Bittersweet Infamy - #74 - Coldproof

Episode Date: July 9, 2023

Josie tells Taylor about the superhuman survival story of capsized Icelandic fisherman Guðlaugur Friðþórsson. Plus: Ying Zheng (嬴政), Jing Ke (荊軻), and the wackiest assassination attempt in ancient Chinese history.

Hi friends, I'm Katie and I'm Olivia check out podcast by proxy for all things Canadian true crime when she left the house She found a single set of footprints in the snow Leading down the driveway and ending with tire tracks on the street and she believed that these were curious footprints because it was freshly Snowing that night you can listen to podcast by proxy on4Podnetwork.com or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to Bitter Sweden. I'm Taylor Baso. And I'm Josie Mitchell. On this podcast, we share the stories that live on and in me. The strange and the familiar. The tragic and the comic. The tragic and the comic. The bitter and the sweet. So Josie, how about that fucking fancy new cover art? It looks so like the back of your local dive bar you look out the rainy window and there's us. There's Bitter Sweet

Infamy, Josie and Taylor, ice cream on its side, neon melting. It's a different vibe, meteorologically, because we've been like kind of dying days, dying days of a sunny summer evening for so long. Yeah. And now we're kind of like dark and stormy night. It's very, it's an identity shift in terms of the weather. We're mcchuring. It's very identity shift in terms of the weather. We're maturing. It's very adult now. Also Taylor, you designed and drew that whole thing. That's all you, that's all you, Boo.

A creative with range, baby. I didn't design the fonts, those were like free fonts, but I did make them glow and reflect and things and things. Do their thing. Thank you. I try to be a multi-tool player for our podcast. Yeah, you're doing great. Thank you. I try to be a multi-tool player for our podcast. Yeah, you're doing great. Thank you. That is not the only big news that we have, is it?

We got so many changes. Well, two, mainly it's two right now. But yeah, we have a whole little segment, a whole Shibu coming up. What Shibu is that, Josie? It is called Bittersweet 604, an episode of week. For the month of August, we are exploring BC-based stories, 604, being the area code for BC-based, baby! BC-based, because BC is fucking-based. based so yeah, what's gonna happen is

Josie is flying on if I believe the term that you used was it's a little bit of a bittersweet residency you're coming up to To Vancouver for a little while and we are gonna be doing some interesting are gonna be doing some interesting fun, fresh, funky things with our format. We are going to be recording in the 604 podcast studios for the first time since we got brought aboard. The first time in a studio ever. Ever. We're gonna be meeting people. We're gonna be taking like fucking promo pictures that we're gonna look like sexy models. Yeah. It's gonna be great.

Yeah. We're gonna try. We're gonna. No. Okay. We are going to look like sexy models. Oh, what are you gonna wear? Oh my God, I got a thing on the hat.

Oh, baby, I need to start doing squats. Yes. We've got all kinds of fun things coming. We're going to have guests. We're going to be doing a couple of episodes in an undisclosed cool location. You're going to get two studio episodes and then you're going to get like, should all go according to plan. That's my vagueness. You're going to get a couple of funky, to plan once my vagueness. You're gonna get a couple of funky BC based location shoot episodes, us kind of out in the field, just having a laugh and cutting up and talking about infamous things that have happened in this beautiful province that I live in where I met Josie when we were 18 years old.

Whoa, whoa, dog. Almost 15 years now, Joe super natural man BC super natural VC Yeah, we're really I'm excited to see you in person. Yeah, I'm excited to take a little bit of a road trip with you Yeah, it'll be fun. Yeah, I get to drive Taylor across this beautiful province. Yes, fuck yes My carriage is finally arrived this beautiful province. Yes, fuck yes, as it should be. My carriage is finally arrived. I'm stoked. I love road trips. Road trips are rad, so.

Oh, I got a little update for you. Update me. Do you hear who Yeezus, Kanye West? Did you hear who he made the, I think, CEO of Yeezie? I don't know. Like a grasshopper or something, something weird? A similarly provocative grasshopper that just hit me, thank you. A similarly provocative fashion entrepreneur, not much for the woke set,

recently fallen on some hard financial times, maybe needs a new gig. Dove Charnie of American Apparel. No fucking way. Right? And again. Oh! Kanye is deeply in the shit for his comments, pro-Hitler, anti-Jewish people. Dove Charnie.

Jewish. So let's see how that goes. There's like a few things happening here. Yeah, that's, ooh, put a Google alert on that one That'll be great. That's the whole update. Okay. Watch this space. Yeah Damn, dude. Damn, damn, damn. You want to minifamous? Juice me up. Today's minifamous is the story of an Infamous assassination attempt

attempt An attempt has some implications baked right into the word there right it's an assassination failure Failure, I mean let's call it what it is glass half empty glass half full, you know Someone lives we're gonna be talking about a little bit of ancient Chinese history here That's a lot of history dude. There's a lot of history. Oh, is it ever? Is it? And we're kind of slamming right back to the beginning of it, because China isn't even China at this point.

We're in a period called the Warring States period, which is exactly what it sounds like. Yeah. So to put it to a kind of Western calendar, 200 years BCE. Before Jesus was here. Before Christ emerged. To put it to a kind of western calendar, 200 years BCE. Before Jesus was here. Before Christ emerged.

Like a butterfly. Like, oh! Ah, that's the butterfly anyways. And what will eventually become the Chinese Empire is a handful of warring states true to the name attempting to seize power, assert independence, etc. Okay. Standard disclaimer, Chinese, certainly not my native language. I'm gonna do what I can with the pronunciations

with my apologies, with my gratitude. Let's say it, let's glass half full, right? Yeah, let's half full it, baby. The most powerful of these forces militarily is a kingdom called Chin, known by nearby states as the kingdom of tigers andves. It has a king whom history best knows as Qin Shuang. But right now he's called Ying Zheng

and I'll explain the name change later. I'm gonna be calling him Ying Zheng throughout most of the story. Okay, tight. Ying Zheng is a warmonger who hates intellectuals and has them buried alive. Oh. Dude, from my dabbling into this story, a lot of like really extravagant, dramatic, theatrical, murder and suicide in ancient Chinese history. Like that's one thing they really had down was a lot of boiling alive, a lot of I'm

gonna put you in a bag and smash you, a lot of I'm gonna commit suicide by a bag and smash you a lot of I'm gonna commit suicide by slitting my own throat in front of you like a lot of real drama yeah tell novellas over there oh baby uh Ying Zheng's goal is to absorb the warring states into the chin empire through siege okay yeah and there's a really long history of chin being this very, like a military and police state. It's their whole thing. Yeah. At the time of our story, it's just starting around 236 BCE, a young prince named Dan from

the Yan Empire is being held diplomatic hostage by Ying Zheng. The way diplomatic hostages worked in this time, as far as I understand, is it was sort of a form of collateral between allied nations. You send us your prints. Gotcha. We'll send you our prints. And that way we know there won't be any fuckery because we've got your son and you've got our son, right? So it incentivizes us to cooperate as we've said that we would. And so these hostages are actually like relatively well treated and Dan,

young Prince Dan, is actually, he grew up buddies with Ying Zheng, because they kind of grew up in the fanciness together. Yeah, the higher echelons. Something Ying Zheng did piss Dan off. We don't know what it was, sort of been lost to history. Okay. And so Prince Dan escapes from Qin, returns to Yan. Do you think it was like he hogged the N64 controller kind of thing? I'm almost certain that it was Banjo Kazooie related, yes. Yeah. I say N64 because it was ancient times too. Yeah, that's an old, so they have that big middle clunky middle thing in the controller. It's ancient.

