The Riddle of the Sands Adventure Club Podcast 26: Overboard in Ostmahorn
We’ve made it to the last day in the book - October 26. Our heroes, Carruthers and Davies, sail off into the sunset with the delightful Clara on board, and her dastardly dad, Dollman, overboard.
In this podcast Lloyd notDavies plots out how to get us back to Blighty via Ostmahorn, Holland. Tim notCarruthers, meanwhile, considers the end of Dollman, and the potentially tricky subject of suicide at sea.
First up, we make yet another plea to the listeners to support us on Unbound (02:52), where we’re trying to raise money to produce a beautiful new book and online adventure for you. Sign up here: https://unbound.co.uk/books/riddle-of-the-sands
Lloyd charts the route from Norderney to Ostmahorn via the island of Rottum (04:56); a brief description of Rottum & its warden (06:42); the tale of the ‘crazy Earl’ who once owned the place (08:12); how we might sail past Rottum today (10:28); how the SS held out in this part of the world at the end of WW2 (12:20).
Tim talks about Dollman ‘falling’ overboard (14:00); people who fall off cruise ships (15:46); people who jump off the Staten Island ferry (18:06); the strange tale of Donald Crowhurst (18:58).
Tim talks about late-19th century attitudes to suicide (21:56); the move to treating would-be suicides as mental patients rather than criminals (23:26); where would Dollman’s body have ended up anyway?(25:35); how ‘The Mikado’ ridiculed English attitudes to anti-suicide laws (27:37).
Lloyd tries to get us to Ostmahorn but finds there’s a dyke in the way (29:56). Musical Interlude: the legendary Ostmahorn/Gröningen folk scene of the ‘70s featuring Törf and Fungus (33:19).
Tim is puzzled as to whether Dollman really is a double agent (36:04); examples of real-life German double agents of the period (37:41); stories of criminals, madmen and fantasists working as spies (40:55). Lloyd consults his Bradshaws (again) about trains, and steamers from Harlingen to London (45:41); our landing point at Tower Bridge (46:49); a problem with getting back to London before October 29 (47:56).
Club Business - Kim’s fears for ship’s dog allayed (50:54); Nick on the Battle of Dorking (51:40). Having brought this narrative to an end, there are no missions for next week! Thank you everyone for your contributions.
MUSIC CREDITS
Great Open Sea by the Wellington Sea Shanty Society: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Wellington_Sea_Shanty_Society/none_given_1098/12_-_Wellington_Sea_Shanty_Society_-_Great_Open_Sea
The Mikado - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLOY_R5XIJ8
Törf - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7F9l-zk7Qk
Fungus - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qr9voaqgSIw
-------- Â
55:14
--------
55:14
The Riddle of the Sands Adventure Club Podcast 25: Dornum, Disguises, Ditches & Duck Soup
After weeks of sailing and suspense, ‘The Riddle of the Sands’ explodes into action on October 25.
At last we discover what the ‘Riddle’ is. Sadly, as you will hear, Lloyd notDavies and Tim notCarruthers fall out quite badly - and loudly - about the basic credibility of Erskine Childers’s premise in describing the imminent German threat.
We start the podcast, though, by plotting out the day for Carruthers, starting with an extended pub/gin bar crawl in Dornumerland, followed by an arduous cross-country walk to Hage, a fair deal of train travel in heavy disguise, and finally a bold act of sabotage on a galliot and a confrontation with, of all people, the Kaiser.
We quickly descend into chaos when Lloyd notDavies becomes aerated by the presence of ‘lighters’ in Bensersiel harbour (05:43); a heated discussion of the canal vs ditch issue ensues (07:50); Club Member Ian provides useful information about riverine vessels of the period (10:18); Club Member Tony sides with notCarruthers (12:37).
