One of my mother’s favourite lines when I was a teenager was, “You look like the Wreck of the Hesperus”. From her expression somewhere between pity and exasperation, I detected that this wasn’t a compliment.
The Breezer -the joyride for a curious mind: A weekly newsletter from me, Steve Winduss, at the Batting the Breeze podcast. Spend a few minutes with me discovering historical snippets and fascinating facts related to the forthcoming week. Add to that updates relating to the podcast, a touch of humour and a dash of "lots more". - 12th January 2025.
Happy Sunday!
One of my mother’s favourite lines when I was a teenager was, “You look like the Wreck of the Hesperus”. From her expression somewhere between pity and exasperation, I detected that this wasn’t a compliment. She was, of course, referring to my rather shabby appearance at the time. I liked to think she actually meant shabby chic, but she definitely meant shabby.
American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow first published his ballad, The Wreck of the Hesperus, 185 years ago last Friday, 10 January 1840. The Hesperus was a schooner. On one voyage, possibly during the Great Blizzard of 1839 along the New England coastline, the captain of the Hesperus decided to bring his daughter for the ride.
The skipper and his daughter on the Hesperus
Father’s first mistake was ignoring the advice of an old sailor who warned of an oncoming hurricane. Instead of making for port, the skipper first wrapped his daughter in his coat. He then did something I am sure all responsible parents would do in a similar situation; he bound her to the mast with rope. While it may have prolonged her life a smidgen, the skipper’s number was up soon after. Once the icy hurricane had appeared, the daughter exclaimed….
“O father! I see a gleaming light,
Oh say, what may it be?”
But the father answered never a word,
A frozen corpse was he.
The remaining crew battled the storm until the Hesperus hit a reef, was ripped open by the rocks, and sank.
She struck where the white and fleecy waves Looked soft as carded wool, But the cruel rocks, they gored her side Like the horns of an angry bull.
The following morning, a fisherman found the perished daughter still tied to the mast. It’s a fairly depressing tale, but at least I am in no doubt how I looked in my younger days.
The skipper’s stricken daughter, tied to the mast of the Hesperus.
The Lexington was built in 1834 by Cornelius Vanderbilt, the American railroad and shipping magnate. She was a paddlewheel steamboat, initially deployed ferrying between New York City and Providence, Rhode Island. The Lexington quickly gained a reputation for speed and luxury. By 1940, she had been rerouted to Stonington, Connecticut. From here, passengers from New York could board the new railroad into Boston. One evening in January, the Lexington left New York, bound for Stonington. After four hours en route, as she travelled along the north shore of Long Island, a ship’s mate noticed that part of the smokestack was on fire. Despite all hands to the pump, the cargo of cotton bales soon overheated and caught fire. The tiller guide ropes caught alight, and the Lexington was adrift. As she drifted, the fire took hold. Passengers and crew had to choose between burning alive on deck or freezing to death in the sub-zero waters.
The Lexington on fire, 1840
At 3 a.m. the following morning, the Lexington gave her last breath and sank below the water. Only four of the 143 people on board survived: three crew and one passenger. Perhaps the most extraordinary of these survivors was David Crowley, the second mate, who had clung to a bale of cotton for over 40 hours in the sub-zero temperatures. He had drifted more than 50 miles before coming ashore and walking to the nearest house to seek help. He lived for a further 60 years. Today, the Lexington lies 140 feet down, at the bottom of the Long Island Sound.
Rumour has it that Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was due to travel on the Lexington for that fateful voyage. He had bought a ticket but was delayed. The Lexington caught fire 185 years ago tomorrow, 13 January 1840, only three days after The Wreck of the Hesperus was published. The reason Longfellow missed the trip was thought to be because he was discussing his latest work with his publisher.
Out of curiosity… Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was fluent in eight languages and is credited as the first American to translate Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy. In the epic poem, Dante describes the nine circles of hell (inferno), purgatory and finally, heaven. In Inferno, Charon, the ferryman of the dead, warns the souls of the dammed of their fate before transporting them across the River Acheron into Hell:
I come To take you to the other shore across, Into eternal darkness, there to dwell In fierce heat and in ice.
Could Charon have been the captain of the Lexington?
Last week, I mentioned the forthcoming podcast episode featuring one of NASA’s most distinguished astronauts, Captain Jim Wetherbee. Beyond Gravity is now live, published on the 35th anniversary of Jim's first flight into space, 9 January 1990; I would be delighted if you listened in. If you’re short of time, take a look at the one-minute trailer:Beyond Gravity - trailer. Jim commanded more missions than any other astronaut throughout the 30-year Space Shuttle program. His knowledge and experiences of space speak for themselves. The real joy of the conversation, though, was the passion and charm with which Jim recounted those experiences. I hope you enjoy listening as much as I did producing the episode.