Yeah. All the older people listening, those are so pissed off at us. Cause we're on their lawn. That's the only video game thing that I know. So I'm gonna teach you some more, okay? You know, Nitra. So Prince Dan decides he's been hard done by he wants revenge on Ying Zheng and the Chen Empire. And so he hires a guy named Jinke and Jinke is a Yozya which is a type of wandering vigilante sort of known folklorically for writing wrongs like chaotic good or like lawful good a robin hood s the analogous figure that i'm kind of familiar with is the japanese ronin which is like a type of samurai yeah but apparently there are comparable figures throughout European, Asian, and Middle Eastern history. Makes sense, yeah.

Prince Dan puts a retainer on Jin-Ku to either kidnap or assassinate Ying-Jin. Whoa, that was a bad fight. I got really into it. The thing too is that like, everybody knows that the Chin Empire is trying to take over everybody's everything. And so it sort of dehoves them to like put a stop to it at some point. And killing Ying Zheng will do that. Yeah, that makes sense. Okay. Yeah. So here's the plan. The Yan Kingdom is gonna fake a surrender

and send Jinke to call upon Ying Zheng. Okay. As proof of good intention, Jin-Ku will bring Ying-Jing the head of one of his enemies in a box. Okay. So that's just, that's how we did diplomacy then. Like, very much so in the Chin Empire, they had a thing where like, apparently,

the way you achieved monetary success, property prestige was based on how many, like, heads and a box you had kind of thing, like legitimately. You did say this was gonna be dramatic, so. Dude, and it only gets more dramatic. Yeah, okay. It only gets more dramatic from here. And in this particular case,

the decided it should be a general named Guanyi who defected from chin to yen. Oh, yeah, juicy. Next as a gift of reconciliation, Jin-Ka will produce crucial maps to the Yan Dynasty in order to enrich Ying-Jing's military knowledge. But rolled up in the map will be a dagger forged by a legendary blacksmith and dipped in poison. Which will kill him as soon as it breaks the flash. Ah, yeah. And as soon as the map is unrolled, Jinke is to snatch the dagger and he's going to use it

to either plan A is to take Ying-Jin captive and plan B if that doesn't work kill him. But it seems like there was maybe a bit of indecision on should he be captured or killed, what would be the more useful thing to do, and I think that indecision maybe what distinguishes this as an attempt rather than an assassination. Gotcha, okay. So that's the plan, and the first step is Jin-Ka goes to Hwani who you may remember is the general who defected we want to give Ying-Jung his head in a box. Yeah. Basically, Huan Yi listens to what Jinke says and is like, I think that plan's gonna work. I'll just commit suicide and you can take my head in a box.

So, and so it is and so Huan Yi dies. And now we've got his head in a box. No. Didn't even have to get her hands there. Oh yeah. Oh my. You just gave it. Devotion. Goodness.

I wonder what the views on things like afterlife for it this point because like these people are very flippant and capricious with life and death throughout this story. Oh, that's it. Yeah, interesting consideration. The other thing is that Jinkha is also going with another with a partner, a guy named Kin Wuyong. Okay. And he apparently when he was 13, he like beat a guy to death in the streets. He's like stuff his nails reputation right? Yeah. So they're off together. They go to chin. They go to I guess like the throne room or whatever room in which such a diplomatic tettetet would be conducted. Yeah. Yeah. And there's a prom. Yeah, yes little little does a little does a Ying-jian know there's a lot more in the cards than just a you know some maps being unfurled and I had being presented

Yeah, there's a prominent historian named Sumatian Who lived a few hundred years later in the Han Dynasty and he made a history Called the records of the grand historian and this was the first called The Records of the Grand History and this was the first large scale history of the Chinese Empire highly influential. Okay yeah. That book has a like a specific chapter that is just biographies of assassins and so that is where this has kind of been recorded. Right yeah. It seems like a good book. Yeah. I don't like it. This is this is a pretty good shit. And so here's what happens jinkoo and his

Co-conspirator they come in they present the head head in a box seems like it's going okay But for whatever reason jinkoo's buddy. It's like acting he's nervous. He's like thought he's got He's like acting weird. He keeps like flipping his hair. Yeah, but there's but if he's got like short hair So it's not nothing there like acting weird. He keeps like flipping his hair. Yeah, but there's, but he's got like short hair, so it's not, there's nothing there. Everyone's like kinda, I guess, weirded out by this guy's vibe, so he's like, yeah. You approach, like approach me.

Yeah. I want, like what's going on. And so Jinco's like, you know, I've brought you this map of the Yann Empire, and he does like the slow, dramatic, unroll, and in the end, there's the dagger, and he does like the slow dramatic Unroll and in the end There's the dagger and he grabs the dagger. Jin-Ku grabs the dagger. So he's got the dagger. He got it Okay, and he grabs Ying-Jung by his sleeve because whatever he's wearing has like very long Yeah, those long sleeves beautiful. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, silken

Dada da da da da yeah and it's because remember planning is to kidnap him. Yeah, so we want him alive He grabs the king by his sleeve and thrusts the dagger toward his heart and Ying Jung is so startled by this that he falls back and his big billowing sleeve Rips off of his garments now. He's hit the ground but he's free. He's got one sleeve. Costume malfunctioned and there's no guards with him. There are people in the room. They're not guards. That means they're not armed. So while all of this is going on, just imagined a lot of like concern people being like, oh, I'm gonna go get some water. I'm Is this city someone should tell HR exactly? Please tell HR

And the thing is that they're also apparently not allowed to approach the throne without permission And in all of this Havab yinjum forgets to yellow permission for them to approach the throne They're all very concerned about approaching the throne the permission because you could get your fucking head cut off for that shit, dude. Yeah, yeah. Buried alive. Mm-hmm. So that's what's going on there. So there are people in the room,

but they're like paralyzed by shock and indecision. Right. And they're not armed. Okay. Ying Zheng is armed. He has a ceremonial sword in a scabbard, which is a sword holder. Right. But the problem is that it's a ceremonial sword in a scabbard, which is a sword holder, right? But the problem is that it's a ceremonial sword and it is

theatrically large and awkward It's a hundred sixty two centimeters, which is five foot three. Oh my Jesus So he can't get it out of the scabbard and especially because he's like trying to run to and he's also trying to fight Jin-Ku off with his hands. So he's got like... Yeah, just the basic geometry. If your arm is not working... It's not working. The dragon along the ground, he's trying to hit him.

