the letters and things

In this episode, we recount the story of one of the most notorious mutinies that has inspired - weirdly - multiple movies. While Hollywood has a romantic projection of this story, the real truth of the HMS Bounty is, in...

In this episode, we discover what happens when people stop being nice and start being boat with the boat reality tv dating show crossover. And then we talk about how to anger, or not anger, the sea gods. Get your...

In this episode, we cover the drama queen of the zodiac, Leo. The technocratic Herbert Hoover, soup and corn loving Benjamin Harrison, charismatic Barack Obama, and diabolical Bill Clinton all share the distinction of...

In this summer, we get the story of the whaling ship Essex, which is a brutal story of the sea and whales and another example of why we should respect the sea and all its creatures great and small. Then we pivot to the...

In this episode, Manette is very sick and skips the intros and dives straight into chaos. Starting with aphorisms and parables - harmless and light. However then Sam decided to bring the mood down (again) with the story...

In this episode, we continue boat girl summer with two fresh, new boat topics. Manette talks about the boats of most historical importance in American history, and of course the war of 1812 gets name dropped. Meanwhile...

In this episode we discover the top five ports, both modern and historical, the busiest sea routes, and the global maritime chokepoints. And then Samantha freaks us all the heck out with boat ghost stories and now we're...

In this episode, we talk through arctic explorer and boat guy, Ernest Shackleton and explore the artisan side of ship building with the Chinese junk ship. And despite saying we're not talking about the Titanic, we talk...

In the episode, we talk about the presidents born under the sign of cancer: sons George W. Bush and John Q. Adams, the silent Calvin Coolidge and Gerald Ford. The most interesting thing about any of these presidents is...

In this episode, we are fully in swing with boat girl summer. This time we cover two museum boats. the Cutty Sark and the HMS Warrior, and then two sunken boats, the Vasa and Mary Rose. Lessons are learned, namely make...

In this episode, we continue boat girl summer with submersible stories. Despite being terrified of undersea, deep sea, submarines, submersibles we can't seem to get enough of talking about these guys.

In this episode, it's anchors aweigh as we launch Boat Girl Summer! In this Boat 101 episode, we discuss the syllabus for Boat Girl Summer with a rundown of the main categories of boats, which Samantha takes issue with...

In this episode, we go through two of the three Gemini Presidents: JFK and George H. W. Bush, or as he is now known Shady Bush. Both rich east coast Ivy League white guys that didn't even have to try to be President...

In this episode, Samantha does a deep dive on Samantha Parkington, American Girl, which is why my Google history now has "samantha parkington's dead parents". It is the final Lynn letters, also an American girl, and I...

In this episode, we read the birthday cards of Grandma Mickey, one of which contained none other than stickers! We also discover that Sam hates adhesive. Manette is shook by this revelation.