

    Research:

    • Bibby, Miriam. “Samuel Plimsoll and the Plimsoll Line.” Historic UK. June 14, 2024. https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/Samuel-Plimsoll-Line/
    • Britannica Editors. "Samuel Plimsoll". Encyclopedia Britannica, 30 May. 2026, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Samuel-Plimsoll
    • “Death of Mr. Samuel Plimsoll.” The Lichfield Mercury. June 4, 1898. https://www.newspapers.com/image/797510210/?match=1&terms=%22samuel%20plimsoll%22
    • “Friends of Humanity.” Democrat and Chronicle. Apr 27, 1913. https://www.newspapers.com/image/135735684/?match=1&terms=%22samuel%20plimsoll%22
    • Glover, William. “Samuel Plimsoll and the 1880 Carriage of Grain Legislation.” The Northern Mariner / Le marin du nord, XXX, No. 4 (Winter 2020), 419-448. https://www.cnrs-scrn.org/northern_mariner/vol30/tnm_30_419-448.pdf
    • “Jack Tar’s Friend.” The Atchison Daily Globe. July 17, 1896. https://www.newspapers.com/image/479999267/?match=4&terms=%22samuel%20plimsoll%22
    • Japp, Alexander H. “Good men and true : biographies of workers in the fields of beneficence and benevolence.” Philadelphia. Gebbie. 1890. Accessed online: https://archive.org/details/goodmentrue0000unse/page/10/mode/2up
    • Jones, Nicolette. “The Plimsoll Sensation.” London. Little, Brown. 2006.
    • Langenberg, William H. “The Plimsoll Mark.” U.S. Naval Institute. Naval History. June 1992. https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-history-magazine/1992/june/plimsoll-mark
    • “Lundhill Colliery Explosion.” Northern Mine Research Society. https://nmrs.org.uk/mines-map/accidents-disasters/yorkshire/lundhill-colliery-explosion-barnsley-1857/
    • “The Name of Samuel Plimsoll … “ Birmingham Gazette. June 4, 1898. https://www.newspapers.com/image/815489724/?match=1&terms=%22samuel%20plimsoll%22
    • “People's College Sheffield (1842 - 1878).” University of Sheffield. https://archives.shef.ac.uk/agents/corporate_entities/212
    • Plimsoll, Samuel. “Our Seamen: An Appeal.” London. Virtue. 1873. Accessed online: https://archive.org/details/b20406691/page/n15/mode/2up
    • Robertson, Jen. “It's Plimsoll Day! (and we're talking about ships, not shoes).” National Museums Liverpool. https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/stories/its-plimsoll-day-and-were-talking-about-ships-not-shoes

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    35 mins
  • Three Historic Heatwaves