He's like missing a sleeve. And so Jin-Ku's like, I'm on it. He's still holding the dagger and he pursues Ying-Jung to a pillar. And Ying-Jung just starts doing laps around the pillar. He can't because he's like panicking. He can't think of what he needs to do next. So he's just like running circles around this pillar, Ying-jung is cut or I think he's gonna like, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,

oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh It's just a living to episode. And finally, the physician is there. His name is Ja-Woo-Juh. He gets a big idea and he grabs his medical bag. It's like a pothocary bag. And he fucking wings it at Jin-Kuh. And it hits, he's like rattled.

And that is just enough time for Ying-Juh to hear the people telling him how he needs to get the sword out of the thing. He figures it out. He's able to get the sword out. And he stabs Jin-Kuh in the thigh, he figures it out, he's able to get the sword out, and he stabs Jin-Ka in the thigh, which immobilizes him, and so Jin-Ka is like, fuck it, I got one last shot, he wings the dagger. Poison dagger, by the way.

Poison dagger? Sticks in the pillar. And then it gets right in the middle of the pillar, stuck right in it. Oh! Then the king comes around to Jin-Ku, stabby stabby stabby times. With the huge ceremonial sword. With this five foot three sword?

Yeah, yeah, with a six-grader. He just stabs him with a six-grader. Yeah. A tall six-grader. And the growth spurts happen. Six-grad, yeah. Listen, I think you grew up tall, huh? I did, thank you.

I did not. So, but still we make a family here together. We're the same height. No, we're not. You're taller me. Yeah, I am. Yeah, but like two inches. I'm thinking of pictures.

Okay, sorry. There was no thinking of pictures. Sorry, but then to off, go, continue. Stubby, Stubby, dead, dead. No, no, yeah, so, so he's dead. And then with his kind of like dying energy Jin-Ka that would be assassin he pulls himself up to this pillar and he like slumps against it with his legs open and multiple sources that I read noted that this would be like a very rude Way to present yourself to such a

Okay, yeah, the bottoms of your feet up your your legs spread, yeah. You're dick out for the gods. Yeah. So that's kind of like, do a lot of what it could have said. He says, be like, I could have gotten you if I wasn't trying to take you alive. I never can bring you back. Yeah. Which I agree. Why didn't you do that?

You just killed the man. Yeah, yeah. Just kill the man. And then there's clearly no guards there. Get the fuck out of dodge. The guards come in and finish off Jin-Ku. They get his retreating co-conspirator, Chen-Wu-Yong. He gets done too. Rest in piss boys. Al. Big Al.

Big fat. Wow. Fuck that one up bad. Yeah. In the end, Ying-Jung is fucking livid with Prince Dan. He's livid with the Yan Empire. He sends his military over and they fuck it up. Basically, the thing that makes them do a temporary ceasefire is the king offers up his son, Prince Dan's head. And so it is, Prince Dan gets his head cut off, it gets presented to Ying Zheng. And that stops things, but only for a little while. By 221 BC, Ying Zheng and that stops things but only for a little while by 221 BC Ying Zheng has conquered all of the warring states and unified them into a new land

China Well, he becomes known as Qin Shuang the first emperor of China kicking off the chin dynasty My unifies various disparate kingdoms walls into one great wall Yeah, yeah, I've heard of it. Mm-hmm. Maybe you can see it from space. I don't know. Mm-hmm. He dies at 49 probably from taking too many mercury pills in an attempt to achieve immortality Not probably but let's go possibly. Yeah, He gets buried with the terracotta army. Oh! Better go to them too.

So this guy's a big fucking deal. Yeah. So I just think it's, I think part of why I chose the stories, I just think it's really fun that this guy who is a man of such great stature in Chinese history and world history and even in his time who is treated with such immense dignity. But in this moment, he was just a guy with one sleeve in an awkwardly large sword running around a pillar and trying not to die.

And succeeding. I don't know if you've been hearing in the newstaler, but Houston, Texas, the city in what I live, and all over Texas has been having a heat wave, like excessive heat advisories. I hadn't heard it, but a thing that I do is in my phone, I always keep the weather from the cities that I've visited so I can kind of flick through and see what's happening weather-wise in various, and like, oh, it's night in Barcelona and it's raining, oh, it's daytime in Nagano and it's snowing, you know,

or whatever. That's red. But Houston, I didn't notice that it's been quite warm there. It has been, like, it's always hot in the summer. Like, that's, you know, if it's like 100 degrees, then it's like, okay, yeah, that makes sense. But it's been 100 degrees plus humidity for multiple days in a row

and not much chance of it letting up anytime soon. So there are cooling stations being opened in communities and not much chance of it letting up anytime soon. So there are cooling stations being opened in communities so that people can cool the fuck down. Every morning I wake up and my phone has like excessive heat warnings. It's like, please stay inside. The screen is bubbling. Yes, yes, yes, yes.

But it's been so hot here and so unfathomably hot that I needed to kind of start thinking and telling a story that is a little more chilly. Ooh, like ice cream cones. Also cool down activities to go swimming. You love swimming. Yeah and I love swimming. I'm more hitter miss. Well today you're gonna hit because we're gonna go swimming in Iceland I Slint I Go through all this before you wake up So I can be happier to be safe

I'll hear you That's cool. Thank you. It's my my Bjork. Yeah. Oh,. No, no, no, I know, I know, I know. I mean, I don't I'll say I I didn't recognize the song, but I figured it was Bjork. Oh, it's hyperbounds. My favorite song. It's a song I feel very seen by. Oh, that's lovely. Well, we're gonna talk about another pretty well known Icelander. His name is Goudlöger Fridthorsen. Okay. I'm trying my best Icelandic accent. Goudlöger, Fred Thorson. I'm trying my best, Icelandic accent. Good-lugger, because he's good-looking. Okay. He also goes by Gully, like Gully is his nickname.

Are you gonna take advantage of that nickname? Ah, no, I think I'll say good-lugger. Yeah. Oh, good for you. Yeah, good for you. Good for me, yeah. Yeah. Ah.

So good-lugger is an lander who was born in 1961. He learned to swim in a public pool on the island of Hit My, which translates to English as home island. Yeah. It is a small island part of the vestment air islands, which translates to Westman Island in England. So these are a volcanic archipelago in the south of Iceland and hey my where good-ligger grew up and currently lives is the only inhabited island of the

archipelago. So these are islands like in the frigid sea, very cold, very small lava islands. The name of this particular island, hey my, might have crossed your path before because in 1973, the island had an unexpected volcanic eruption, and so the entire community of 5,000 people had to be evacuated in the middle of the night by the local fishing fleet. Oh, scary. Very scary. And it was big enough eruption that it increased the size of the island by 20%. Oh, no, that's a lot of lava, baby. Yeah, including these very steep volcanic cliffs that are over 70 feet high. Yeah, very spooky though.