Lloyd notDavies then turns his attention to the viability (or not) of amphibious warfare and invasion by rowboat, using Gallipoli as his main case study (16:21). Tim notCarruthers changes the tone by referencing the Marx Brothers (23:04), and talking about the use of disguises in late Victorian literature. (24:44)
Finally, we address the pub crawl in Dornum and how to recreate it (or not) in modern times (30:03); a connection is made back to the Marx Brothers (34:03), and the true story of Groucho’s one visit to Dornum is revealed (36:14).
As if the tone couldn’t get any lower, we then discuss the 1970s sex comedy The EastFriesland Report (39:07), filmed on location in exactly the same places that Carruthers visits on October 25.
Club Business (45:14) - Adrian on why submarines were considered to be underhand and ‘unEnglish’ (45.26); Brian & John correct us on what a submarine engineer actually is (46:31); the status of marine engineers generally in 1903 (47:25); we find a real-life German diving/wreck engineer - living in Lambeth (48:39); Nick on TS Eliot and Baedecker (51:20); Ian on ejaculation(52:27); Ben and Fiona support us on Unbound (52:54); Peter finds us a Munich beer house in London (53:24).
MUSIC CREDITS
Great Open Sea by the Wellington Sea Shanty Society: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Wellington_Sea_Shanty_Society/none_given_1098/12_-_Wellington_Sea_Shanty_Society_-_Great_Open_Sea
Mr Gallagher and Mr Shean (from Ziegfield Girls): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkzAEGarl9Q
-------- Â
56:08
--------
56:08
The Riddle of the Sands Adventure Club Podcast 24: Esens, Canals & Submarines
Finally, on October 24 with only two days to go in the book, we get to discuss the actual riddle of ‘The Riddle of the Sands’.
Lloyd notDavies uses his train timetables to get us to Esens. Minus a moustache, Tim notCarruthers points out the cultural highlights of this ancient Frisian town. And then both men argue at length about the proper use of canals. Finally the talk turns to the significance of submarines.
First, a plug for our Unbound project. Just £25 will get you a beautiful ROTS Handbook, an ebook, an audiobook and access to the month-long online adventure in September. (02:00)
https://unbound.co.uk/books/riddle-of-the-sands
We start the podcast proper, as we often do, by referring to train timetables (05:19). We discover it isn’t as easy to get to Esens by rail as it was one hundred years ago.
We find the humblest guesthouse in Esens where we can eat wurst and drink beer (10:29); Tim notCarruthers tells tales of the Frisian pirate Junkers Balthasar (16:35) and, friend of Wagner, Theodore Thomas (17:29).
A long conversation about canals ensues (20:35) including: memories of the newsreader Peter Sissons (21:32); the geological history of Frisia (23:20); a canoeing trip down the Bensertief (27:30); German enthusiasm for navigable canal-building (29:15); the plan to ‘kill’ Rotterdam (30:42); how to get from Bensersiel to Aurich by barge (the long way round) (32:43).
We return to last podcast’s subject - the villainous engineer Böhme (38:12). If he hails from Bremen and is a submarine engineer, he can only have worked at one place. Tim notCarruthers follows this clue back to West Norwood (41:58), and ends up talking about an American-Irish engineer who imust have been known to Childers(43:03).
Club Business: Brian offers us a chance to row in the North Sea (45:18); Pat also talks rowing, and his brief time as a hero (47:33); Jeff gives us a chance to tell you about the mysterious annotated 1920s edition of ‘The Riddle of the Sands’ which has inspired this whole project(49:07).
MUSIC CREDITS
Great Open Sea by the Wellington Sea Shanty Society: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Wellington_Sea_Shanty_Society/none_given_1098/12_-_Wellington_Sea_Shanty_Society_-_Great_Open_Sea
Flying Dutchman Overture by Wagner: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqezCR_XzaI
Listen to Riddle of the Sands Adventure Club, The Psychology Of Money: Timeless Lessons On Wealth, Greed, And Happiness, Book Summary, Podcast and many other podcasts from around the world with the radio.net app
South Africa