Episodi

  • When an Ironclad Went Vertical: The 1893 Rusalka Mystery

    When an Ironclad Went Vertical: The 1893 Rusalka Mystery
    Aug 20 2026
    When an Ironclad Went Vertical: The 1893 Rusalka Mystery

    The wreck of Rusalka was found with its stern rising thirty-three meters above the seafloor and its bow buried to nearly half the ship’s length - perfectly preserved and showing the rudder hard to starboard. One hundred and seventy-seven men vanished on a September storm in 1893, and the wreck’s frozen details forced investigators to question the 1894 inquiry. What did that turned rudder mean, and why was a coastal ironclad on an open-water passage?

    In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from Rusalka’s troubled construction through her final voyage, describe the ship’s design limits and documented excess weight, and show how the wreck’s condition contradicted earlier conclusions. Could a vessel built for sheltered waters survive the Gulf of Finland in autumn storms?

    Person: Captain Second Class V. Kh. Ienish
    Date: 7 September 1893
    Location: Gulf of Finland, departed Reval (now Tallinn)
    Displacement (design): 1,882 long tons
    Displacement (service): 2,100 long tons

    - The stern rose thirty-three meters above the seafloor when the wreck was found.
    - Rusalka left Reval at 08:30 with 177 men aboard and was lost by noon the same day.
    - Laid down 6 June 1866, launched 12 September 1867, completed in 1869.
    - Original cost recorded as 762,000 rubles and she displaced over 200 tons above design.
    - Engines rated 900 HP but produced 705 HP in trials, giving a top speed of approximately nine knots.

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    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    22 min
  • The Piano in the Storm: Why the Li'l Daisy Never Reached Port

    The Piano in the Storm: Why the Li'l Daisy Never Reached Port
    Aug 19 2026
    The Piano in the Storm: Why the Li'l Daisy Never Reached Port

    Fear and fascination meet on a black morning when a piano drifted past a lightvessel while thirty-six people lay dead-waves over twenty-four feet, no distress signals, and a ship that had been trusted for decades. What could break the Li'l Daisy when everyone aboard did everything right, and why did a lone piano become the most visible evidence of a vanished crossing?

    In this episode, we tell the fatal December 3, 1909 voyage of the Ellan Vannin, outline the ship's history and reputation, and follow the survivors' and witnesses' accounts that lead to the unanswered question: how did a vessel famed for surviving storms become a wreck with no final transmission and no launched lifeboats?

    Date: December 3, 1909
    Ship: Ellan Vannin (formerly Mona's Isle)
    Location: Mersey approach channel and Lancashire coast
    Deaths: 36
    Builder: Tod and McGregor, Meadowside, Glasgow

    - Waves on the morning of the wreck exceeded 24 feet as a piano floated past the Mersey Bar lightvessel at 6:35 a.m.
    - The Ellan Vannin had entered service in June 1860 and was rebuilt in 1883 with twin screws and a boiler rated at 80 psi.
    - The ship could carry roughly 300 passengers and made about 12.5 knots after her 1883 rebuild.
    - The lifeboat from the Ellan Vannin washed ashore at New Brighton with its cover on and working gear inside, having never been launched.
    - The Li'l Daisy had been renamed Ellan Vannin on November 16, 1883, and received an overhaul in December 1891 costing £2,913.

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    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    22 min
  • The Lucona Conspiracy: Six Dead to Hide a Fake Nuclear Cargo

    The Lucona Conspiracy: Six Dead to Hide a Fake Nuclear Cargo
    Aug 18 2026
    The Lucona Conspiracy: Six Dead to Hide a Fake Nuclear Cargo

    Fear that power can rewrite tragedy begins this episode: a ship blown apart by an internal explosion, a cargo declared at 212 million Austrian schillings, and six lives erased to hide that the hold contained obsolete coal-mining machinery - not nuclear equipment. Who used government influence to bury the truth, and how long did it take before a remotely operated vehicle finally proved the lie?

    In this episode, we follow the sequence of events from the Lucona’s January 1977 voyage to the decades-long effort to uncover what was actually in the hold, asking how insurance paperwork, powerful contacts, and silence hid a conspiracy - and whether justice ever caught up.