A nice little glass half full vibe is that the geothermal energy provides power for the town and it heats the local swimming pool that did have to be rebuilt. The other one was lava out. But we heater pools as they say we heater pools with lemons. So this archipelago is like I said kind of far out there. It is home to one fifth of the world's puffin population. Yeah. Yeah. They come to risk their... I was a little starstruck when you mentioned puffins. I was like it was like you said like Gwen Stefani. Oh, oh. I was like, you said like Gwen's to follow me. Oh.

Oh. Ah. And puffins are cute, but this is weather heavy. It's known as one of the windiest spots in Europe. Don't throw me with a good time. Being Iceland, it's just generally fucking cold all the time. Iceland. Our boy, our man, our guy, goodlugar. He went to like a fisherman, Boatsman's training school.

I can think of it as kind of vocational training to be a fisherman. To be a man of the sea. Yes, yeah. Yeah, yeah. There's a whole class on that, yeah. And this is pretty typical for anybody who grows up and lives in Hey My, the island. Because it is one of the most important, if not the most important, fishing centers in Iceland. Really? 15, 15% of the country's fish is caught in this tiny 5,000-person village. Fertil soil from volcano equals nice plants equals good marine life equals fish baby. Plus maybe some currents happening there. And of course if they've got the best fucking fish in the

world, stands to reason, best puffins. The puffins tell all. I understand how the ecosystem works. Darwin again. So good, Luger, our fisherman friend. He enters the story when he's 23 and he's not a particularly loud guy. He's not particularly quiet. He's a medium volume guy. He's a guy. He's a guy. He's a guy. No, I got it.

He's not the story of like, he feels trapped by his hometown and he has to get out. He has to go see Recki of a piece. Oh no, he's a, he's a normie. And God bless him. Yeah. Everybody's welcome at the table. But nor is he kind of like the big man on campus, like star of his hometown kind of kid.

He's just like, group in this town. He's living in this town, living his life, doing it. Yellow. So March 11th, 1984, he's 23, as I mentioned, when he sets out for a fishing job, run in the middle, he does it all the time. I like this fishing job, no. The vessel that he is going to be different

is assigned to, is called the Helle C, V-E-503. But you can call me Gully for sure, kind of, kind of I like. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. The crew consists of four other villagemen in their early 20s, who also make their work fishing. Yeah, it makes sense. Good look, it knows them, they grew up together, it's a small town, right? They gather on the docks, they set out into the frigid waters off the coast of these islands of this archipelago, and though it is March, which in my mind I'm like, oh spring, that's great, spring break baby, let's go to further. No, no, no, I don't, that's, no, that sounds cool to cool to me again. It's Iceland the air temperature is negative two degrees Celsius

Which if you're playing the Fahrenheit game is 28.4 degrees Yeah, it sounds more impressive in ours. It's pitch black at about 10 p.m. When they are out on the seas I Hate the part in the story where the time starts to slow down, you know, because the you know, the sun's coming. Good lookers in the hold, he is sleeping, there are other people on watch, he is awoken by the cook who is on board, who says you need to get up, we're taking on water. The boat had fishing nets like trawlers that it had sent into the water and was pulling along behind it. One of the nets got caught on something on the ocean floor and was pulling the ship, the vessel,

so far down that it started to take on water. Waves were coming through the railings, the weight of that water, and the increased wave action made it so that it took on so much water that it capsized. Uh oh, well, I got it. Because it had capsized so quickly, the lifeboats were not able to deploy, they weren't able to access them and open them and get them going. Two of the sailors lost their lives in the initial capsizing and the remaining three, which included Goodluger, were able to haul themselves out onto the

keel of the upturned boat. So this thing is just kind of bobbing there and there on the bottom of the boat, right? Okay, but it's still somewhat buoyant. Yes, yes, at this point. That's not a good answer. I mentioned the air temperature at negative two, 20.4 degrees Celsius. The water temperature is about five to six degrees Celsius, which is 41 to 43 degrees Fahrenheit.

Okay. But if you've ever gotten rained on in the winter in Vancouver, I'm, which I'm sure you have, Taylor. Not me, not me not once. Always wearing appropriate jackets, that's my style. It's really fucking cold. Back in episode number 23, man in a bubble. Also a shipwreck story.

Yes. Go back and listen. a shipwreck story. Yes. Go back and listen, it's an interesting story. Yeah. I had to do a little bit of research around like very similar things about like what happens to the body when it is in warm water, cold water, any kind of water. Hypothermia, baby, that's the answer. Yeah, yeah. So these three salers, three surviving salers are on the keel of the boat and they make a

pact to each other. That if any one of them survives, they promise that they will tell everyone about the issue with the boat. The increased weight, the pulling of the nets, and these particular waters, which are always a little rough, there needs to be more regulation around what can go on the boat and how it's deployed. That's a very, what's it called, very civically-minded, haggling to do in what could be your last moments, I respect it. Yeah, yeah. Well, I think something to keep in mind, too, is that this town that holds 15% of the fishing market in

Iceland has many, many lives lost to see. And to give you a sense, 2003 was a standout year for Hamay because it was a year where no one died in a drowning incident. This is a small town of like around 5,000, right? Like, yeah, so everybody knows somebody who this has happened to. Totally, yes, yeah. Most often in those cases, no one survives. No one goes back to say what did happen, you know, the net was caught in this and that.

Got it, got it. The lifeboats didn't deploy. So I think the shipwreck and the capsizing of the boat was automatic, civilly minded because they knew other men who would come out on a similar boat and maybe try and do the same thing. Yeah. So as these three men hung on to the keel of the boat, it started losing its buoyancy and eventually took on so much water that it sank, and sank all the way down. They decided when they realized what was happening that they would lose their makeshift flotation device, that they would head off towards the lighthouse that they could see off the coast of Hemi. And they were going to make a swim for it. Right. It was about 45 minutes after the initial capsizing

that the keel was completely gone and they started swimming. And it's dark as hell. And dark as hell, yeah, middle of the night. So lighthouse is kind of our only pick for a landmark to swim to. Right, and pretty brilliant and bright too, you know. I think it's important to note when it comes to swimming and Iceland at the kind of culture surrounding it. Like I said, all these fishermen are trained and these

men in particular were instructed on how to swim in all different types of circumstances. Of course, swimming lessons will not help you when the water is that fucking cold and you are having that much heat loss. But swimming is really, really important to modern day Iceland. Starting in the 1920s, swimming was in the required curriculum for all high schools and then in the 40s, it expanded to include elementary instruction as well. And part of it was the physical exercise of swimming, it's important. But the other idea was that like Iceland is an island, like everybody lives in sight of water. It's a civil safety measure to make sure that everybody knows how to swim. That makes good sense to me. Of course, in this situation, the decision to swim was a last

resort for these sailors, but this was part of their training and it was the last viable option for them. However, within 10 minutes of setting out on the swim, two of the three sailors did not make it. Good looker was all alone. Left in this frigid cold water with a pretty cold air temperature and even a bit of a windshield factor. Till you're talking a little bit earlier about hypothermia. Give us the details doctor. According to the Mayo clinic. Ah, there we go. Ah! Hypothermia is when your body loses heat faster than it can produce it. And it lowers your overall body temperature.