    Three Historic Heatwaves
    Aug 3 2026
    Heat waves don’t get as much attention as blizzards, floods, and hurricanes, but extreme heat is one of the deadliest weather events on average. Research: National Weather Service. “Weather Related Fatality and Injury Statistics.” https://www.weather.gov/hazstatLast, John. “This Summer’s Drought Is Europe’s Worst in 500 Years. What Happened Last Time?” Smithsonian Magazine. 9/8/2022. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/this-summers-drought-is-europes-worst-in-500-years-what-happened-last-time-180980711/Wetter, Oliver; Seneviratne, Sonia I. et al. “The year-long unprecedented European heat and drought of 1540 - a worst case.” Climatic Change 125(3-4), https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-014-1184-2Orth, Rene et al. “Did European temperatures in 1540 exceed present-day records?” Environmental Research Letters. 11 (2016) 114021 doi:10.1088/1748-9326/11/11/114021.United Nations Environment Programme. “Impacts of summer 2003 heat wave in Europe.” Environmental Alert Bulletin. https://www.unisdr.org/files/1145_ewheatwave.en.pdfPfister, Christian. “The ‘Black Swan’ of 1540: Aspects of a European Megadrought.” From Climate Change and Cultural Transition in Europe. Brill. 1/1/2018. doi:10.1163/9789004356825_007Grodzinsky, Ewa, and Märta Sund Levander. “History of the Thermometer.” Understanding Fever and Body Temperature: A Cross-disciplinary Approach to Clinical Practice 23–35. 23 Aug. 2019, doi:10.1007/978-3-030-21886-7_3John Huxham, Dr. Watson. “Remarks upon the Heat of the Air in July 1757. in an Extract of a Letter from John Huxham, M. D. F. R. S. to William Watson, M. D. F. R S. Dated at Plymouth 19th of That Month. With Additional Remarks by Dr. Watson.” Philosophical Transactions (1683-1775), Vol. 50 (1757 - 1758), pp. 428-430 (3 pages). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/105279.Huxham, John. “An Account of the Extraordinary Heat of the Weather in July 1757, and of the Effects of It. In a Letter from John Huxham, M. D. F. R. S. to Wm. Watson, M. D. F. R. S..” Philosophical Transactions (1683-1775), Vol. 50 (1757 - 1758). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/105292Smeaton, John. “Remarks on the Different Temperature of the Air at Edystone, from That Observed at Plymouth, between the 7th and 14th of July 1757. By Mr. John Smeaton, F. R. S.” Philosophical Transactions (1683-1775), Vol. 50 (1757 - 1758). https://www.jstor.org/stable/105286Sunderland, Helen. “The Great British Summer? A Historical Heatwave.” Doing History In Public. 8/12/2025. https://doinghistoryinpublic.org/2025/08/12/the-great-british-summer-a-historical-heatwave/Scott, John. “Four elegies, descriptive and moral.” London J. Buckland. 1760.The Western Flying Post; or, Sherborne and Yeovil Mercury. Page 3. 8/15/1757.Lind, James. “An essay on the most effectual means of preserving the health of seamen in the Royal Navy.” 1774.Walpole, Horace. “The letters of Horace Walpole, fourth earl of Orford.” Vol. 3: 1750-1756. Oxford. 1903.Zwierlein, Cornel. "Chapter 3 The Danger between Nature and Culture: The Quotidian Threat of Urban Fires in the Premodern Era". Prometheus Tamed. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004431225_004 Web.Luterbacher, Jürg et al. “European Seasonal and Annual Temperature Variability, Trends and Extremes since 1500.” Science 303, 1499 (2004). DOI: 10.1126/science.1093877Beniston, Martin. “The 2003 heat wave as an example of summers in a greenhouse climate? Observations and climate model simulations for Basel, Switzerland.” Global and Planetary Change. Volume 44, Issues 1–4, December 2004. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0921818104000980Franck, Marcy. “Heat waves and annual death rates in older adults in the United States.” Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. 3/16/2026. https://hsph.harvard.edu/news/heat-waves-and-annual-death-rates-in-older-adults-in-the-united-states/Poitras, Colin. “Warming U.S. climate linked to rising deaths from heat.” Yale School of Public Health. 11/7/2025. https://ysph.yale.edu/news-article/warming-us-climate-linked-to-rising-deaths-from-heat/World Meteorological Association. “Western Europe has hottest June on record.” 7/9/2026. https://wmo.int/media/news/western-europe-has-hottest-june-recordCole, Deborah. “Germany records nearly 100 drowning deaths, many of them young men, in June heatwave.” The Guardian. 6/12/2026. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jul/12/germany-drowning-deaths-heatwave-paris-france-spainPBS News. “Europe swelters under an early heat wave as France records 40 drowning deaths.” 6/23/2026. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/europe-swelters-under-an-early-heat-wave-as-france-records-40-drowning-deathsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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    36 mins
  • SYMHC Classics: Libertalia

    SYMHC Classics: Libertalia
    Aug 1 2026

    This 2018 episode covers Libertalia, which, in truth, may be completely fictional. It's called a pirate settlement, though the man who spearheaded it claimed he wasn't actually a pirate.

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    32 mins
  • Behind the Scenes Minis: Pirate Evolution

    Behind the Scenes Minis: Pirate Evolution
    Jul 31 2026

    Tracy shares the topics she considered for the recording in the Bahamas but decided against. Holly talks about her admiration for Thomas Huxley.

