0:02

I'm Willa Day, the cohost

0:04

and creator of The Snoop.

0:06

I'm Nate Damiah, the host of the memory pals.

0:09

I'm Benjamin Walker, the host of

0:11

the theory of everything. If radiotopia

0:14

was a place, it would look like a

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bay of crystal clear water

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with people waiting and frolicing

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around. It would be a bar

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or a coffee shop with lots of light,

0:25

music is just right, and there's plenty of room,

0:27

there's tables, cozy nooks, it's

0:29

a place where we all get to do our own thing,

0:31

but in community with our peers. I'm

0:33

part of radiotopia because I enjoy

0:36

being part of a collective that

0:38

really listens to creatives and has a

0:40

mission to put story forward.

0:43

I'm part of radiotopia because it

0:45

is a home for great audio

0:47

producers coming up with what the

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future should sound

0:50

like. Don't eat today at radiotopia dot

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f m. Thank you so

0:55

much.

1:02

Every year around this time, I re

1:04

released my favorite episode of the year.

1:07

And this time, I found myself

1:09

having little trouble picking. It

1:11

was like I kept wanting to reject what

1:13

seemed like the right choice. And this wasn't really

1:16

on the merits. I mean, I'm never

1:18

entirely sure what makes one episode better

1:20

than another. Not really.

1:23

They kind of seem to resonate or not

1:25

with each listener. And one

1:28

of the best things about doing the show is that people's favorites

1:30

seem to be highly idiosyncratic. Often

1:32

the most fun emails I get are the ones

1:34

that say, I love that one episode, and

1:37

that one episode is one

1:39

made me barely remember. Or at

1:41

the very least, it's not one that people ever

1:44

really say is their favorite. And

1:46

I think this is sort of true for me too.

1:48

Too. I was reluctant to pick this one because

1:50

it is similar to others in theme and subject

1:53

matter that not only if I'd done before,

1:56

I have picked as favorite episodes before.

1:58

It seems that have a thing about

2:01

people working hard to travel over bodies

2:03

of that

2:05

is my highly idiosyncratic

2:08

thing that turns out. And I've

2:10

sort of thought about why over the years And

2:12

think it has something to do with

2:14

the act of writing. Like, I think it's sort

2:16

of a metaphor for the process.

2:20

Particularly process of making the show. Like,

2:22

you set out with a destination in mind,

2:26

but your idea of it is vague. Like, it

2:28

is a place that you've heard of maybe, but lives

2:30

mostly in your imagination and you

2:32

have these hopes for it. You know, you want it

2:35

to be beautiful when you get there. But

2:37

in order to get there, You

2:39

have to get there. So you

2:42

have to row. And you've got to keep

2:44

growing. And sometimes

2:46

it is miserable. And

2:48

sometimes it is transcendent. But

2:50

either way, you have to keep pulling on the oars or you have

2:53

to keep swimming or whatever

2:55

the story is about. Whatever metaphor

2:57

you wanna use. But

2:59

if you do, you get to see what it's like on

3:01

the other side. And Yeah.

3:06

The story is about number of things, but that's partially

3:08

what it's about at least to me. So

3:10

thank you for taking these ridiculous maturities

3:13

with me this year, and I will talk

3:15

to you next year, and we will see where

3:17

we wind up together. This

3:27

is the memory palace. I'm late to

3:29

man. We

3:32

have logs kept for each day.

3:35

Notes on the weather and wind, their

3:37

progress in position. Details

3:39

about landmarks and vessels and whales,

3:42

and incidents that were by definition notable.

3:45

Written in Greece pencil in the summer of eighteen

3:47

ninety six by George Harbor. Thirty

3:50

two years old, then of New Jersey,

3:52

the born and raised in Westfold Norway.

