November 20, 2023 • 10 mins
A whale sank the Essex on this day in 1820. There's more in the Sep. 27, 2010 episode of Stuff You Missed in History Class.
On this day in 1695, Afro-Brazilian anti-resistance leader Zumbi was executed by the Portuguese.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey there, history fans. We're taking a break so that
we can bring in new episodes all December. Law In
the meantime, enjoy these flashback episodes from the TDI HC Vault.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Welcome to This Day in History Class from HowStuffWorks dot
com and from the desk of Stuff you Missed in
History Class. It's the show where we explore the past
one day at a time with a quick look at
what happened today in history. Hello and welcome to the podcast.
I'm Tracy B. Wilson, and it's November twentieth. A whale
(00:33):
sank the whaling ship Essex on this day in eighteen twenty.
The story starts on the island of Nantucket off of
Cape Cod, Massachusetts, which was the heart of the whaling
industry in the early nineteenth century. This industry had started
out with people butchering dead whales that had washed up
on shore, and then that progressed to people hunting whales
(00:53):
relatively close to the shore from boats, and then to
hunting whales farther and farther out to see much larger
and more sophisticated ships. As people were whaling farther and
farther out from the shore. These ships started to have
equipment on board to process what was harvested from the whales,
because that was a lot easier than trying to haul
(01:14):
an entire whale back to the shore, sometimes from thousands
of miles away. A lot of what they were really
after was the spermaced also people call that spermaceti from
the heads of sperm whales. They were also harvesting blubber.
It wasn't as much about the meat, it was about
the blubber and the oil, and also ambergris, which you
(01:36):
had to be really lucky to get. That was a
lot more rare. So whaling ships had this series of
pots and fires on board called a triworz that was
used to render the blubber while they were still at sea,
and the whale ship also carried a few smaller whaling
boats because the main ship itself was not all that maneuverable.
You needed something much smaller and faster to be able
(01:58):
to actually hunt a whale. Voyages were also meant to
last a really long time. It was not uncommon for
a ship to set out with three or four years
of supplies, and two and a half year voyages were
really typical. This was also incredibly dangerous work. A lot
of people died. In August of eighteen nineteen, the Essex
(02:19):
set sail from Nantucket and nearly sank in a squall
just two days later. They eventually made their way to
the Galopogus Islands, though, and they resupplied with turtle meat
while they were there. But while they were there, they
also set a fire on Charles Island that was massively
destructive and probably led to the extinction of at least
two animal species. More than a year after they had
(02:42):
left Nantucket, they spotted a pod of whales and they
deployed two boats to go hunt them. But then the
people that were still on the main whaling ship noticed
another whale that was behaving oddly. It seemed to be
watching them. They estimated that this whale was about eighty
five feet or twenty six meters long, which was extremely
(03:04):
large for a sperm whale, and then it headed straight
for them. It struck the ship, turned around, came back
and struck them again, so, with the ship seriously damaged,
started to sink. Fortunately for the crew, those boats that
were used to hunt the whales were still in order,
(03:24):
and the men all of them survived the sinking, divided
up and got into them. They were also able to
salvage about sixty days worth of supplies, including one hundred
and ninety five gallons of water. At first, they talked
about heading for the Marquesas or the Society Islands. Both
of those were more than one thousand miles away, and
(03:45):
the prevailing current would help get them there, but they
were afraid of cannibals on these islands, which is going
to turn out to be ironic. Instead of going that way,
they headed for Peru or Chick, both of which required
them to go against the current and against the wind,
(04:05):
but they were so afraid of the cannibal threat that
seemed like the best option. When they got to the
Pitcairn Islands, three of the men decided to stay behind,
but the rest of them decided to continue on because
there wasn't really a lot there for them to sustain themselves.
But these men and the whaling boats did not have
enough provisions to get to land, and after a while
(04:26):
survivors turned to cannibalism when their crewmates died. It got
to a point though, where no one had died, so
they had to draw lots to decide who would be
murdered and then eaten. They were finally spotted off the
coast of Chile on February twenty third, eighteen twenty one,
after more than three months. In the end, there were
(04:50):
eight survivors out of the twenty or twenty one who
set sail. Initially, that included those three men that had
stayed behind when the rest got back in the boats.
