Futility Closet

In 1896 two New Jersey clam diggers made a bold bid for fame: They set out to cross the North Atlantic in a rowboat, a feat that had never been accomplished before. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll follow the adventure of George Harbo and Frank Samuelsen, which one newspaper called "the most remarkable event in the way of ocean navigation that ever transpired." We'll also meet some military mammals and puzzle over a thwarted burglar. Intro: The score for Telemann's Gulliver Suite includes "Lilliputian" and "Brobdingnagian" note values. In 1964 Zambia announced a rather low-tech space program. Sources for our feature on Harbo and Samuelsen: David W. Shaw, Daring the Sea, 1998. William Longyard, A Speck on the Sea, 2003. David W. Shaw, "A Fool's Errand, but a Nautical Landmark," Scandinavian Review 102:1 (Spring 2015), 46-60. "To Row Across the Atlantic," New York World, Feb. 13, 1896, 16. "To Cross Ocean in Rowboat," New York Herald, June 6, 1896, 7. The log of the Fox. "Over th