I am old enough to remember the first Space Shuttle test flight in 1977. I was twelve years old. Imagine the excitement of watching this revolutionary spacecraft piggybacking a Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet and then being released to see if it could fly back to a specified location. In this case, the location was Edwards Air Force Base, 60 miles northeast of Los Angeles, as the crow flies. Jim Wetherbee has landed more space shuttles returning from space than any other astronaut in history. He described the experience as trying to land a ‘flying brick’. That 1977 coverage was the last time I remember seeing the adapted Boeing 747, the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA), in action. It turns out there were actually two of them. I only recently discovered that the SCAs were used throughout the lifetime of the Space Shuttle program. If a mission couldn’t land at the Kennedy Space Center due to bad weather, it would land at Edwards Air Force Base instead.
The Endeavour orbiter’s last ‘shuttle’ mounted on a Boeing 747 SCA, 2012
That was good news for the astronauts who could return to Earth safely. The problem was that a 100-ton Space Shuttle would now be 2,500 miles from home. How do you transport it back? That’s where the Boeing 747 SCAs played their part. The Space Shuttle would be lifted onto the back of an SCA and ’shuttled’ back to Florida. Of the total 133 Space Shuttle landings, 55 were diverted from Florida; 54 to Edwards Air Force Base and one to White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico. I have also discovered, not without some degree of envy, that it was a popular practice for Americans to turn out to watch this amazing sight. NASA played their part by flying low over major cities along the way. Take a look at a few snippets of Endeavour’s last flight into Los Angeles in 2012 - what a spectacle! Were you one of those lucky people? Please drop me an email and let me know.
Listen now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music or just about any other podcast player of your choice. Check out the show notes for the links and transcript to learn more.
My favourite quotes from the episode...
You know, the greatest fear an astronaut has is not one of dying. It's a fear of making a mistake.
Humans achieve greatness when we think of other humans.
I just encourage people to enjoy life, enjoy the beauty around us. You don't have to go into space to recognize this place is a phenomenal universe that we are so privileged to be living in.
Capt. Jim Wetherbee
Out of curiosity... In the sixty days leading up to Jim’s first space mission: the Berlin Wall fell in East Germany; Nicolae Ceaușescu, the Romanian dictator, was executed; Vaçlav Havel was elected president of Czechoslovakia after the Velvet Revolution had defeated communist rule and The Simpsons premiered on Fox TV. Twenty-one days after Jim’s first Space Shuttle landing at Edwards Air Force Base, Nelson Mandela was freed from prison after 27 years of detention.
Dates with History
Today… If you have a degree in mathematics, you will have heard of Fermat’s Last Theorem. You may have also heard of it if you are a fan of Dr Who, who solved the near-insolvable in a few seconds. It is said that Fermat’s Last Theorem... “Is easy to understand as a child, but took centuries to prove”. So, if you’re a non-mathematician, stay with me for a few moments: Pierre de Fermat was a French lawyer. Mathematics was his hobby. He was pretty good at it too. Among many achievements, Pierre is best remembered for leaving the world with a conundrum lasting more than 350 years. He stated that if x, y, and z are positive whole numbers in the equation xⁿ + yⁿ = zⁿ, and if ’n’ was greater than 2, the equation couldn’t be solved. So, for instance; the equation x³ + y³ = z³ would be impossible to solve. (Don’t worry, that’s it for the maths). It’s one thing to make a statement like that; you then have to prove it is true. Fermat put a little teaser in his exercise book alongside his theorem. He wrote in the margin that although he had proved the mathematical tongue-twister, he couldn’t fit the workings in that margin. It was an implied, "Take my word for it". I tried that approach in my engineering degree finals to no avail.
Pierre de Fermat
Pierre’s proposition and the provocative statement in the margin teased the mathematical world for over 350 years. Then, in 1993, an Englishman, Andrew Wiles, claimed to have proved the theorem after seven years of intensive work and over 100 pages of explanatory notes. Less than two years later, and after a few tweaks, the mathematics community confirmed that Andrew Wiles had indeed proved Fermat’s Last Theorem. However, the question remains: Did Fermat prove his own theorem or not? Pierre Fermat died 360 years ago today, 12 January 1665.
Monday… Bill Gates stepped down as CEO of Microsoft 25 years ago tomorrow, 13 January 2000. The decision was not completely unexpected, though the timing was. He remained Chairman of the Board of Directors for a further 14 years until finally leaving the Microsoft board completely in 2020. Gates and Paul Allen established Microsoft in 1975. I remember ten years later, my father trying to explain this new…. thingy - Windows. He said you could create ‘windows’ on the computer and that it was really exciting. I had no idea what he meant. But, as an impressionable young man who had recently spent three days copying code for an American Football game into my Dell computer using MS-DOS, I soon learned. Today, it’s hard to imagine there was life before Windows.