Captain George Pollard Junior survived. His next ship, though, was
the two Brothers, and it also sank after it struck
coral reef. At that point no one would hire him
(05:10):
to captain a ship anymore, and then this whole story
became the inspiration for the classic novel Moby Dick. The
first mate, who was named Owen Chase, also wrote a
book about this whole experience, which was called Narrative of
the most Extraordinary and Distressing Shipwreck of the whale ship
Essex of Nantucket, which was attacked and finally destroyed by
(05:31):
a large spermacd whale in the Pacific Ocean, with an
account of the unparalleled sufferings of the captain and crew
during a space of ninety three days at sea in
open boats. In the years eighteen nineteen and eighteen twenty.
You can learn more about this in the September twenty seventh,
twenty ten episode of Stuffy Miss and History Class. Thanks
to Casey Pegram and Chandler Mays for their audio work
(05:54):
on the show, and you can subscribe to the Stay
in History Class on Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts and
whoever to your podcast. You can tune in tomorrow for
a document to establish a new government.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
Hey, I'm Eves and you're listening to this Day in
History Class, a podcast where we bring you a slice
of history every day. The day was November twentieth, sixteen
ninety five. Zoombie, an Afro Brazilian leader of the anti
(06:36):
slavery resistance in Brazil, was executed by the Portuguese He
has since become a symbol of black freedom. Today, the
date of his execution is commemorated in Brazil as Black
Awareness Day or Black Consciousness Day. Zumbi was born in
Palmettes in the Portuguese colony of Brazil, and he's believed
to be the descendant of the Imvangala warriors in Angola
(07:00):
from the time people began enslaving Africans and sending them
to Brazil in the fifteen hundreds, Brazil was the biggest
destination for enslaved Africans in the Americas. Africans and their
descendants who had escaped slavery in Brazil built maroon settlements
known as mocambo's. A united collection of Mocambo's has been
called a Kilombo. Palm Mars, where Zumbie was born, was
(07:23):
a klombo in the mountains of northeast Brazil that was
founded in sixteen o five. Portuguese colonists frequently attacked them,
and pal Mades was no exception. A few years after
Zombie was born, the Portuguese kidnapped him and for years
he lived in a coastal monastery. He learned Portuguese, Latin
and the Tenets of Catholicism. But when Zombie was around
(07:46):
fifteen years old, he escaped and returned to palm Martes.
At this point, his uncle Gangazumba was the king of
pal Mades. Gangazumba appointed Zumbi to a post as a
military commander, since Portuguese forces and plantation owners were consistently
raiding the settlement. In response, the people of Palmades conducted
(08:08):
raids against the Portuguese including ones led by Zombie. They
intimidated colonists and captured people enslaved on plantations. Enslaved people
who escaped to palm Maades were considered free, but those
who were captured at plantations and taken to the colombo
were required to work. They could earn their freedom by
capturing someone else. Enslaved people who fled palm Mades were
(08:31):
punished if they were later recaptured. Through this system, Palmades's
population grew significantly. The people in Palmades were farmers, hunters,
and fishers. Since they bartered with traders for guns and ammunition,
soldiers were well armed. Zoombie gained authority and respect as
people recognized his strength, wisdom, and courage in battle. In
(08:55):
sixteen seventy eight, the governor of the Captaincy of Ferdambuku,
Pedro Almeda, negotiated a peace treaty with King Ganga Zumba.
The king agreed to the treaty, but Zumbi did not
like its terms, nor did he trust the Portuguese. Zumbi
rejected the deal in Gangazumba's acceptance of it, and he
incited a revolt. Ganga Zumba was poisoned and died, and
(09:18):
Zumbi became king. He continued Palmades's fight against the Portuguese.
Most Colombos did not last long because of Portuguese attacks,
but palm Mades lasted for nearly a century. Though Zoombie
continued the anti Portuguese resistance, the Portuguese aggressively attacked pal Mades,
burning the land and overpowering its fighters with their forces.
(09:41):
Zombie was captured and decapitated on November twentieth, sixteen ninety five,
and Palo Mades fell. The Portuguese celebrated the defeat and
used it to send a message to other resistance fighters
who dared to take up arms against them. Brazil was
the last nation in the Americas to abolish slavery when
it did so and eighteen eighty eight. In the centuries
(10:02):
after his death, stories about Zoombie were passed down in
oral traditions, and primary sources related to his history were
dug up for Brazilians of African descent. Pal Mades is
remembered for its challenge to colonial authority, and Zoombie's legacy
is honored as one of heroic resistance. I'm eating Stuffcote,
and hopefully you know a little more about history today
(10:24):
than you did yesterday. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
your favorite shows.