So are we normally run at about 98.6 or 37 degrees Celsius? And hypothermia is anything below 95 or 35 degrees Celsius, 95 Fahrenheit, 35 Celsius. I run at least 50 Celsius. I'm a little eater. Yeah. That's my theory. I feel warmer than the average. You know, your computer has really loud fans. I do too. Yeah. My fans won't shut up. Taylor, Taylor, we love you. That's cute. That was good. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Some of the symptoms of hypothermia, shivering, which creates extra body heat when you shiver like that.

Yes. When it sets in a little bit further, slurred speech, lack of coordination, your breath can get shallower, your pulse becomes weaker, you eventually lose consciousness, right? Now I did come across some conflicting information about kind of the disorientation that hypothermia can create. So one source in particular that was about like cold weather survival from the BBC and I'll mention it in my sources. But it was laying out how our like our being human thermo-regulation system, the way that it works is that it cuts off blood supply to extremities, to maintain blood and therefore to eat. For our core, and then finally, the last thing is our brains.

There's been a lot of studies that show that people are still very cognitive and can understand, but because they've lost feeling, let's say, you know, in your, in your hands, in your feet, your first-year toes, then your feet, all those extremities, those get slowly cut off. That's where your lack of coordination comes in. And as you mentioned, too, a real issue with hypothermia is exposure to cold water. Any temperature of water that direct heat transfer can lower your body temperature quite a bit because water is just really good at transferring heat. Yeah. So if you can imagine being in like 40 degree weather, that's a very different ballgame from being in 40 degree water temperature. And this is Fahrenheit, so maybe that's not helpful to you.

No, that does not. That's okay. I can infer. Okay, so 30 degrees. So yeah, yeah, the where we are, about where we are in the water. Yeah, yeah. So if you're out and about in in five degree weather, even if you forgot your coat, like you're cold, but you're not going to die. Unless you, unless you stay out there for a long time. Exactly. Yeah. Unless you fall asleep. Yeah. If you're moving, if you're exercising and you have the energy to do that, again, it probably wouldn't be for a very, very long time. But, you know, let's say you go for a run in 40 degree weather, you could potentially do that in shorts. I've done it. Yeah. Yeah. I've done that in shorts. 40 degree water in a bathing suit, you would have to train for that.

That's very, very cold. So typically when you're in that cold of water, the best thing to do is just get yourself out. If you're in a shipwreck hall yourself onto the hull, if there's something anything that you can float on, Rose gets on the door, Jack is hanging off in the water, he gets too cold, she survives. He doesn't. Actually, as I was writing this, I was on an airplane and the woman next to me was

watching Titanic. Probably because of the... I'm sure the Titanic analytics are doing great these days. Oh, man. So good. But I was like typing this and like watching Titanic soundlessly in the woman's screen next to her. Good for you. Yeah. So yeah, recommendation is to haul yourself out of the water. Be mindful of swimming because swimming will exert energy and if you don't know when you're going to get out of the water or you don't know if safety is coming, you could

lose heat faster if you expend that energy. Get out of the land but don't swim if you can help that. Yeah. Like, come on. I know. One thing that did surprise me with this or seemed helpful and I'm glad I know is that you should not remove if you're wearing clothing. You should not remove your clothing even in the water. I would always think like, oh it might weigh me down or something like that. Yeah, if you're wearing like big big heavy baggy jeans or something, I would probably take those off. But apparently even the wet cloth can help insulate you from the cold. And interesting. The Mayo Clinic recommends even like making it tighter on you,

like zipping your sweater all the way up and like buckling your pants tighter, lacing those shoes. Better sweet survival guide. Yeah. Better sweet survival guide here today. I like the serenades me of those shows that I that I would watch back in like the T-thousands that were like Extreme situations Yeah, yeah, yeah, who you to make it in alive? Make it into live That's not the show it's just people it just people at night naked in afraid Is a bomb show naked in afraid is the shit I prefer naked in a life or it's just people live in their naked lives

Yeah, I've meet for myself for my own purposes, but too Good looker our swimmer at this point. He is wearing a pair of jeans, a t-shirt, and a wool sweater. And 80s jeans too. So this isn't, we don't have like cotton blends and there's a system denim jeans probably. Yeah, and he was sleeping when this boat went down, he does not have shoes on. Oh. Yes. Yeah. So. Was he sleeping in his jeans? He may have, yeah. I mean, it was all dudes on this boat like psychotic behavior Gulugger, how are you so good looking? My secret I sleep in my jeans. Sleep in my jeans

I had to get that out because it was gonna get stuck in there. Yeah, yeah, no, I know Yeah, I get you. He swims towards this lighthouse on the coast of Hamay and it is not close. It is not like a, oh, just a little swims, swims, swims, swam, I'm gonna be there, it's cold. It is literally kilometers away. Oh yeah, two people died trying this. Yes, yeah, exactly.

It's cold enough that he tries his best to keep his head out of the water, so he's doing kind of breaststroke, which means he can kind of like keep his trajectory focused on the lighthouse, he won't get kind of swept away by a current or something, you always want to like, you know. You get on the lighthouse. Yeah, yeah, you always want to cite what you're swimming towards. Now I think it's important to clock that he has just watched four of his childhood friends drown in front of them. And now he is swimming in these frigid waters in the middle of the night all by himself, completely unsure of his survival. Like, you know, like he could, he could drown, he could succumb to hypothermia at any minute now, right? Later in interviews, Goodluger said that a goal was overhead for most of his swim,

and he would talk to it, and like ask it for help to help him focus on Oh, I see, my heart bleeds truly like I've stayed for this four-guy Yeah, because not only did he have to you know brave these insane elements but also like he kind of had to keep himself focused and not be overwhelmed by the loss of his friends too, you know? No, you can't agree right now. You have to keep focused. Yeah.

You can go out and lay out. He keeps doing this for six hours. Too many. Again, the water temperature is five degrees Celsius, about 41 degrees Fahrenheit. Finally, he gets to land. And wonderful. Land hoe, I'm here, I have finally made it. God damn, yes.

Now for me, because I've done some ocean swimming, this is definitely the scariest part, which is getting back on land. You have to time your entrance with the way not to, you can't get slammed by a, because potential to like, have a wave. Oh, you could, yeah, oh god, I didn't even think of that, but yes. Yeah, yeah. And that's how shipwrecks happen on the shores of Bylighthouse. Exactly, yeah, and that's how shipwrecks happen on the shores of by light houses. Exactly. Yeah, no exactly.

