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Join Wundery Plus in the Wundery app or on Apple Podcasts. It's March 1972 in Miami Harbor. Carnival cruise line founder Ted Arison stands on the bridge of his ship the Mardi Gras.

In front of him, the captain of the ship has his hand on the helm.

Next to the captain, a harbor pilot gives him directions. This is standard operating

procedure when a ship of significant size needs to make its way through the

harbor into open sea. The harbor pilot barks out orders.

All right, there's a stiff breeze from the east, so we're going to cut the rudder more

aggressively than usual. Roger.

Harrison's palms are sweaty as he watches the captain intently.

This is Carnival Cruise Line's maiden voyage.

A few months ago, Harrison got into a dispute with Canute Closter.

Erison and Closter co-founded Norwegian Cruise Line.

When their disagreement reached an impasse,

Erison closed out Norwegians' U.S. bank accounts and fled to Europe.

With help from an old friend, he purchased the Martigraff and started Carnival.

Through the porthole, Ereson can see onlookers lining the shore and members of the press snapping photos.

Harrison thinks he sees smirk on the reporter's faces.

Compared to the sparkling new ships owned by rival companies like Norwegian and Royal Caribbean,

the Mardi Gras is a clunker. It's old and dilapidated.

Many of the cabins still don't have working toilets or

electrical outlets and couldn't be booked. Large swaths of the ship are

uninhabitable and closed off to passengers and it's infested with both roaches and vermin which Harrison hopes the guests

...