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    16 mins
  • Thomas Henry Huxley

    Thomas Henry Huxley
    Jul 29 2026
    Huxley is an example of having a good attitude about publicly acknowledging errors and learning from them. He earned the nickname “Darwin’s bulldog” for his very vocal support of Darwin’s work, and he wanted to promote science and education, particularly to people that didn’t normally have access to those things. Research: Bernoulli, D., Jenkyns, H.C. “Thomas Henry Huxley, a stone tablet, coccoliths, and deep-sea sediments in the high Alps.” Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch) 112, 1661–1669 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-023-02330-5Bowen, Keith. “Thomas Henry Huxley.” Ebsco. 2024. https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/thomas-henry-huxleyBurkhardt, Richard W.. "Jean-Baptiste Lamarck". Encyclopedia Britannica, 14 Dec. 2025, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jean-Baptiste-LamarckDarwin, Charles. “On the Origin of Species.” JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. London. 1859. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1228/1228-h/1228-h.htmDesmond, Adrian J. "Thomas Henry Huxley". Encyclopedia Britannica, 25 Jun. 2026, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Thomas-Henry-HuxleyDolan, John R. “The famous and lesser-known illustrations of Thomas Huxley’s Bathybius.” History of Oceanography. International Commission of the History of Oceanography. https://oceansciencehistory.com/2020/07/13/the-famous-and-lesser-known-illustrations-of-thomas-huxleys-bathybius/“Freshwater Bathybius.” Nature 4, 49–50 (1871). https://doi.org/10.1038/004049b0“The Great Debate.” University of Oxford Museum of Natural History. https://oumnh.ox.ac.uk/great-debate“The History of Evolutionary Thought.” Understanding Evolution. Berkeley University. https://evolution.berkeley.edu/the-history-of-evolutionary-thought/1800s/early-concepts-of-evolution-jean-baptiste-lamarck/Huxley, T.H. “Agnosticism.” K. Paul, Trench. London. 1889. https://archive.org/details/a622650700huxluoft/page/169/mode/1upHuxley, T.H. “Aphorisms and Reflections. From the Works of T. H. HUXLEY, Selected byHenrietta A. Huxley. Macmillan and Co. London. 1907. Accessed online: http://aleph0.clarku.edu/huxley/Book/Aphor.htmlHuxley, T.H. “Autobiography and Selected Essays.” Riverside College Classics. 1909. Accessed online: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1315/1315-h/1315-h.htm#link2H_4_0007Huxley, T.H. “Collected Essays, Volume V: Science and Christian Tradition.” https://www.gutenberg.org/files/15905/15905-h/15905-h.htmHuxley, T.H. “Evidence as to man's place in nature.” D. Appelton and Co. New York. 1863. https://archive.org/details/evidenceastomans00huxl/page/n1/mode/2upHuxley, T.H. “On Some Organisms Living at Great Depths in the North Atlantic Ocean.” Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science. viii., new Series, 1868, pp. 203-212. http://aleph0.clarku.edu/huxley/SM3/bathy.htmlHuxley, T.H. “On the Relations of Man to the Lower Animals.” Project Gutenberg eBook. 2001. https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/2932/pg2932-images.htmlJoshi RS. “The Inner Root Sheath and the Men Associated with it Eponymically.” Int J Trichology. 2011 Jan;3(1):57-62. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3129131/Lamarck, Jean-Baptiste. “Zoological Philosophy.” Macmillan. London. 1914. https://archive.org/details/ZoologicalPhilosophyLyons, Sherrie L. “Thomas Henry Huxley : the evolution of a scientist.” Prometheus Books. New York. 1999.McGraw, Donald J. “Bye-Bye Bathybius: The Rise and Fall of a Marine Myth.” Bios, vol. 45, no. 4, 1974, pp. 164–71. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4607257“Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1963.” The Nobel Prize. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/1963/summary/Pearce, JMS. “Thomas Henry Huxley.” Hektoen International. Sept. 18, 2020. https://hekint.org/2020/09/18/thomas-henry-huxley/Schwartz, Joel S. “Darwin, Wallace, and Huxley, and ‘Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation.’” Journal of the History of Biology, vol. 23, no. 1, 1990, pp. 127–53. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4331120“Thomas Henry Huxley.” Darwin Correspondence Project. University of Cambridge. https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/thomas-henry-huxley“Thomas Henry Huxley (1825-1895).” Humanist Heritage. https://heritage.humanists.uk/thomas-henry-huxley/Tunstad, Erik. “Darwin's Bulldog: Thomas Huxley 200 Years.” Prosa. July 10, 2025. https://prosa.no/artikler/aktuelt/darwins-bulldog-thomas-huxley-200-arWyhe, John van. “It ain't necessarily so ...” The Guardian. Feb 9, 2008. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2008/feb/09/darwin.myths See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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    41 mins
  • The Flying Gang

    The Flying Gang
    Jul 27 2026

    For part of its history, Nassau was a notorious hotbed of pirate activity. And it was home to a maritime criminal network known as the Flying Gang.