And like even, you know, like where I swim, I always, of course, make sure that there's like a lovely soft sandy landing for me that even if a wave kind of took me, I would get like, blu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu. The luxury of choice. Yes, the luxury of choice. But the spit of land that Goodliger has found is not a lovely soft sandy beach. It is sharp lava rocks. Yeah, that volcanic, that good Icelandic volcanic rock. And not only is it volcanic rock, but I mentioned earlier how the eruption of 1973 created these sheer igneous cliffs. Oh yeah those 70 foot cliffs yes. Yeah he has swam up to one of those.

He is able to get up on on to land. He has stopped swimming but he cannot find a root up this cliff face. There's just absolutely no way that it's just sheer. It's just sheer. Because it's igneous rock, right? Yeah. And if you think about it too, it's kind of like fresh igneous rock. So it hasn't been like eroded, it hasn't been weathered, like this shit is sharp. It's pointy and hard as fucking hell. Yes so

What does he do? He jumps back in the water No, that is such a shitty moment. I thought I was dead with this part He has to swim of course. He has to swim. Of course, he has to swim the exact opposite direction from which he came because like the way he has to clear the wave action. Oh no! Yes. And finally, he swims up the coast. Another ways back into this frigid water, another ways back into this frigid water, back into this kind of like soul sucking, all my friends are dead, vortex. After six hours of swimming in this water too, which is so... Mmm, wow.

Yeah, that's a bitch. Back in. And I think this is important to note because this is a very level headed and it's a really smart move to make, even though it is so incredibly heartbreaking. Like he could have said, like, I have done the swim, I'm here, I'm just gonna sit here. In which case, he would have stopped moving,

been so exposed to the cold, having been completely stopping wet, he potentially could have died. It's a big dick move. It really is. It's a lot of move. It really is. It's not a courage. Yeah, and it also kind of notes like his exposure to the cold isn't creating confusion, right? He's not having this typical hypothermia reaction. He's got a sense of screwed up. Yeah, exactly. Finally, when he hits a spot of land that he can get up on, it is all pitch black. And it is one

middle of the night, but also it's that black lava rock, right? I was going to say isn't, yeah, the rock is black too. Yeah, he has swam these six kilometers, but there is no warm fire, there is no, you know, no warm cozy yellow windowed house. What about the lighthouse? There's the lighthouse and there's a very soft glow of the village of the town, his town. We love the soft glow of the village of the town, his town.

Truly. But it is three kilometers away. You can do it. You can do it. Three K. Yes. You got this. Is he sopping wet in negative two degree Celsius weather? Yes.

Is he having two walks barefoot over a sharp lava rock? Oh, yes. Yes. In my head, this is just like a paved road. You can femuride on the way. No, no, no. No. This is the type of lava screen that even if you're in proper hiking boots or tennis shoes

or something like that, yeah, I'll eat through them. Chew them up. Oh God, I hate this for this poor man. I know. Three can have a lava rock? Yes. No, that's much worse than I initially thought. I hate that.

I hate that. And he cannot stop and wait for light. He cannot stop because once he stops, he'll get too cold. He has to keep moving One foot in front of the other Strangely enough though, good looker is not feeling the cold. I Mean the man is cold. He's a he's cold. It's It's if I can call it's cool, but he's not shivering, he hasn't lost his motor skills. He like we discussed is sane enough

to jump back in the water, to you know, see the, see the light of his village. Like he's, he's cognitively there. Right. But what he really is is thirsty. He's incredibly dehydrated. So I don't know enough about cold cold weather, but apparently in these cold cold temps, all the moisture is frozen out of the air. The

air is like very, very dry. Yeah, I see dry air. Yeah, nose bleeds. Even though he's like right next to the ocean, then none of that is beneficial because it's all the moisture that would come into the air. It's just like, zilx zero. Nothing comes easy, huh? Nope. So when Goodliger comes upon a trough of water, it's actually like an old bathtub. Oh, best.

Yeah, drink that bath water. Yeah. You drink that fucking bath water you pervert. It is so good right now. Well, it's out there for sheep. It's supposed to be a water trough for sheep. Even more perverted. What does he do?

But punctures through the thick layer of ice that of course has formed there. What a man. With his goddamn bare hands. Call me. What are you doing later? And drinks this near freezing water that's beneath this layer of ice sheet bathwater hot pork. Of course he can't stop

long because he'll freeze his balls off so he keeps moving finally what a cyborg I love him. Finally at 7 a.m. he knocks on the door of a house that's at the edge of the village. It is nine hours after his boat had sunk and it's been about six hours in the water and on the freezing lava knifey hike that he went on is about three hours. Yeah. Apparently leading up to the door of this house, there are his bloody footprints. Because of course, fair enough. His feet are just charred. He is taken immediately to the nearest hospital. It's what you do in that situation. They cannot find his pulse. I lost it in the ship back. Yeah. Am I a ghost? Is that what happened? Did I make it?

They record his body temperature as 34 degrees Celsius or 93. And remember hypothermia is anything below 95 degrees Fahrenheit, 35 degrees Celsius. The doctors are clocking that he's not showing any of the life threatening signs of hypothermia. Interesting. Does not have any frostbite.

And frostbite is when the tissues, your skin tissues, the musculos, everything, the tissues freeze. And they essentially die. There's no blood being pumped to them. So he doesn't even have frostbite. From swimming and walking around barefoot all night, that feels like your extremities are often affected

by frostbite, that feels like. Totallyities are often affected by frostbite. That feels like... Totally. Something that would have happened, right? Yeah. Because they think, well, maybe he has, like, it's typically known as, like, the very last stage of hypothermia where your blood vessels, which are designed in a survival mode to constrict. Like, that's what causes frostbite, right?

Is they constrict so far that they're just cut off? But if you're in this final stage of hypothermia, that mechanism just gives up. Everything just kind of lets go. And the blood vessels expand, and you have this kind of rush of heat. So I don't know if you've ever heard of people being found in very cold climates and who have suffered hypothermia.

No clothes on. They feel overwhelmed by this heat. And they've just take all their clothes off, yeah. And so the doctors are like, are you in that stage? Is that how? Did you just have a prolonged stage of that? No, he's like, no, I'm just, I'm not enjoying this.

This is still very cold. Yes, yeah, exactly. But he had none of that. The doctors reported that he only had signs of dehydration and his feet worked extremely rough. His knuckles too were not looking too good but his feet were very very rough. A lot of rock climbers. Yeah. A lot of punch in through punch in through ice. Yeah. Oh baby. Poracito. So his feet are tended to their wrapped. His knuckles also are wrapped. He's put it on IV for fluids.