3:55

We have articles from several daily newspapers

3:57

from the New York, New Jersey area in

3:59

a weekly men's magazine called The Police

4:01

Gazette. They cover the story of mister

4:03

Haribo and the then twenty six year old Frank

4:06

Samelson, also a Norwegian

4:08

immigrant. They were both self employed

4:10

as Oisterman, working a small stretch

4:12

of the New Jersey coast. Work that

4:14

had not previously, as far as I have been

4:16

able to ascertain, drawn the attention

4:18

of the press. But reporters were drawn

4:20

to the Bowery on the southern tip of Manhattan.

4:23

In the afternoon of June sixth, eighteen

4:25

ninety six, along with approximately

4:27

two thousand people. He watched

4:29

as the two men stepped down from a dock,

4:32

and into a white rowboat. A

4:34

modest vessel, eighteen feet long,

4:36

five feet wide, seats for two men,

4:39

locks for four ores. And outfitted

4:41

with sixty gallons of potable water. Portable

4:44

stove and fuel to fire it signal

4:46

flares. And enough eggs,

4:48

preserved meat, hard biscuits, and coffee

4:51

to last those two men two months. Though

4:53

many in the crowd gathered at the water's

4:55

edge, were skeptical that the men

4:57

would need that much. They didn't

4:59

doubt their appetites. They doubted

5:02

their sanity. The New York Herald

5:04

put it this way. Someone ought to see

5:06

that this idiosyncrasies stopped. But

5:09

no one did stop the two men as they

5:11

settled onto their benches, backed

5:13

to the open water, and took the

5:15

wooden oars into their glveless hands

5:17

and began into pull. The

5:19

faces in the crowds getting smaller as each

5:22

stroke brought Haribo and Samuelson farther

5:24

away, but not too far yet for one

5:26

of the newspapermen in edge of the dock,

5:28

notebook in hand to hear one of the men

5:30

call back to the waving crowd. We'll

5:33

see you in France or we'll see you in

5:35

heaven. As they set

5:37

out to row across the Atlantic. And

5:40

we have maps that tell us that heaven might have

5:42

been a safer bet. It is thirty

5:44

two hundred miles from Lower Manhattan to La

5:46

Habra, the man's intended destination.

5:49

We may have memories ourselves of rowing

5:51

across a lake or pond in a park,

5:54

the feel of ores in our palms and

5:56

our fingers, the feel of the work

5:58

in our wrists in our shoulders. Then

6:00

we only have to think of waves and sunburn

6:03

and wet socks and extrapolate to get

6:05

a bit of a sense of what they were facing.

6:07

We only have to think of Kate Winslet, blue

6:10

lip, and ashon on a bobbing broken

6:12

door. Leo slipping down into

6:14

the black to know how bad an

6:16

Atlantic crossing can go on even

6:18

the Grand Vista vessels. The

6:22

logs tell us that their boat was out past the set

6:24

of land by the morning of Monday, June eighth.

6:27

Conditions were calm, but foggy, his

6:29

building limited, though they had little

6:31

to sea, but to sea. One

6:34

of the men, Haribo or Samelson, I'm not sure

6:36

which, just saw the back of the boat. In

6:39

his fist around the rough ores, coming

6:41

in and out of his field of vision, in

6:43

and out the ocean rolling, the

6:45

world tilting and tipping, pitching

6:48

and dipping here, young. The other

6:50

Nate's staring at that man's back. The muscles

6:52

in his shoulders moving under wedding womb.

6:55

Straight for four hours, the first

6:57

shift of that day, eight till noon,

7:00

and then a pause for some food and some

7:02

water. The stretch of the arms,

7:04

twisted the hips for the lower back, would have you.

7:07

And then back to the ores. The

7:10

newspapers tell us that the plane was to row eighteen

7:12

hours each day. Eighteen

7:14

hours. The rest would be

7:16

for rest. They would take turn sleeping under

7:18

campus blanket for any maintenance

7:20

or repairs. In brief meals,

7:23

made briefer by the fact that they quickly discovered

7:25

they're still barely worked with all the wind and water.

