エピソード

  • distress signal + 28 dead + 26 bodies never found

    distress signal + 28 dead + 26 bodies never found
    2026/07/26
    distress signal + 28 dead + 26 bodies never found

    Fear of a hidden failure: a radio operator heard "We're breaking up" on January 15, 1961, after a steel radar platform vanished from radar in under forty minutes sixty-three miles south-southeast of Long Island. Twenty-eight men were aboard; only two bodies were recovered, and the platform had shown dangerous vibration since a tow in June 1957 - what decision then doomed them all?

    In this episode, we tell how Texas Tower Four was built, moved, crewed and ultimately lost, tracing the damage that began on June 28, 1957 and the events that ended on January 15, 1961 - could a single towing decision three and a half years earlier explain the disaster?

    Person: 28 men aboard (14 Air Force personnel and 14 civilian contractors)
    Date: January 15, 1961
    Location: 63 miles south-southeast of Long Island (Unnamed Shoal)
    Event: Platform vanished from radar in under 40 minutes
    Depth: wreck sits 185 feet down marked by one NOAA buoy

    - At 6:45 PM on January 15, 1961 a coastal radio operator received the distress words "We're breaking up" and then silence.
    - Texas Tower Four vanished from radar in under 40 minutes with 28 men aboard; only 2 bodies were recovered.
    - The wreck remains on the ocean floor at 185 feet depth and is marked by a single NOAA buoy.
    - Construction began December 1956 in South Portland, Maine by J. Rich Steers, Inc. and Morrison-Knudsen, Inc.
    - On June 28, 1957 two or possibly three diagonal support braces shifted during a tow, and the platform was nevertheless erected with the plan to repair it later.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
    続きを読む 一部表示
    22 分
  • Port Chicago: The Night 320 Men Vanished and Were Blamed

    Port Chicago: The Night 320 Men Vanished and Were Blamed
    2026/07/25
    Port Chicago: The Night 320 Men Vanished and Were Blamed

    The blast at Port Chicago was visible thirty miles away and registered on Berkeley seismographs, yet the official report omitted training as a cause - and fifty men were later tried under a death-penalty statute. Who decided that untrained men would load 4,600 tons of explosives on a single Liberty ship, and why did it take eighty years for the full truth to reach a verdict?

    In this episode, we lay out the sequence of events on the single pier at Port Chicago, the personnel and decisions that shaped operations there, and the immediate aftermath that transformed a disaster into a civil rights crisis - asking how institutional choices made the catastrophe inevitable.

    Person: Captain Merrill T. Kinne
    Location: Port Chicago Naval Magazine, Suisun Bay
    Date: July 17, 1944
    Event: Explosion of SS E. A. Bryan while loading ammunition
    Quantity: approximately 4,600 tons of explosives

    - 320 men were on the pier loading ammunition at 10:18 PM when the pier, ship, and every man on it vanished.
    - The E. A. Bryan was carrying approximately 4,600 tons of explosives including 1,000-pound bombs and Mark 47 depth charges.
    - The pier was a single 1,500-foot wooden dock that funneled a significant share of ammunition to the Pacific Theater.
    - The Navy’s target set by Captain Nelson Goss was ten short tons per hatch per hour; Port Chicago averaged 8.2 tons per hatch per hour.
    - Fifty surviving men were charged with a crime that carried the death penalty after they refused to return to loading duty.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
    続きを読む 一部表示
    24 分
  • When the Arsenal Blew: 21 Women Lost to One Sunlit Mistake

    When the Arsenal Blew: 21 Women Lost to One Sunlit Mistake
    2026/07/24
    When the Arsenal Blew: 21 Women Lost to One Sunlit Mistake

    Heat, gunpowder, and a single flare: on June 17, 1864, a sunlit tray of drying signal flares set off a blast that would kill 21 women at the Washington Arsenal - a workplace that had produced over 16.5 million rounds by 1862. How did a decision to dry flares on the grass beside a hundred-foot building turn into one of the war's deadliest workplace disasters?

    In this episode, we tell what the transcript records about the day, the people, and the choices that led to the explosion, laying out the scene, the materials involved, and the unanswered questions that remained after investigators left. What responsibility did the superintendent bear, and why did the same ground explode again less than two years later?

