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Speaker 1 Welcome to Aaron Menke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of iHeartRadio and Grim and Mild.

Speaker 2 Our world is full of the unexplainable. And if history is an open book, All of these amazing tales are right there on display, just waiting for us to explore.

Speaker 2 Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities.

Speaker 2 There's an old saying that no good deed goes unpunished. Most of us can probably think of a time when someone took advantage of our kindness and made us regret ever trying to help.

Speaker 2 That's all one sea captain was trying to do. step up in a moment of crisis and save the day.

Speaker 2 But he would soon learn that sometimes doing the right thing can land you you in a world of trouble, or in this case, in the ocean.

Speaker 2 In early April of 1813, Richard Brooks woke up to a beautiful sight, a ship on the horizon, its white sails billowing in the breeze.

Speaker 2 Brooks shouted with joy and raced out of the crude shelter he had built from fallen palm fronds. He barreled on the beach, desperately waving his arms, trying to attract the ship's attention.

Speaker 2 Other members of his crew realized what Brooks was doing and ran down the beach to help him. Soon the distant ship changed course and began sailing directly for them.

Speaker 2 The entire crew erupted in cheers. Finally, after months of being marooned, struggling to survive on a deserted tropical island, they were being saved.

Speaker 2 Brooks and the other crew members of the Isabella originally set out from Port Jackson Harbor in New South Wales, the British prison colony that we know today as Australia.

Speaker 2 They left on December 4th of 1812, headed for London. There were 54 people on board the ship, captained by a weathered sea dog named George Higdon.

Speaker 2 Richard Brooks was a captain in his own right of numerous convict transport ships, the ships that brought prisoners from Great Britain to the prison colony.

Speaker 2 But aboard the Isabella, he was just a passenger traveling home. But once they were out at sea, Brooks realized that Captain Higton was incompetent, lazy, and a drunk.

Speaker 2 A few weeks into their journey around Cape Horn, for example, Higdon nearly crashed them into Campbell Island, south of New Zealand.

Speaker 2 Shortly after that, his inept leadership during a raging storm nearly sank the ship. About two months into the tumultuous journey, around 2 a.m.

Speaker 2 on February 8th, 1813, Brooks was wandering on deck when he realized that the Isabella was sailing dangerously close to land.

Speaker 2 Then he saw it, dead ahead, a jagged rock formation jutting out of the sea. Brooks raised the alarm and he took control of the ship.

Speaker 2 He and the other crew members jumped into action, desperately trying to steer the Isabella clear of danger.

Speaker 2 They swerved just in time to miss the rocks, only to crash into a reef with such force that the rudder was torn from the ship. Now they had no way to steer and were at the mercy of the wind.

Speaker 2 The waves around them swelled, lifting the ship off the reef and ramming it into a rock ledge, shattering the hull. The wind then pushed the broken ship toward a sandy beach where it ran aground.

Speaker 2 And that was two months before. Brooks and the other 54 passengers had been stuck on the deserted island ever since, living off provisions they saved from the ship.

Speaker 2 But conditions on the island were harsh and morale was in the gutter. So when a merchant ship appeared in the distance, the whole crew ran out to flag it down.

Speaker 2 Soon, the rescue ship dropped anchor offshore and a boat of American merchant sailors made their way to the beach. They offered to take all 54 passengers of the Isabella to safety.

Speaker 2 As payment, they just wanted whatever was left of the Isabella's provisions to help them make the journey home. And of course, Brooks and his fellow passengers were elated.

Speaker 2 They made plans to transfer the Isabella's provisions back to the American ship called the Nanina. The passengers and merchants got to work and before long had the Nanina loaded up and ready to go.

Speaker 2 And then, another ship came sailing into view.

Speaker 2 It was a fierce British warship called the Nancy, and the warship spotted the Nanina and the broken remains of the Isabella and sent soldiers ashore to see what was going on.

Speaker 2 Brooks recounted the harrowing ordeal that he and his fellow passengers had endured over these past few months and expressed how grateful he was to the American merchants for coming to their rescue.

Speaker 2 And it was then that the captain of the Nancy delivered surprising news. Britain and America had been at war for almost a year, the war of 1812.

Speaker 2 So technically, Brooks and his crew were accepting help from the enemy. But the captain told Brooks not to worry.
He would take all 54 Isabella passengers aboard the Nancy.

Speaker 2 He would also be taking the American crew as prisoners of war, and he would keep their ship as a war prize.

Speaker 2 As you'd imagine, Brooks was stunned, but there was little he could do to help his new American friends.

Speaker 2 A few days later, the Nancy sailed away with a brig full of American prisoners and a new merchant ship in tow.

Speaker 2 Although not everybody made it onto the warship, for whatever reason, the captain of the Nancy chose to leave five men behind, including the captain of the Nanina.

Speaker 2 They endured brutal living conditions for 534 days before finally being rescued themselves.

Speaker 2 Although, thankfully, by that time, the War of 1812 was over and the marooned crew members could catch a ride back to civilization without a trip to the brig.