He stays in the hospital for a good few months recovering just from his feet wounds alone and yeah, I bet. Yeah, and of course the doctors are like Extremely fascinated by what how this could have happened. They're like you were in the water these waters for six hours I think you were exposed to stopping wet in negative two degrees Celsius air for three hours. Okay, how is this happening? I'll flash forward just a little bit here because his feet heal, his hands heal, he's discharged from the hospital, but scientists are still very interested in how in the world he could have survived this So the following fall and Icelandic scientist out of the University of Reykjavik as doctor is named Johann Axelsson

He asks good-ligger if he would be interested in being flown to London and doing some testing with a British scientist who's running various studies on hypothermia. And Dr. Axel Sund, the Icelandic doctor, is, and still remains actually, a good friend of good luggers. Nice. Yeah. A good friend.

And even though he wasn't, good lugger wasn't really sure if he wanted to leave home. Good lugger does decide to go because he figures, you know, if they're doing, if this is helpful for the testing and for the understanding of hypothermia, then I'm happy to do it. Right.

So the scientist tried to recreate the conditions of his experience and monitor his body's reactions. No. These are all safe and fully tested. He can kind of tap out at any time. But as you can imagine, this wasn't the best. It was pretty triggering for good, Lugar.

I'm all for safe recreations. Don't get it twisted. I don't think that simulates the conditions then, because the conditions were that he was fighting for his life. Yeah, yeah. Which does different physiological things to a body than just being in a pool. Yeah, the adrenaline alone.

Yeah. According to this British scientist, William Keating, he says, good-ligger for Thorsten is the only person to survive such exceptional exposure to cold and to be investigated scientifically afterwards. So I think good-ligger kind of has this feeling of like, if this is such an exceptional situation, then I'm happy to like be in these situations if it helps.

Echo is sort of the approach that these men had when they were haggling out on the upturn to boat. Exactly. Whoever kind of survives this needs to do something for the good of the community with the information. Like you noted right away, it's like very civically minded. Yeah, yeah. Which is, if I can read. So I think it is important to note that Goodlugger is a big boy.

He is 6'3", and at that time he weighed 276 pounds. Hey, Alan Hardy. He has a pretty sturdy layer of fat on him. And of course, fat keeps you warm. The seals know. But it also, in an extreme case like this, it creates a reserve source of energy for all that physical exertion that he had to exert.

However, he was tested alongside other people with similar body makeups, and he outperformed those other testing subjects by leaps and bounds. So according to a medical journal article titled Scientific Evidence Based Effects of Hydro Therapy on Various Systems of the Body, and this is a quote, Goodluggers Metabolic Rate and Insulation were then similar to those of other fat subjects. systems of the body. And this is a quote, goodliggers metabolic rate and insulation were then similar to those of other fat subjects, the mean subcutaneous fat thickness of 7 to 8 millimeters, of earlier experiments exercising in water that's 9 to 12 degrees Celsius.

But after 30 minutes in water at 5 degrees Celsius, those subjects of similar body makeups, those subjects, unlike him, showed pronounced increases in peripheral heat loss and progressive body cooling, as cold vasodilation developed. Right, okay. Yeah. So the standard, you know, someone very similar in body makeup, the look of him and the thickness of fat. Someone very similar to him, just could not handle what he could. He was literally just like chilling in a cold pool while they were like being hauled out shivering.

Interesting. Look at the looker. What do we do with ya? So this testing determined that Good Looker had a very special type of fat cell that closely resembles the fat cells of a seal or other cold water main cells. I said, what did I fucking tell you the seals know? The seals know. Yes, these fat cells are thicker and they can just insulate much, much better. To look at him, you wouldn't see it.

But the thickness of his fat was much more so. It was about two to three times more than the normal human makeup. In terms of like height of layer or in terms of like density. Height of layer. Interesting. Yeah, yeah. So like a typical, I think in that quote, they say like seven to eight millimeters. His and its thickest, not everywhere, but like at his core, 14 millimeters.

I got it. I see, I see, I see, I see. We've gotten to the bottom of it, folks. He's essentially a human seal with this super unique capability to withstand cold temperatures. Sick. And the fact that it was displayed

as a survival mode off the coast of Iceland after a shipwreck and having to hike in the damn cold. It's just it's luck or Miracle or myth or is mythic, huh? He has very heroic qualities like this man if this happened like 2000 years earlier there would be scrolls about this man and he would like look like a seal man So that's funny that you say like 2000 years ago because there is a Mythic story out of Iceland from the 1300s about I'm hitting all your know. I'm sitting I'm teeing off all your fucking I know segments today, huh? You're welcome Gratier the strong. He swam seven kilometers to the island of Drega to warm himself in the hot pools there. Oh God love a hot spring.

The worth every kilometer I say. Because he had this incredible survival story. Because he had this incredible biological trait that made it possible. We talk about luck and myth. He's automatically famous. Yeah. The people love him. Put them on the talk shows. Exactly. At one point, he's like, it's him in Bjork, vying for a close famous person in Iceland. Yeah. That's hard to to de-throw in Bjork is hard. Siga Rose made a good go at it. Maybe it's important to note like this is within Iceland because she's an international figure and good lover is like a very much a homegrown hero.

Yes. So he is launched into fame pretty much. Of course he's a celebrity now, why not? Yeah, well because it just like hits on all these notes of Icelandic identity. Like the ancient and we love a survivor. We love a survivor. There's a huge swimming culture in Iceland.

Yeah, you were saying, yeah, no, no, it all hangs together. It's interesting, it really, really is. Like, I totally get how this guy would like, because I love him. And I think too, like, the swimming culture in Iceland is actually relatively new. It wasn't till the 1900s that every community in Iceland had a pool.

Swimming was like not as big of a deal. Now, it's like a town is not a town, unless there is a community pool there. Interesting. Some cultures have the pub and Irish village. We have a pub and that's where everybody congregates. That's where all the news gets shared, all everything happens.

Yeah, social hubs. In Iceland, it's the everybody congregates. That's where all the news gets shared, all everything happens. Yeah, social hubs. In Iceland, it's the pool. Interesting. Multi-generational. Everybody's going, and typically, they're outdoor pools, which is gnarly. Cool. Let's go to Iceland.

I've rea- I'm so ready, dude. So ready. Let's go to Bigger Sweet Iceland. Bigger Sweet Iceland. I am so, so ready. I want, we'll do it from the side of a pool We'll just like be in the hot tub and like dude. Yeah, the bubbles in the background these Icelanders They like they're so they love just swim so here's good looker

And he's like hitting on all fucking cylinders. I think that every group likes to see itself depicted in the form of a Superman Right, right? Like yeah, we we Icelanders are strong look form of a Superman, right? Right. Like, we Icelanders are strong look at Goodluger, right? Yeah, but I think another notch in the iconic myth of Goodluger is that he's also extremely humble. He really does not like the fame that he gets. Bjork kind of fucking have it. I don't want it. Yeah.

