The Mignonette & Everything Else w/ Neil Hanson

The Road to Now

Benjamin Sawyer

Society & Culture, History

4.8 • 628 Ratings

🗓️ 23 August 2021

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Neil Hanson is one of the most interesting people we know. He's written books on World War I, the Spanish Armada, and the fire that destroyed London in 1666. He once teamed up with history's greatest treasure hunter to tell the story of retrieving over $100 million in gold from a sunken Soviet ship in the arctic. He's been the owner of the highest Inn in all of Great Britain. And, in 1999 he published a book called The Custom of the Sea, which tells the story of a shipwrecked crew that was put on trial in London after resorting to cannibalism. Their ship, which fell victim to forty-foot waves off the coast of Africa in 1884, was named the Mignonette, and Hanson's book was so good that in 2004 it inspired an album by an up-and-coming group of musicians called The Avett Brothers.

This is a rebroadcast of an episode that originally aired on April 24, 2017. This episode was edited by Gary Fletcher.

The Road to Now is part of the Osiris Podcast Network.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This podcast is in the loop, the Legion of Osiris Podcasts.
0:03.9	Osiris is creating a community that connects people like you with live experiences and
0:08.3	podcasts about artists and topics you love.
0:11.6	Get in the loop at Osirispod.com.
0:20.1	I'm Ben Sawyer, and this is The Road to Now.
0:24.3	Today's episode is a conversation with Neil Hanson.
0:28.3	If you're not familiar with Neil, the guy has done everything.
0:32.2	And for those of you guys who know the Aivet brothers, the thing that he has done that you will be most familiar with is he
0:37.5	wrote a book called The Custom of the Sea about a ship called the Minionette, which inspired the
0:42.6	title of the Avet Brothers album. Neil is a remarkable guy. His life is amazing. He like owns an
0:49.2	end at the top of a hill. He's done everything in life, but he's also written some fascinating
0:53.9	books. And he has such a unique insight on history. He's done everything in life, but he's also written some fascinating books, and he has
0:55.7	such a unique insight on history. He's not trained as an academic historian, and like so many
1:01.6	other great writers, he still brings, I think, just as much to the table with his books and
1:07.8	with the stories he tells. So this was originally recorded in 2017 when Bob was
1:13.1	in the UK with the Avid's. And you'll hear in the background the clinking of glasses and noise.
1:19.2	It's because Bob actually met him in a restaurant before his show. And I called in from the U.S.
1:24.9	So just it was a really remarkable conversation. And right now, I just thought this would be a fun one to share with you guys. As school started back and everything else, you know, last time it was student debt. Before that, we've done how to talk to a science denier. And I just felt like, well, you know what? Maybe we'll just have a little fun with this one. And speaking of fun, Bob's coming back. I talked to him last week, and he is working on an episode
1:47.4	solo right now. Then we're going to be doing one that is the two of us. And then we've got some
1:52.8	great guests lined up, people you've heard of. And some are confirmed. Other ones aren't.
1:59.5	As always, I will let time tell you guys, because we're excited about it. And it's kind of fun to reveal these things as we go.
2:07.2	As always, thank you to everyone who supports us on Patreon. You keep us going and we couldn't do it without you. Mark your calendars.
	...

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