    Research:

    • "Bahamas, the." The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia™, The Columbia UP, 2025. Gale OneFile: High School Edition, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A69385873/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=7f7affa4. Accessed 8 July 2026.
    • Ahrens, Wolfgang P. “Naming the Bahamas Islands: History and Folk Etymology.” Names and Their Environment. Proceedings of the 25th International Congress of Onomastic Sciences, Glasgow, 25-29. August 2014. Vol. 1. Keynote Lectures. Toponomastics I. Carole Hough and Daria Izdebska (eds). First published 2016 by University of Glasgow under Creative Commons license. https://www.gla.ac.uk/media/Media_576595_smxx.pdf
    • Butler, Lindley S. “North Carolina 1718: The Year of the Pirates.” The North Carolina Historical Review, Vol. 95, No. 2 (APRIL 2018). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/45184933
    • Cartwright, Mark. "Benjamin Hornigold." World History Encyclopedia, 09 Sep 2021, https://www.worldhistory.org/Benjamin_Hornigold/.
    • Craton, Michael. “A History of the Bahamas.” London. Collins. 1962.
    • Enthoven, Victor. “‘That Abominable Nest of Pirates’: St. Eustatius and the North Americans, 1680—1780. Early American Studies , Spring 2012, Vol. 10, No. 2. Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/23547669
    • Fox, E.T. “Jacobitism and the ‘Golden Age’ of Piracy, 1715-1725.” International Journal of Maritime History, XXII, No. 2 (December 2010), 277-303.
    • Hahn, Steven C. “The Atlantic Odyssey of Richard Tookerman.” Early American Studies, Summer 2017, Vol. 15, No. 3 (Summer 2017). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/90011103
    • Keegan, William F. “The Native Peoples of Turks and Caicos.” Florida Museum. https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/caribarch/education/tc-peoples/
    • Kinsella, Pat. “The real pirates of the Caribbean: your guide to Nassau's pirate republic.” History Extra. 1/20/2022. https://www.historyextra.com/period/stuart/nassau-pirate-republic-flying-gang-real-pirates-caribbean/
    • Lane, Kris. “Pirate Networks in the Caribbean.” From Empires of the Sea: Maritime Power Networks in World History. Brill. 2020. Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1163/j.ctv2gjx041.18
    • Leeson, Peter T. “An‐arrgh‐chy: The Law and Economics of Pirate Organization.” Journal of Political Economy , Vol. 115, No. 6 (December 2007). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/526403
    • Moore, David D. “Captain Edward Thatch: A Brief Analysis of the Primary Source Documents Concerning the Notorious Blackbeard.” The North Carolina Historical Review, Vol. 95, No. 2 (APRIL 2018). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/45184934
    • Queen Anne’s Revenge Project. “Did You Know Blackbeard’s Mentor Was a Pirate Hunter?” 3/8/2018. https://www.qaronline.org/blog/2018-03-08/did-you-know-blackbeards-mentor-was-pirate-hunter
    • Rediker, Marcus. “‘Under the Banner of King Death’: The Social World of Anglo-American Pirates, 1716.” The William and Mary Quarterly , Apr., 1981. https://www.jstor.org/stable/1918775
    • Saunders, Gail. "Rogers, Woodes (c. 1679–1732), privateer and colonial governor." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. January 03, 2008. Oxford University Press. Date of access 9 Jul. 2026, https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-24006
    • Sheposh, Richard. “Republic of Pirates.” EBSCO. 2023. https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/republic-pirates
    • Wilson, David. “The 1715 Plate Fleet and the Rise of the Pirates.” History Today. 6/30/2015. https://www.historytoday.com/1715-plate-fleet-and-rise-pirates
    • Woodard, Colin. “The republic of pirates : being the true and surprising story of the Caribbean pirates and the man who brought them down.” New York, NY : Mariner Books. 2007.

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    32 mins
  • SYMHC Classics: Scarlet fever

    SYMHC Classics: Scarlet fever
    Jul 25 2026

    This 2023 episode covers scarlet fever, which is treatable with antibiotics. But in the middle of the 19th century, it was the leading cause of death in children in parts of the world, and today, there are several ongoing mysteries about the disease.

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    33 mins
  • Behind the Scenes Minis: Problematized

    Behind the Scenes Minis: Problematized
    Jul 24 2026

    Tracy shares her irritation with word use in a recent government report. There is also discussion of strangers visiting manor houses.

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    17 mins