Hey there, history fans. We're taking a break so that
we can bring in new episodes all December. Law In
the meantime, enjoy these flashback episodes from the TDI HC Vault.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Welcome to This Day in History Class from HowStuffWorks dot
com and from the desk of Stuff you Missed in
History Class. It's the show where we explore the past
one day at a time with a quick look at
what happened today in history. Hello and welcome to the podcast.
I'm Tracy B. Wilson, and it's November twentieth. A whale
(00:33):
sank the whaling ship Essex on this day in eighteen twenty.
The story starts on the island of Nantucket off of
Cape Cod, Massachusetts, which was the heart of the whaling
industry in the early nineteenth century. This industry had started
out with people butchering dead whales that had washed up
on shore, and then that progressed to people hunting whales
(00:53):
relatively close to the shore from boats, and then to
hunting whales farther and farther out to see much larger
and more sophisticated ships. As people were whaling farther and
farther out from the shore. These ships started to have
equipment on board to process what was harvested from the whales,
because that was a lot easier than trying to haul
(01:14):
an entire whale back to the shore, sometimes from thousands
of miles away. A lot of what they were really
after was the spermaced also people call that spermaceti from
the heads of sperm whales. They were also harvesting blubber.
It wasn't as much about the meat, it was about
the blubber and the oil, and also ambergris, which you
(01:36):
had to be really lucky to get. That was a
lot more rare. So whaling ships had this series of
pots and fires on board called a triworz that was
used to render the blubber while they were still at sea,
and the whale ship also carried a few smaller whaling
boats because the main ship itself was not all that maneuverable.
You needed something much smaller and faster to be able
(01:58):
to actually hunt a whale. Voyages were also meant to
last a really long time. It was not uncommon for
a ship to set out with three or four years
of supplies, and two and a half year voyages were
really typical. This was also incredibly dangerous work. A lot
of people died. In August of eighteen nineteen, the Essex
(02:19):
set sail from Nantucket and nearly sank in a squall
just two days later. They eventually made their way to
the Galopogus Islands, though, and they resupplied with turtle meat
while they were there. But while they were there, they
also set a fire on Charles Island that was massively
destructive and probably led to the extinction of at least
two animal species. More than a year after they had
(02:42):
left Nantucket, they spotted a pod of whales and they
deployed two boats to go hunt them. But then the
people that were still on the main whaling ship noticed
another whale that was behaving oddly. It seemed to be
watching them. They estimated that this whale was about eighty
five feet or twenty six meters long, which was extremely
(03:04):
large for a sperm whale, and then it headed straight
for them. It struck the ship, turned around, came back
and struck them again, so, with the ship seriously damaged,
started to sink. Fortunately for the crew, those boats that
were used to hunt the whales were still in order,
(03:24):
and the men all of them survived the sinking, divided
up and got into them. They were also able to
salvage about sixty days worth of supplies, including one hundred
and ninety five gallons of water. At first, they talked
about heading for the Marquesas or the Society Islands. Both
of those were more than one thousand miles away, and
(03:45):
the prevailing current would help get them there, but they
were afraid of cannibals on these islands, which is going
to turn out to be ironic. Instead of going that way,
they headed for Peru or Chick, both of which required
them to go against the current and against the wind,
(04:05):
but they were so afraid of the cannibal threat that
seemed like the best option. When they got to the
Pitcairn Islands, three of the men decided to stay behind,
but the rest of them decided to continue on because
there wasn't really a lot there for them to sustain themselves.
But these men and the whaling boats did not have
enough provisions to get to land, and after a while
(04:26):
survivors turned to cannibalism when their crewmates died. It got
to a point though, where no one had died, so
they had to draw lots to decide who would be
murdered and then eaten. They were finally spotted off the
coast of Chile on February twenty third, eighteen twenty one,
after more than three months. In the end, there were
(04:50):
eight survivors out of the twenty or twenty one who
set sail. Initially, that included those three men that had
stayed behind when the rest got back in the boats.