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Speaker 2 Most people don't think about this, but dog breeds are inherently an unnatural creation.

Speaker 2 Ever since the domestication of dogs, breeders have made an art of carefully selecting for traits, behaviors, and physical characteristics that would not occur in nature.

Speaker 2 It has grown into a whole industry, not just for the average pet owner, but for public spectacle at large. And there is no one who handles public spectacles quite like the British royal family.

Speaker 2 We've talked a lot here about the quirks of royalty in the 21st century, so today I'd like to focus on something that got a lot of focus with the recent passing of Queen Elizabeth II, her small army of stubby-legged corgis.

Speaker 2 These dogs were as pampered as animals can possibly be. They had a whole room to themselves in Buckingham Palace.
and their own gourmet chef to prepare meals for them.

Speaker 2 From her first dog at the age of 18 until her death at the age of 96, Queen Elizabeth II owned 63 dogs. Not all of them were corgis, though.

Speaker 2 Some were technically called dorghis, which is a cross between a corgi and a dachshund.

Speaker 2 The first of this line was a nobly named Rosevell Golden Eagle, a Welsh corgi adopted by the Queen Mother after her daughter fell in love with corgis.

Speaker 2 It would become known by the slightly less noble nickname Dukey, short for the Duke of York. But the first dog owned by Queen Elizabeth II herself was Susan, a gift on her 18th birthday.

Speaker 2 Ever since, she was not without one of these stubby dogs or another, even quoting to the press, the Corgis are my family.

Speaker 2 And like the rest of the royal family, they were no strangers to public scandal. Now, Elizabeth's children were reportedly much less fond of the dogs than the queen herself.

Speaker 2 They complained to the press about barking keeping them up at night. They seemed to respond aggressively to the princes, although although some guests got special treatment.

Speaker 2 Meghan Markle, for instance, wasn't barked or bitten once when she came to visit the royal family for the first time. Not everyone has been so lucky, though.

Speaker 2 Susan, Elizabeth's first corgi, attacked a palace clockwinder in 1954.

Speaker 2 Mailmen and police officers have also been bitten by the corgis at several points throughout British history, prompting at least one suggestion that Buckingham Palace should install a beware the dog sign for unwitting visitors.

Speaker 2 Elizabeth had her own dog breeding program, which created a mini dynasty within the walls of the British Palace. They were to be treated with as much respect as other members of the royal family.

Speaker 2 In 1999, for example, one of the Queen's footmen was demoted when it was discovered that he enjoyed getting the corgis drunk as a party trick to amuse the other members of the staff.

Speaker 2 The corgi breeding, however, stopped in 2012 when Queen Elizabeth II realized that her children did not share her love of the little dogs.

Speaker 2 Publicly, she said that she did not want to leave a bunch of puppies stranded when she passed away. Ultimately, she would leave two corgis behind, Muick and Sandy.

Speaker 2 One of these went to Prince Andrew, and the other to Prince Andrew's ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson.

Speaker 2 Though their reign is at an end, these dogs had a stranglehold on popular culture, not just inspiring dog shows or bringing a touch of whimsy to the Queen's photo ops, but as symbols of Queen Elizabeth II herself.

Speaker 2 In the same way that the Prime Minister Winston Churchill was often depicted as a bulldog, Queen Elizabeth would be alongside her corgis, constantly in the public imagination.

Speaker 2 In artwork, political cartoons, and media depictions, she was rarely seen without one of her famous dogs.

Speaker 2 The popular TV series in Australia, Bluey, even depicted Elizabeth II as an anthropomorphic corgi.

Speaker 2 In a weird way, the corgi as a dog breed is a metaphor for the royal family itself, an elaborate family tree of whimsical names, which only the most dedicated British dog lover would know, whose primary purpose is to exist in the public eye and charm diplomats, prime ministers, foreign dignitaries, anyone the queen needs an icebreaker with.

Speaker 2 And it has to be said, an immense amount of state funding and power went into the lavish lifestyles these dogs led. While ultimately harmless, the scale of it is astonishing.

Speaker 2 Much like the British British royal family themselves. The world's most extravagant dog show.

Speaker 2 I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts or learn more about the show by visiting CuriositiesPodcast.com.

Speaker 2 The show was created by me, Aaron Mankey, in partnership with How Stuff Works. I make another award-winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television show.

Speaker 2 And you can learn all about it over at theworldoflore.com. And until next time, stay curious.

Speaker 1 Banking with Capital One helps you keep more money in your wallet, with no fees or minimums on checking accounts and no overdraft fees. Just ask the Capital One Bank Guy.

Speaker 1 It's pretty much all he talks about. In a good way.
He'd also tell you that this podcast is his favorite podcast, too.

Speaker 1 Oh, really?

Speaker 1 Thanks, Capital One Bank Guy.

Speaker 1 What's in your wallet? Terms apply. See capital one.com/slash bank, capital One NA member FDIC.

Speaker 1 This is an iHeart podcast.