Out of curiosity... MS-DOS (Microsoft Disk Operating System) was Microsoft’s original text-based computer language in 1981 to support IBM’s new Personal Computer. Although the concept of a personal computer had been established through products such as Apple, Commodore and Tandy since 1975, IBM’s PC became the standard for personal computers, primarily because of its use of the superior MS-DOS.
Wednesday… The Tudor dynasty receives more air time than any other in English history. It set England (and subsequently Great Britain) on a course to become a dominant colonial power for the next 300 years. A rift with the papacy in Rome started in 1527 when Henry VIII sought an annulment from his marriage to Catherine of Aragon - Pope Clement VII refused his request. The motivation for the annulment was partly Catherine’s inability to produce a male heir and partly Henry’s infatuation with a certain Anne Boleyn. Henry snubbed the Pope's refusal and married Anne anyway in 1533 while still married to Catherine of Aragon.
King Henry VIII with Anne Boleyn Shooting Deer in Windsor Forest. Painted in 1903
Consequently, Henry was excommunicated from the Catholic Church by the Pope, and the Church of England was formally established. Following the Act of Supremacy in 1534, Henry VIII declared himself Supreme Head of the Church of England 490 years ago this Wednesday, 15 January 1535.
Question of the Week
Nessun dorma is possibly the most famous operatic aria of all time. Its popularity today was undoubtedly boosted by Luciano Pavarotti’s 1972 rendition, used by the BBC for the FIFA World Cup in Italy 35 years ago, in 1990. It could have been so different. Giacomo Puccini, the Italian composer, died in 1924 before completing his final opera, Turandot, for which Nessun dorma was written. Luckily, the composer Franco Alfano was commissioned to complete the opera based on Puccini’s sketches and rough notes. A year after Puccini’s death, Turandot premiered at La Scala in Milan in 1926. La bohème and Madame Butterfly are two of Puccini’s most famous operas. There is a third opera, equally popular, that premiered in Rome 125 years ago this Tuesday, 14 January 1900. Which is it?
And Finally…
This week’s Breezer looks a little heavier than normal: Complex mathematical theorems, computer operating systems and royal schisms with the Vatican. Let’s end on a lighter note… The Walt Disney Company’s flagship character, Mickey Mouse first appeared in a comic strip 95 years ago tomorrow, 13 January 1930. The iconic cartoon character had made his first entrance in November 1928 in the animated film Steamboat Willie. Originally named Mortimer Mouse, Mickey was created by Walt Disney and a co-worker Ub Iwerks (no, that’s not a spelling mistake). Disney cited Charlie Chaplin as the source of Mickey’s character. The first comic strip was based on an early prototype film, Plane Crazy. Mickey is an ambitious mouse who dreams of emulating his hero, Charles Lindbergh, the transatlantic aviator. He builds his own plane and experiences a range of misadventures over the 11 weeks that the initial storyline ran. Mickey Mouse was the first cartoon character to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Promoting the first Mickey Mouse comic strip, circa 1929
Out of curiosity... The actor Joe Twerp (real name Escott Brandon Boyes) provided one of the first voices of Mickey Mouse in the thirties. Twerp was born 115 years ago last Friday, 10 January 1910.
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Thank you for joining me. Have a great week!
Steve
HOST & CHIEF STORY HUNTER
P:S: Incidentally, I am always keen to receive your feedback to help me continuously improve this newsletter and the podcast. Just hit reply to this email and...... let it rip! I respond to every email that I receive.
Question of the week… Answer
Giacano Puccini’s opera that premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome 125 years ago tomorrow, 14 January 1900, is Tosca. Incidentally, Nessun dorma translates to, “Let no one sleep”.
Promotional poster for Tosca, circa 1900. Sarah Bernhardt
Attributions - Endeavour’s last flight, Los Angeles, 2012: NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons - The skipper and his daughter on the Hesperus: John Gilbert, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons - The stricken skipper’s daughter, tied to the mast of the Hesperus. Internet Archive Book Images, No restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons - The Endeavour orbiter’s last ‘shuttle’ mounted on a Boeing 747 SCA, 2012: United States Air Force, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons - Pierre de Fermat: See page for author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons - King Henry VIII with Anne Boleyn Shooting Deer in Windsor Forest. Painted in 1903: William Powell Frith, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons - Promoting the first Mickey Mouse comic strip, circa 1929: Ub Iwerks, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons - Promotional poster for Tosca, circa 1900. Sarah Bernhardt: Alphonse Mucha, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
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