Midway Atoll & The Wreck of the Wandering Minstrel

Dark Histories

Ben Cutmore

History

4.8 • 2.2K Ratings

🗓️ 17 February 2025

⏱️ 60 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In the heart of the Pacific in the late 19th century, an expedition planned by Frederick and Elizabeth Walker, turned into a nightmare. In the dead of night, their ship, The Wandering Minstrel, struck the jagged reefs of Midway Atoll, splintering beneath their feet. With no way to escape, they were stranded on a barren, wind-lashed island, surrounded by endless water and lurking predators. Days stretched into weeks and then months, as hunger, fear, and desperation set in. Worse, it appeared they shared the island with an unknown character, whose previous shipping career had almost certainly ended in murder. SOURCES Pearl, Matthew (2025) Save Our Souls: The True Story of a Castaway Family, Treachery & Murder. Harper, London, UK. Liverpool Weekly Courier (1889) Story of the Wandering Minstrel. Liverpool Weekly Courier, Sat 22 June 1889, p2. Liverpool, UK. Liverpool Mail (1867) Married. Liverpool Mail, Sat 11 May 1867, p7. Liverpool, UK. ------- For almost anything, head over to the podcasts hub at darkhistories.com Support the show by using our link when you sign up to Audible: http://audibletrial.com/darkhistories or visit our Patreon for bonus episodes and Early Access: https://www.patreon.com/darkhistories The Dark Histories books are available to buy here: http://author.to/darkhistories Dark Histories merch is available here: https://bit.ly/3GChjk9 Connect with us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/darkhistoriespodcast Or find us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/darkhistories & Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dark_histories/ Or you can contact us directly via email at [email protected] or join our Discord community: https://discord.gg/cmGcBFf The Dark Histories Butterfly was drawn by Courtney, who you can find on Instagram @bewildereye Music was recorded by me © Ben Cutmore 2017 Other Outro music was Paul Whiteman & his orchestra with Mildred Bailey - All of me (1931). It's out of copyright now, but if you're interested, that was that. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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1:02.0	In the heart of the Pacific in the late 19th century,
1:06.6	an expedition planned by Frederick and Elizabeth Walker turned into a nightmare.
1:10.4	In the dead of night, their ship, the wandering minstrel, struck the jagged reefs of Midway
1:12.7	Atoll, splintering beneath their feet. With no way to escape, they were stranded on a barren,
1:18.7	wind-lashed island, surrounded by endless water and lurking predators. Days stretched into weeks,
1:25.4	and then months as hunger, fear and desperation set in.
1:29.3	Worse, it appeared that they shared their island with an unknown character whose previous shipping career had almost certainly ended in murder.
1:39.3	This is Dark History's where the facts are worse than fiction.
1:51.4	Hello and welcome to Dark History, Season 9, Episode 3.
1:52.7	I'm your host, Ben.
	...

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