    Person: Udo Proksch
    Date: January 23, 1977
    Location: near Minicoy, northern Maldives
    Event: internal detonation of MV Lucona
    Value: 212 million Austrian schillings (approximately 20 million US dollars)

    - The declared cargo value was 212 million Austrian schillings, roughly 20 million US dollars.
    - The wreck lay at 4,200 meters below the surface of the Indian Ocean.
    - Twelve people sailed on the Lucona; six survived and six died.
    - The supposed nuclear processing equipment was actually obsolete coal-mining machinery.
    - The remotely operated vehicle Magellan confirmed the scrap cargo had been on the seafloor for fourteen years.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    18 min
  • The Night 1,500 Vanished: Haiti's Forgotten Ferry Horror

    The Night 1,500 Vanished: Haiti's Forgotten Ferry Horror
    Aug 17 2026
    The Night 1,500 Vanished: Haiti's Forgotten Ferry Horror

    Fear of large, avoidable catastrophe: a single rusting ferry left port carrying between 800 and 2,000 people on February 16, 1993, and by 1:00 a.m. almost all were dead-so how did a routine overnight sailing become one of Haiti’s worst uncounted disasters?

    In this episode, we tell the story of the MV Neptune and the conditions that led up to the sinking, from overcrowded decks and absent safety equipment to a sudden squall that sent passengers rushing to one side-what exactly caused the ship to founder and why was no one ever held accountable?

    Person: Carmin Magliore
    Date: February 16, 1993
    Location: Jérémie to Port-au-Prince route
    Event: MV Neptune sinking
    Estimated deaths: between 500 and 1,800 (most cited 1,500)

    - The ferry’s licensed passenger capacity was approximately 650.
    - Ticket price for the crossing was $7 in 1993.
    - At least 150 passengers forced their way onto the Neptune when a second ferry was canceled.
    - Survivor accounts report at least 100 children aboard and that all the children died.
    - Survivors clung to animal carcasses and soda crates for up to 31 hours in open water.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    20 min
  • The Cannon That Never Fired: Paper Wads, Slaves, and Blackbeard's Lost Flagship

    The Cannon That Never Fired: Paper Wads, Slaves, and Blackbeard's Lost Flagship
    Aug 16 2026
    The Cannon That Never Fired: Paper Wads, Slaves, and Blackbeard's Lost Flagship

    A cannon loaded with folded pages from a published sea voyage sat sealed underwater for nearly three hundred years - one of sixteen paper fragments pulled from a barrel that had never fired. How did a ship built in France, pressed into the transatlantic slave trade, and later seized by Blackbeard end up beached one mile off Beaufort Inlet with a gun primed but never discharged?

    In this episode, we trace the wreck’s tangled biography from La Concorde to Queen Anne’s Revenge and the archaeological haul that settled long-standing questions. What did the artifacts - from a wine glass stem to iron shot and paper wadding - reveal about the ship’s roles, its crew, and the moment it was lost?

    Person: Edward Teach
    Date: June 10, 1718
    Location: Beaufort Inlet, Carteret County, North Carolina
    Event: Grounding of Queen Anne's Revenge
    Status: Wreck site in 28 feet of water, one mile from shore

    - Sixteen paper fragments were recovered from inside a cannon barrel loaded as wadding.
    - Nearly forty cannons were found on the wreck site.
    - More than three hundred thousand artifacts have been recovered from the seafloor site.
    - The vessel entered historical record around 1710 and was almost certainly constructed in France.
    - Mike Daniel located the wreck on November 21, 1996.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    22 min
  • Halloween Inferno: How 500 Pounds of Propane Turned a Coliseum Graveyard

    Halloween Inferno: How 500 Pounds of Propane Turned a Coliseum Graveyard
    Aug 15 2026
    Halloween Inferno: How 500 Pounds of Propane Turned a Coliseum Graveyard

    A public entertainment night became a sealed danger: 500 pounds of propane sat under the Indiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum for about ten years, and on October 31, 1963 a single faulty valve and an electric popcorn warmer turned that stored fuel into a 40-foot fireball that left an initial death toll of 54 and a final count of 81. How could tanks unpermitted and unseen by inspectors lie beneath a crowd of 4,327 for a decade without anyone stopping the hazard?

