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Dec 2025
35m 44s

The Ice King | No Joke | 1

Wondery
About this episode
In 1801, a young Boston merchant named Frederic Tudor made a life-changing visit to Cuba. There he had a wildly ambitious idea: he would ship New England ice to the sweltering Caribbean, where no one had ever seen frozen water – let alone tasted a cold drink or ice cream. Lacking experience and money, Tudor was mocked by seasoned ship captains who called his ... Show More
Up next
Dec 2025
The Ice King | Frozen Assets | 2
In 1806, Frederic Tudor set out to build a fortune by shipping ice from his family’s pond near Boston to the tropical Caribbean—an audacious idea no one believed in. But turning frozen water into profit proved far harder than he imagined. By 1809, an embargo had halted his shipme ... Show More
34m 35s
Dec 2025
The Ice King | Slippery Business | 3
By 1816, Frederic Tudor had spent a decade shipping New England ice to Cuba—with little to show for it. Setbacks and vanished profits nearly ruined him, and a gamble on shipping tropical fruit had left him barely solvent. Then a chance conversation sparked a bold new idea: expand ... Show More
33m 56s
Jan 2026
Conquering Polio | The March of Dimes | 1
In the summer of 1921, 39-year-old Franklin Delano Roosevelt was on vacation with his family when he developed a fever, muscle aches, and chills. Pain spread to his legs, and soon, he was paralyzed from the waist down. Doctors diagnosed him with polio, which was fast becoming Ame ... Show More
40m 48s
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