    Date: June 17, 1864
    Location: Washington Arsenal, peninsula where the Potomac and Anacostia meet
    Event: Explosion that killed 21 women
    Person: Tom Brown (superintendent who set flares to dry)
    Production: 16.5 million rounds counted at the Arsenal by 1862

    - 108 women were working at benches inside the hundred-foot building that morning.
    - The women had raised $170 as a collection for a memorial to the Allegheny Arsenal disaster.
    - The flares were made of potassium chlorate, strontium nitrate, and carbon.
    - A single flare is reconstructed to have rolled off a wooden tray and ignited in the sun just before noon.
    - Sallie McElfresh was 13 years old and working at one of the benches that day.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
    続きを読む 一部表示
    21 分
  • When the Sightseeing Boat Shouldn't Have Left: Death at Shiretoko

    When the Sightseeing Boat Shouldn't Have Left: Death at Shiretoko
    2026/07/24
    When the Sightseeing Boat Shouldn't Have Left: Death at Shiretoko

    The Okhotsk Sea was still laced with drift ice and the forecast called for winds nearly double the Kazu I’s licensed limit-yet the tour boat departed with 26 people aboard. Every critical failure-from a broken radio for three months to an inoperable satellite phone-was documented and signed; how did a single operator’s cost-cutting choices turn a sightseeing trip into a fatal voyage?

    In this episode, we present the recorded sequence of decisions, maintenance logs, and weather data that preceded the April 23, 2022 voyage, tracing how documented choices created an impossible situation at sea. What do the records reveal about responsibility and the point when risk became certainty?

    Event: sinking of the Kazu I
    Date: April 23, 2022
    Location: Okhotsk Sea off Shiretoko Peninsula
    Person: Seiichi Katsurada
    Passengers: 26

    - Vessel age: built February 1985 (37 years old at time of sinking)
    - Licensed wind limit: 8 meters per second; forecasted winds: 15 meters per second
    - Radio failure: main ship radio broken since January 2022 (3 months)
    - Modifications: hull length increased from 11.86 m to 12.14 m; draft from 1.52 m to 1.62 m (bulbous bow added in 2015)
    - Passenger composition: 24 tourists including 2 children; captain age 54; deckhand age 27

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
    続きを読む 一部表示
    21 分
  • Penciled Plank: Last Words of the Lost SS Andaste

    Penciled Plank: Last Words of the Lost SS Andaste
    2026/07/24
    Penciled Plank: Last Words of the Lost SS Andaste

    The note was written in pencil on a piece of wood and found floating on Lake Michigan on the morning of September 10, 1929 - three initials: A.L.A. The SS Andaste cleared Grand Haven harbor at 9:03 PM the night before with roughly 2,000 tons of aggregate; by dawn twenty-five men were gone and the wreck has never been found. What really happened between that harbor logbook and the penciled plank?

    In this episode, we present the sequence of events, ship modifications, crew details, storm reports, and conflicting inquiries that surround the Andaste's loss to ask whether a pattern of refits or a single night's weather holds the answer.

    Person: Captain Albert L. Anderson
    Date: September 9-10, 1929
    Location: Lake Michigan, cleared Grand Haven harbor at 9:03 PM
    Event: Twenty-five men missing; wreck never found
    Cargo: Approximately 2,000 tons of aggregate

    - The penciled note was recovered floating on Lake Michigan on the morning of September 10, 1929 with three initials, A.L.A.
    - The SS Andaste cleared Grand Haven harbor at 9:03 PM on September 9, 1929.
    - By dawn on September 10, 1929 twenty-five men were gone and the ship's wreck was never found.
    - The Andaste had been launched on March 31, 1892 and shortened twice to 246 feet after originally being 266 feet.
    - In 1925 the Andaste was refitted with a Leatham Smith self-unloading crane and tunnel scraper system, a modification later linked to losses of four vessels.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
    続きを読む 一部表示
    22 分
  • They Called 18 Times - 28 Drowned While Authorities Waited

    They Called 18 Times - 28 Drowned While Authorities Waited
    2026/07/24
    They Called 18 Times - 28 Drowned While Authorities Waited

    A terrifying certainty: thirty people were seven miles off Calais in November 2021 when their inflatable dinghy began to deflate and they made eighteen documented emergency calls - every one answered - yet twenty-eight drowned. Who knew what, when, and why no rescue arrived in time hangs over this episode: was it delay, deference, or something else?