7:28

So they drank their coffee cold, and

7:30

ate their eggs raw. And

7:32

it would go that way if all

7:34

went according to plan. For

7:37

two months, two

7:39

men, four

7:41

ores, thirty two hundred

7:43

miles to cover. Why

7:46

they would want to do this is the subject of some

7:48

confusion. Many of the details,

7:50

particularly the most exciting Nate's, like

7:53

when on their fourth night at sea, the two men

7:55

were tormented a hemorrhage shark.

7:57

A slick shadow circling the boat in the darkness

7:59

bumping its keel hoping to make the meal

8:02

came from the weekly, the police Gazette. Nate's

8:04

owner, a flashy businessman named Richard

8:07

Fox, had worked out a deal with

8:09

the two oystermen. His was a

8:11

men's magazine with sports stories,

8:13

business stories, adventure stories,

8:16

tales of manly men engaged in manly

8:18

pursuits. So two average

8:20

jokes rolling across the ocean, that

8:23

qualified. And it was the

8:25

perfect story for a weekly with

8:27

a two month journey. That was

8:29

eight built in serialized stories, plus

8:31

some pregame, prejourney hype articles in

8:34

Post adventure coverage. They

8:36

can maybe even ring some good where are they

8:38

now stories out of this, depending on where

8:40

they wound up whenever. And whether

8:42

the world had moved on to bigger things than two

8:44

men in a small boat on the big ocean.

8:46

And if they didn't make it, readers

8:49

loved a maritime tragedy. In

8:52

exchange for this exclusive relationship, Fox

8:56

built them a boat, called it

8:58

the fox, bought them their biscuits,

9:01

Nate's, he would say that he had issued a challenge.

9:03

Ten thousand dollars to any duo who could

9:05

do the impossible and row across the mighty

9:07

Atlantic. And these two men were the only

9:09

ones brave enough or foolhardy enough, you

9:11

would have to buy the police Gazette each week to find

9:13

out which they turned out to be. But it

9:15

seems Fox was lying about the prize money. Nate's

9:18

to them, but to the public, he just wanted

9:20

to make himself look rich, make his

9:22

papers seem cool. But earlier

9:24

articles cited the real reason. It

9:27

would make them famous. It

9:30

was eighteen ninety six, and the painting

9:32

papers were minting celebrities out of ordinary

9:34

people all the time. Get wrapped

9:36

up in a scandal, scale some heretofore

9:38

unscalable height, invent some

9:40

new exciting something or other, get

9:43

trapped in a well, get rescued from that well.

9:46

People were beginning to monetize their fame.

9:48

That was a new something rather than. You

9:51

could tell your story to the police

9:53

Gazette. Sell your famous smile to

9:55

a toothpaste company. Tell your story

9:57

yourself on a Vaudville stage. And

10:00

people would want to hear this story. They

10:03

knew it, the two men. No

10:05

one had rode across the ocean before. It

10:08

was a crazy proposition, but

10:10

they thought they could do it and

10:12

they wanted to try. This

10:15

is not the police Gazette. I

10:17

do not need to lead you toward a cliffhanger

10:20

to make sure you buy another issue next week.

10:22

And I could leave you in suspense a little longer.

10:25

Spin an adventure story out of a three

10:27

day storm. The middle

10:29

of the Atlantic, after a month at the

10:31

ores, The clothes soaked and

10:33

drank in heavy. Their body

10:35

soar, their heads a fog with fatigue

10:37

and monotony, just unimaginable.

10:40

Now all energy set on keeping

10:42

from sinking, bailing out the boat,

10:44

the rain, the broken wave, three

10:47

days in the gray of day in the dark

10:49

of night, thrust up and thrown

10:51

down and thrust up and thrown down

10:54

the boat, clinging to the boards, the

10:56

man. Then one wave,

10:58

towering blackly against the starlet sky,

11:01

shutting off the sharply marked horizon, creaming

11:04

at the apex. Rushing with the

11:06

silent speed of an express, the

11:08

paper tells us flipping the boat,

11:11

like the fates flipping a penny, and

11:13

two small men in the great big sea.