Captain George Pollard Junior survived. His next ship, though, was
the two Brothers, and it also sank after it struck
coral reef. At that point no one would hire him
(05:10):
to captain a ship anymore, and then this whole story
became the inspiration for the classic novel Moby Dick. The
first mate, who was named Owen Chase, also wrote a
book about this whole experience, which was called Narrative of
the most Extraordinary and Distressing Shipwreck of the whale ship
Essex of Nantucket, which was attacked and finally destroyed by
(05:31):
a large spermacd whale in the Pacific Ocean, with an
account of the unparalleled sufferings of the captain and crew
during a space of ninety three days at sea in
open boats. In the years eighteen nineteen and eighteen twenty.
You can learn more about this in the September twenty seventh,
twenty ten episode of Stuffy Miss and History Class. Thanks
to Casey Pegram and Chandler Mays for their audio work
(05:54):
on the show, and you can subscribe to the Stay
in History Class on Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts and
whoever to your podcast. You can tune in tomorrow for
a document to establish a new government.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
Hey, I'm Eves and you're listening to this Day in
History Class, a podcast where we bring you a slice
of history every day. The day was November twentieth, sixteen
ninety five. Zoombie, an Afro Brazilian leader of the anti
(06:36):
slavery resistance in Brazil, was executed by the Portuguese He
has since become a symbol of black freedom. Today, the
date of his execution is commemorated in Brazil as Black
Awareness Day or Black Consciousness Day. Zumbi was born in
Palmettes in the Portuguese colony of Brazil, and he's believed
to be the descendant of the Imvangala warriors in Angola
(07:00):
from the time people began enslaving Africans and sending them
to Brazil in the fifteen hundreds, Brazil was the biggest
destination for enslaved Africans in the Americas. Africans and their
descendants who had escaped slavery in Brazil built maroon settlements
known as mocambo's. A united collection of Mocambo's has been
called a Kilombo. Palm Mars, where Zumbie was born, was
(07:23):
a klombo in the mountains of northeast Brazil that was
founded in sixteen o five. Portuguese colonists frequently attacked them,
and pal Mades was no exception. A few years after
Zombie was born, the Portuguese kidnapped him and for years
he lived in a coastal monastery. He learned Portuguese, Latin
and the Tenets of Catholicism. But when Zombie was around
(07:46):
fifteen years old, he escaped and returned to palm Martes.
At this point, his uncle Gangazumba was the king of
pal Mades. Gangazumba appointed Zumbi to a post as a
military commander, since Portuguese forces and plantation owners were consistently
raiding the settlement. In response, the people of Palmades conducted
(08:08):
raids against the Portuguese including ones led by Zombie. They
intimidated colonists and captured people enslaved on plantations. Enslaved people
who escaped to palm Maades were considered free, but those
who were captured at plantations and taken to the colombo
were required to work. They could earn their freedom by
capturing someone else. Enslaved people who fled palm Mades were
(08:31):
punished if they were later recaptured. Through this system, Palmades's
population grew significantly. The people in Palmades were farmers, hunters,
and fishers. Since they bartered with traders for guns and ammunition,
soldiers were well armed. Zoombie gained authority and respect as
people recognized his strength, wisdom, and courage in battle. In
(08:55):
sixteen seventy eight, the governor of the Captaincy of Ferdambuku,
Pedro Almeda, negotiated a peace treaty with King Ganga Zumba.
The king agreed to the treaty, but Zumbi did not
like its terms, nor did he trust the Portuguese. Zumbi
rejected the deal in Gangazumba's acceptance of it, and he
incited a revolt. Ganga Zumba was poisoned and died, and
(09:18):
Zumbi became king. He continued Palmades's fight against the Portuguese.
Most Colombos did not last long because of Portuguese attacks,
but palm Mades lasted for nearly a century. Though Zoombie
continued the anti Portuguese resistance, the Portuguese aggressively attacked pal Mades,
burning the land and overpowering its fighters with their forces.
(09:41):
Zombie was captured and decapitated on November twentieth, sixteen ninety five,
and Palo Mades fell. The Portuguese celebrated the defeat and
used it to send a message to other resistance fighters
who dared to take up arms against them. Brazil was
the last nation in the Americas to abolish slavery when
it did so and eighteen eighty eight. In the centuries
(10:02):
after his death, stories about Zoombie were passed down in
oral traditions, and primary sources related to his history were
dug up for Brazilians of African descent. Pal Mades is
remembered for its challenge to colonial authority, and Zoombie's legacy
is honored as one of heroic resistance. I'm eating Stuffcote,
and hopefully you know a little more about history today
(10:24):
than you did yesterday. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
your favorite shows.
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