    In this episode, we lay out the official record and survivor testimony to show what unfolded that day, what the French inquiry concluded, and the gaps that remain unanswered. How did calls logged and positions noted still end with no vessel reaching them in time?

    Date: 24 November 2021
    Location: Seven miles off Calais, near Wimereux
    Event: Dinghy deflation and mass drowning
    Case: French official inquiry published November 2022
    People: 30 aboard; 28 drowned, including two children

    - 18 documented emergency calls were received during the hours the dinghy was sinking.
    - 30 people were aboard the inflatable dinghy, carrying at least seven nationalities.
    - 16 Iraqi Kurds were among the passengers: 10 men, 4 women, and 2 children.
    - Between 15 and 20 large French fishing boats were operating off Calais around 13:00 on 24 November.
    - The official inquiry found the dinghy was in French territorial waters when the calls were made.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
    続きを読む 一部表示
    20 分
  • The Day the Gazelle Blew Apart: Tied Valve, Vanished Engineer

    The Day the Gazelle Blew Apart: Tied Valve, Vanished Engineer
    2026/07/24
    The Day the Gazelle Blew Apart: Tied Valve, Vanished Engineer

    The morning steam was a howl heard from a neighboring steamer's breakfast table, and one minute later both boilers exploded - hurling a fragment across the Willamette and killing at least 24 people. Who tied the safety valve shut to force speed, and how did the chief engineer disappear from a doomed deck before the blast?

    In this episode, we tell what happened on April 8, 1854 aboard the new sidewheeler Gazelle, how the tied safety valve led to a catastrophic double boiler explosion, and why the surviving records still leave the engineer's fate and motive unresolved. Can the archive explain what choices turned routine steam into devastation?

    Date: April 8, 1854
    Location: Willamette River / Canemah
    Vessel: Gazelle
    Person: Chief engineer Toner
    Fatalities: 24 (confirmed)

    - Boilers exploded at approximately 6:41 a.m., one minute after a howling steam warning from the escape pipe.
    - The Gazelle was 145 feet long, 23 feet wide, with a hold 5 feet deep and two high-pressure engines with 14.5-inch cylinders and 48-inch piston stroke.
    - The Gazelle began regular service after a trial run on March 18, 1854 and was less than a month into service when she blew up.
    - Chief engineer Toner had tied down the safety valve to increase steam for a faster departure, according to the coroner's jury.
    - A boiler fragment and the smokestack were hurled across the Willamette River to the far bank; at least 24 people were confirmed dead.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
    続きを読む 一部表示
    21 分
  • When a Typhoon Turned Manila Bay Into an Oil Graveyard

    When a Typhoon Turned Manila Bay Into an Oil Graveyard
    2026/07/24
    When a Typhoon Turned Manila Bay Into an Oil Graveyard

    Fear of irreversible damage: a single capsized tanker released 1,494,000 liters of industrial fuel oil into Manila Bay, and the slick swelled from 2 kilometers to 93.74 square kilometers in days-how did a routine cargo run become the worst environmental emergency the bay had seen, and why was oil found in fish before any surface sheen arrived?

    In this episode, we lay out the chronological facts of the incident and its immediate consequences, following the vessel, the response, and the spread of contamination to ask whether the official estimates matched the reality of the spill.

    Person: Bataan Governor Joet Garcia
    Person: Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista
    Date: July 25, 2024
    Location: Manila Bay, 3.5 nautical miles off Limay, Bataan
    Event: Sinking of MT Terranova with cargo leak

    - The MT Terranova capsized at 01:10 on July 25, 2024 and sank to a depth of 34 meters.
    - The ship carried 1,494,000 liters of industrial fuel oil, enough to fill roughly six Olympic swimming pools.
    - Initial Coast Guard spill estimate was 400-500 liters, but by July 27 the slick expanded to 12-14 kilometers after cargo began leaking.
    - Satellite imaging on July 30 measured 93.74 square kilometers of oil contamination, about 4.7% of Manila Bay's surface.
    - Fishing bans and local measures affected approximately 14,000 workers, with agricultural damages eventually tallied at 78.69 million pesos.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
    続きを読む 一部表示
    20 分