    In this episode, we tell how the Halloween performance, the crowd, the concessions machinery, and a deteriorated tank combined to create an explosion that collapsed 1,200 square feet of floor and left a 50-foot crater - and we follow the questions that survived trials and settlements: why no permit, why no removal, and who bore responsibility?

    Person: former mayor of Lafayette (victim)
    Date: October 31, 1963
    Location: Indiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum, southeastern grandstands storeroom
    Attendance: 4,327 people
    Fatalities: 81

    - Five propane tanks stored together, each holding 100 pounds of liquefied petroleum gas, totaling 500 pounds.
    - Tanks had been in the coliseum for approximately ten years with no permit.
    - Fire department was called about gas leak concerns as early as 1959 and left without removing tanks.
    - At 11:06 PM an electric popcorn warming element ignited leaked gas, producing a fireball that reached 40 feet.
    - The blast created a 50-foot-wide crater and caused an initial collapse of 700 square feet, followed by another 500 square feet.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    17 min
  • When Flour Became Gunpowder: The Mill That Blew Apart Minneapolis

    When Flour Became Gunpowder: The Mill That Blew Apart Minneapolis
    Aug 14 2026
    When Flour Became Gunpowder: The Mill That Blew Apart Minneapolis

    The city woke on May 3, 1878 to granite fragments scattered across eight city blocks and nearly half a mile from the Washburn A Mill - stone that had been millstone hurled through the night. How did the everyday dust of the world's largest flour mill turn the building into a bomb, killing the entire night crew in seconds?

    In this episode, we tell what happened at the Washburn A Mill on the night of May 2-3, 1878, how ordinary conditions inside the mill produced an extraordinary catastrophe, and why the answer about what was foreseen is harder to accept than the explosion itself.

    Person: Cadwallader C. Washburn
    Date: May 2-3, 1878
    Location: Washburn A Mill, Minneapolis
    Event: Three rapid explosions that destroyed the mill
    Casualties: 14 men killed

    - The blast was felt just after 7:00 p.m. on the evening of May 2, 1878.
    - Fourteen men reported for the night shift and were all dead by 7:05 p.m.
    - Granite millstone fragments were found across eight city blocks the next morning.
    - Stone debris landed nearly half a mile from the Washburn A Mill.
    - Minneapolis had surpassed Saint Louis and Buffalo in flour production by the late 1870s.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    19 min
  • The Night 40 Men Vanished: How HMCS Raccoon Was Lost in Silence

    The Night 40 Men Vanished: How HMCS Raccoon Was Lost in Silence
    Aug 13 2026
    The Night 40 Men Vanished: How HMCS Raccoon Was Lost in Silence

    Fear that the familiar St. Lawrence was a killing ground: two explosions at 00:12 on September 7, 1942 and forty men vanished into black water while nearby ships did not search for seven hours and fifteen minutes-what happened in that silent gap? Who decided not to act, and why did a converted luxury yacht end up as a frontline escort in a river where ASDIC failed?

    In this episode, we follow the life of HMCS Raccoon from private yacht to naval escort and trace the circumstances of her loss off Cap-Chat, Quebec, including the seven-hour lapse when no rescue was mounted; what does that lapse reveal about wartime procedures and the river's hidden dangers?

    Person: Charles A. Thorne
    Date: September 7, 1942
    Location: Off Cap-Chat, Quebec
    Event: Two explosions and disappearance of HMCS Raccoon
    Complement: 40 men

    - Explosion time recorded at 00:12 (twelve minutes past midnight) on September 7, 1942.
    - Raccoon began life as the yacht Halonia, launched May 2, 1931, at Bath Iron Works, yard number 146.
    - Original size: 361 gross register tons, 148 feet length, 25 feet beam, 10 feet draught, speed 11 knots.
    - Purchased for $207,100 by Montye McRae and transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy March 1940; commissioned May 17, 1940.
    - Post-conversion displacement rose to 377 long tons, armed with one QF 12-pounder and fitted with ASDIC and depth charges; complement set at 40 men.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    20 min