388: The Adriatic Affair w/ Jennifer Sellitti

Most Notorious! A True Crime History Podcast

Erik Rivenes

True Crime, History, Education

4.7 • 2.8K Ratings

🗓️ 4 May 2025

⏱️ 72 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The American sailing vessel Adriatic collided with the French steamship Le Lyonnais on November 2, 1856, off the coast of Nantucket in what can best be described as a maritime hit-and-run. Adriatic’s captain, Jonathan Durham, rendered no aid and left the passenger steamship to fend for herself. 114 people died in the collision and in the days that followed. My guest is shipwreck hunter Jennifer N. Sellitti, author of "The Adriatic Affair: A Maritime Hit-and-Run off the Coast of Nantucket". In this episode of Most Notorious, she recounts the tragic tale of the incident and the dramatic efforts by France to bring Captain Durham to justice. She also shares details of her quest to uncover the long-lost wreck of the Le Lyonnais. Atlantic Wreck Salvage's website: https://dvtenacious.com/ The author's publisher page: https://www.schiffermilitary.com/products/the-adriatic-affair More on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dvtenacious Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, this is Matt and McKinley from History Dispatches.
0:07.0	We are the father-son duo bringing you the weird, the wild, the wacky, and the craziest tales from across time.
0:13.0	From the Ice Bowl to the Great Heathen Army, and the head of Oliver Cromwell,
0:17.0	the same head they kept on a pike for three years?
0:20.0	Yep, all here on History Dispatches.
0:22.6	New episodes every weekday. Find out more at History Dispatches.com or wherever you get your
0:28.1	podcast app. The Civil War and Reconstruction was a pivotal era in American history.
0:35.3	When a war was fought to save the Union and to free the slaves.
0:39.3	And when the work to rebuild the nation after that war was over turned into a struggle to guarantee liberty and justice for all Americans.
0:48.3	I'm Tracy. And I'm Rich. And we want to invite you to join us as we take an in-depth look at this pivotal era in American history.
0:58.1	Look for the Civil War and Reconstruction wherever you find your podcasts.
1:02.6	Music Welcome everyone to another episode of the Most Notorious podcast. I'm Eric Rivenis. As always, so appreciate you joining me. Well, I am very excited to talk to Jennifer Saledi today. She is a defense attorney, a U.S. Coast Guard captain, and a shipwreck hunter.
1:47.7	And if that isn't enough of an interesting resume, she writes books too. The Adriatic Affair,
1:55.0	a maritime hit and run off the coast of Nantucket, was released on March 18th, and she's here to talk about it.
2:02.6	Welcome to the Most Notorious Podcast.
2:05.4	Thank you so much for being my guest.
2:08.6	Thank you so much for having me.
2:10.9	Yes.
2:12.0	So let me ask you, how did you get into shipwreck hunting, and where in your journey
2:16.6	did you first learn about the ship,
2:19.5	Lolaenae? I first got into shipwreck hunting, really when I met my partner, Joe Monsrani,
2:27.2	he was running and is still running a dive vessel called D.V. Tenacious. And I met him. I'm a, as you said, I'm a criminal defense lawyer by
	...

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