11:16

Lost saved for twenty feet of rope that

11:18

tethered each to the boat. Looked

11:20

through belts of reindeer hide from

11:22

Norway from their homes, and

11:25

they pulled hand over hand alone

11:27

back to the boat and flipped the

11:29

fox again and huddled

11:32

together and hopefully saw the morning. But

11:37

they must have survived. Or

11:39

we wouldn't know about the wave. And

11:42

they made it to Europe, I am happy to tell you.

11:45

They deserve no less. And

11:47

they put the log in a safe track place

11:49

and talk to reporters. And so

11:52

we have the story of George Harbaugh and Frank

11:54

Samelson. The first two men as

11:56

far as can be known to row from North America

11:58

to Europe. It

12:00

was a feat that wouldn't be replicated for seventy

12:02

years. Another pair did it in nineteen

12:05

sixty six. And then in nineteen sixty

12:07

nine, one man, Rowan

12:09

Solo, made it. But that

12:11

same summer, man walked on the moon. And

12:14

his feet didn't quite seize the public's attention.

12:18

But Haribo and Samuelson did. Thousands

12:21

of people crowded the shore in France when they

12:23

finally climbed out of the boat. Their

12:26

legs buckling their hands raw,

12:28

Painful as people grab them to shake,

12:31

wincing with every back pad, every

12:33

ecstatic embrace. They

12:36

celebrated on both sides of the Atlantic and

12:38

slid right into the life that it seems they

12:40

had sought, trading that of

12:42

the Oysterman for that of the Showman.

12:46

They toured about first the music halls of

12:48

Europe, telling their story, toting

12:50

their boat along with them, then in

12:52

the dine museums back in their adopted home.

12:56

They drew big audiences for

12:58

a while. It

13:00

didn't last. Maybe people

13:02

just moved on to the next thing. As

13:04

is the way of things. Or

13:07

maybe they just weren't that good at this part of the

13:09

plan. They are different

13:11

skill sets the rowing of boats and

13:14

the telling stories. There

13:17

are no accounts of the content of their performances.

13:21

Though it is not difficult to guess at the set

13:23

list, the newspaper

13:25

stories and retrospective retellings of

13:27

their crossing in the summer of eighteen ninety six

13:30

all play the same hits. There

13:33

is the shark in the storm, the

13:35

cap sizing in its aftermath. They

13:38

lost a lot of the food when the fox flipped and

13:40

had distinctly rationed it out. They

13:43

had half an ocean still to cross. They

13:45

encountered several ships during the journey. So

13:48

they likely told about the first one, not

13:51

far off Newfoundland. In how

13:53

its captain assumed they were off course and offered

13:55

them a lift toward land, and

13:57

they shouted that they were fine, that

13:59

they were on their way to Europe. And

14:02

that probably got to laugh. And

14:04

then how with each subsequent sale,

14:06

with each baffled captain, they

14:08

decided it was okay to come aboard. To

14:12

get a meal, cup of tea, rest

14:15

for a bit. Before

14:17

starting out again from the same spot,

14:23

And they may have fielded questions. Won't

14:26

you scared? Didn't hurt,

14:29

weren't you bored? Did you

14:31

miss your families? All

14:33

the sorts of questions that boil down to

14:35

just the eternal one? What

14:38

does it like to be someone else? And

14:45

I have my own questions. How

14:49

was the tea? After

14:52

you climbed up out of the fox, up

14:54

some swinging ladder to a proper

14:57

ship with dry blankets

14:59

below deck. How did that

15:01

tea feel on your tongue? In

15:04

your belly. How did

15:06

your rowboat look down below? Waiting

15:09

in the water. Was there

15:11

moment when you looked at the other man, your

15:13

partner and all this? They're

15:15

on that ship, warm

15:17

from that team. And

15:20

wondered if you saw weakness. Or

15:23

maybe worried he might see it in you. What

15:28

did it feel like to get back in the rowboat? To

15:32

start pulling again, does

15:35

the pain ever go away? Does

15:37

your mind go places there on the water,

15:40

in the middle of the Atlantic on your fortieth

15:42

day of rowing, your fiftieth. The

15:45

world in constant motion Each

15:47

hour the same, but not the same. Each

15:50

wave the same, but never the same.

