Why Is The Titanic So Iconic? with Dr. Meaghan Walker

Getting Better with Jonathan Van Ness

Sony Music

Self-improvement, Education, Comedy, Society & Culture

4.9 • 21.6K Ratings

🗓️ 19 April 2023

⏱️ 73 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The RMS Titanic sank 111 years ago this week. It may have been on its maiden voyage, but this trip was the culmination of more than 200 years of maritime travel and innovation. This week, Dr. Meaghan Walker joins us to explore British maritime history in the lead-up to this historic event. And just like an 18th century ship would have zig-zagged towards its destination, this episode is hitting all the angles: we’re talking kidnappings, steerage, slop clothes (the original fast fashion!), and why men’s calves were considered their sexiest body part in the 1700s. Meaghan Walker is the Ewart A. Pratt Postdoc at Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, where she researches the clothing of British “working men who got wet.” She has done work on the Royal Navy and British merchant shipping, but her current project focuses on the clothing purchases of the residents of the fishing outport of Bonavista, Newfoundland, using records at Memorial’s Maritime History Archive. You can follow Dr. Walker on Twitter @slopclothes! Curious to see the two images we discuss in the episode? Check them out here: J. Cooke and Samuel Collings. “Monmouth Street,” Print, 1789. Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University, New Haven, CT., 789.06.09.01. Rudolf Ackermann, “The Sailor and the Banker, or The Firm in Danger,” Print, 1799. National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, PAF3851. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter @CuriousWithJVN to join the conversation. Jonathan is on Instagram and Twitter @JVN and @Jonathan.Vanness on Facebook. Transcripts for each episode are available at JonathanVanNess.com. Find books from past Getting Curious guests at bookshop.org/shop/curiouswithjvn; we’ll be updating it soon with more releases! Our executive producer is Erica Getto. Our editor is Andrew Carson. Production support from Julie Carrillo, Chris McClure, and Erin McKeon. Our theme music is “Freak” by QUIÑ; for more, head to TheQuinCat.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Oh my god, we're recording. I'm so sorry, everyone. Welcome to getting curious. Let's get
0:17.0	into it. December 19, 1997, a day that would change culture forever. A young Leonardo
0:24.2	decaprio transforms into Jack Dawson. His hair, wind swept, his clothing elevated slop.
0:31.7	The satchel he carries to steerage. I wish he were carrying me instead. Actually, I'm more like
0:38.8	into that other one like the villain. He's more my type like more hair HS but anyway, I don't want to
0:43.0	get distracted. Dr. Megan Walker is the you were a postdoctoral fellow at Memorial University of
0:49.8	Newfoundland. She studies the clothing of working men who went to see under British jurisdiction
0:55.9	in the 1700s and 1800s. Megan, how are you? Also, I hear word on the street is that you are literally
1:03.1	in Newfoundland. It's giving gusty. It's giving actually I'm not going to tell the people what it is.
1:07.6	Will you tell us where is your location? What is your weather and how are you thriving queen?
1:13.2	Hi, we're in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, which is basically sitting precipitously
1:21.3	on the edge of Canada in the North Atlantic. Megan, I don't know if you meant to stumble into one of
1:27.9	my favorite fucking distracting words of all time, but precipitously as one of my favorite words,
1:34.5	it gives me, it tantalizes me all the way down to my tippy toes. I'm obsessed. Now, if you've ever
1:40.6	been to one of my standout comedy shows, you will know that when I go, scur, hard, right? This
1:44.8	soon, it's going to be a big day. We're going to, it's going to be fun. But hard, right? I am a
1:50.9	little bit shocked that Titanic was released 25 years ago when I performed in my sixth grade talent
1:56.3	show. I did a stirring rendition of this hybrid off ice figure skating and jazz ballet from someone
2:04.5	who'd never taken dance class. I tried out. I made the talent show, honey, but so many people
2:10.4	tried out with my heart will go on. They ended up assembling them into a chorus. And if you saw
2:14.2	the episode of Queer Eye with Kathy Dooley, I will never forget. She was like conducting this like
2:20.0	hodgepile, like, and they dressed up in like whatever Quincy Community theaters version of Maritime
	...

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