15:53

Does it go places czars have never been?

15:57

What does it like there? When

15:59

you were in New Jersey back before all

16:01

this, and the same old

16:03

waters protected harbors, commonlets,

16:08

smell of marsh grass in the air, sounds

16:11

from the shore, What

16:14

did you expect from the sea? From

16:16

France? From

16:18

your life after? How

16:22

do that change as your road in your road?

16:25

As the sun burned your skin as the wood

16:27

of the oars ate up your hands. With

16:30

weeks and weeks still to go. What

16:34

was the conversation? Before

16:37

this back on land. Were

16:41

you committed to this thing? To

16:44

each other? When

16:47

the idea took hold and went

16:49

from a thing that someone might do to

16:52

a thing you thought maybe you could do, How

16:56

did it feel when you realized it was really happening?

16:59

But you were really gonna do this, that

17:01

there's no turning back now. And

17:06

was there a night after you'd made it?

17:09

When you realized the world didn't seem to be moving

17:11

when you closed your eyes anymore, How

17:16

long did it take for you? To

17:18

stop noticing how good it felt just to

17:20

be in warm bed. They

17:25

both went back to their old work. George

17:29

Harbor in New York Harbor They're

17:31

not for much longer. He died

17:34

young about fifteen years later of pneumonia,

17:37

had a big family that he left behind. Frank

17:41

Samelson, articles tell us, was homesick

17:44

and took his ship back to Norway. He

17:48

died in nineteen forty six, an old

17:50

man after

17:52

a long career digging claims. One

17:59

summer when he was young. He

18:02

and George rode across the ocean. This

18:52

episode of the Mary Palace was written and produced

18:54

by me, Nate De Mayo, in May of

18:56

twenty two. The

18:59

Shugget's research assistance from Eliza McGraw,

19:01

it is a proud member of radiotopia. A

19:03

collection of listener supported independent creator

19:06

owned and operated podcast from PRX,

19:09

a Nate's for profit, mission driven public

19:11

media company. And if you ever

19:13

wanna support the show, if you ever wanna

19:16

join all the people who help keep this operation

19:18

afloat, who keep the lights at Glow

19:20

here at the memory palace. You

19:22

can make a donation. It is tax deductible.

19:24

If you live in the United States. Radiotopia

19:27

is different. It thrives because

19:29

of this unique mix, this balance

19:31

of sponsorships, and direct listener

19:33

support. In a business

19:35

that has become just like every other one,

19:38

big corporate players backed by venture capital

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and giant tinder team conglomerates, fighting

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over their pieces of the pie. Radiotopia

19:46

and PRX are different. They

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are driven to support creators and operations

19:51

that value their opponents that

19:53

value their ability to chart their own course

19:55

and make their own creative and business decisions.

19:58

And that is different. And it

20:00

makes all the difference to me and to the show.

20:03

If you like the show because you think that

20:05

it sounds different, because it

20:08

travels in its own peculiar Nate's,

20:11

to chase things beyond

20:14

raw numbers and, I don't know, cash.

20:17

This show gets to be that way. The show is different

20:20

because radiotopia and PRXR. They

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help me do this. And

20:25

you listening now can be a part of

20:27

that. With us, with your

20:29

donation. Go to radiotopia dot

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f m slash donate.

20:34

And kick in what you can. Thank

20:37

you for considering it. Thank you

20:39

always for listening. If

20:41

you ever wanna drop me a line, you can do so at at

20:43

the memory palace dot org. I

20:45

love love sincerely hearing

20:47

from listeners. And you can always follow

20:50

me on Twitter and Facebook at the memory palace.

20:52

And I will talk to you again. Radio

21:06

to hear from

21:09

PRX.