No, Bjork. I mean, when you think about it too, like he is known for this incredible survival story in which he lost four of his dear friends. Yes, not a happy memory for him. And a very traumatic time. And yet, he is a relatively stable person. He lives a relatively normal life in Heimei, the small town where he grew up. Still loves

her egg wrap. Yeah, he married, he had a few kids. Shortly after the shipwreck, he went back into the fishing trade, He was back on a boat. After a while, he did switch to working as an engineer at a fish processing plant in town. Dry land. Dry land. Yeah. But honestly, like, what a waste of talent. Yeah, true. This dry land shit. Yeah. What you're going to do with all that 14 millimeters of fat on dry land, man.

Right. Yeah. Yeah. True. He's in his mid-50s now. He still gets recognized by strangers and he gets fond over by all the people who meet in the streets of Reckiavek when he goes to visit his kids and grandkids there. In 2012, an independent film came out by an Aslantic filmmaker.

The movie comes out, it's all in Icelandic. Did you watch it? I did, it's a great movie, it's really good. Really, okay, okay. Yeah, the name translates to the deep. I did read an IMDv review that positively compared the ocean and shipwreck scenes to those of James Cameron's Titanic. They said they match up.

Well, Tiffany, it's damn. It is a, it's very like a somber colors movie and it's about his survival Well, we're not gonna make a a fucking bright technical or movie about trying not to drown in a pitch black ocean or It probably leans a little too heavy into the drama of the testing afterwards. I don't think That's not the drama. Yeah, yeah, there's other drama here. And when it comes out in 2012, GoodLugger is not super down with it. Not because it's a bad movie, or he looks bad, it's just like more eyes. It more eyes on him, and he's just not, it brings more

attention. GoodLugger, however, is a huge proponent and advocate for self-deploying lifeboats that are now standard in the isolated fishing fleet. Making good, making good. Yeah. We love to see that. Yeah. Good man. Considering this insane traumatic event, he seems very stable and very level-headed like

he was the whole time, but he does credit his father for how well he could make that transition and move on because when he was staying in the hospital, when Goodluger was staying in the hospital, his father sat by his bedside the entire time. So he comes by it naturally, he comes by it honestly being a good man. And with his father there, Goodligger is compelled to tell the story. And he recounts the sinking and his swimming and the frigid walk. And he recounts it again and again and again.

Actually, GoodLigger says himself and I quote, I think that is why I am okay now. My father was a very good listener. Good listener. Good listener, Yeah. Yeah. It's nice Yeah, and I think that humbleness also kind of feeds into his fame. I think people are like a fucking love you He's a likable guy. There's a very likable guy. The last he wants you to like him the more you want to like it Exactly and there's a lot of myth making around him like that tub the bathtub the sheep tub That held the water that he punched into did they bronze the sheep tub? What did they do? It is a monument. It has a sign that explains the story.

I love that. It's a famous tub. Yes. Well, you'll fucking love the fact that the clothing that he wore that night is on display in a museum. Frame it. In town. Let's go see it. We can go see it when we go there. Yeah. These are the shitty jeans I didn't take off because I knew rationally that it was good for me. And another kind of encapsulation and and Wade honor his amazing feet is there is an annual swim to honor not only goodluggers Survival, but to memorialize all of those who passed before and after him. For sure. So this swim is called the Goodluggsund. It's his name, but with swim on the end. So it's like the Goodluggers swim.

It started the year after the shipwreck and the swim and the hike. So 1985. Wow. That was quick. Very quick. Word got out very fast. Everybody knew about this was the biggest shit in the world. Started relatively small by 20 students at the islands navigation college. What they did was they swam the full six kilometers in a local pool fully clothed. No flotation devices, no hanging onto the edge of the pool. It was a very like serious thing.

Yeah, I hate that. I hate that. I hate that so much. Do people like coming cost you now? Do people come dressed up for it now? Well, in the year 2000, it opened up to the public, and it became much more of like multi-generational event, not as like, brosky intense.

The main event does happen in hey, May, the town, where Goodliger lives. And now it's not just navigation students, it's like teachers and nurses, other fishermen. Like our Terry Fox run in Canada. Exactly. For those who don't know in Canada, there was a young man who had cancer, Terry Fox.

You got a, is like, amputated. He tried to run across Canada. He only made it so far before he ended up passing away. And now like, we, I don't, I can only speak to BC schools because he was, Terry was a local boy. Yeah. We do the Terry Fox run every year. And it's quite similar to this.

It's you kind of go out and do it with your students, your teachers, your, your mom, your aunt, whatever. Yeah, and kind of just like that too. It's like a community event. And so there are sometimes relay teams who do it. So it's a total of 240 laps in a pool, which is very far. This is very far. So old folks do it. Young kiddos do it.

Really anybody who is up for the challenge, and it's not timed, it is not a contest, it's just getting the six kilometers in and in that process remembering those who were lost. The events now take place in Reckiavik and it even has spread kind of globally. People clock their laps from abroad and then they can get like the official good lore-sund certificate in the mail. Cool. For his part, good looker does not swim. He does not do the swim annually because you know what? He did his time. He's done it. He's fine. He doesn't need to do that. I did the first one. You do as I do. You repeat after me. Yes, yes, exactly. Yes. But also, you know, the fame of the event

is not really for him. Like if he were to come out, it would be like, and it would be all about him, but he wanted to be more so about memorializing those who did not survive. I like him. It's a good man. I'll end us here with a little vignette

that I pulled from this really fantastic book. This is where I found the story initially. The book is called Why We Swim. Welcome to Bittersweet Book Club. Why We Swim by Bonnie Choi. And it's a series of essays about swimming and all these different iterations, but the book starts and I think my favorite chapter is about Goodliger and his story and she's incredibly kind and does this really gentle kind of re-incapsulation of the story. She actually goes to Iceland and meets Goodliger and does the swim. At your aim. Does the good looks on.

Bonnie. Yeah. She like, she gets it. She really gets it. Yeah, fun. You were taking the swim in your head, weren't she? I'm, I'm pretty, it'd be pretty fun to do it. Like that, what a, what a fantastic trip to be like, okay.

March 12th, I'm gonna train and I'm gonna go to Iceland and I'm gonna do the good looks on. That's a very jozy thing today. Thank you. It's not a very tailored thing to do. You can, you can count my laps. I could not count. I'll cheer, I'll robeside you. Yeah. And thing today. Thank you. It's not a very tailored thing to do. You can count my laps. I could not count. I'll cheer.

I'll row beside you. Yeah. And I'll cheer for you. I'm going to do it in a swimming pool. I'm not going to do it in the ocean. The good looks on does meant to me. I will row beside you. OK.

So one of the really kind and gentle ways that Bonnie tells Good Looker's story is this tiny even yet. So like we were saying, Good Looker's story is this tiny even yet. So like we were saying, Good Looker does not want all this fame. In fact, it was kind of rare that Bonnie got to talk to him at all, you know, because she's a reporter and he didn't want anything to do with reporters. But she's a swimmer, she has this kind of kind note. She comes and does the Good Look Sun, like she's like devoted. He trusts that she's coming at it from a good place.

And so he trusts her with his story. Yeah. And he relays this story to her. And it happens just a few weeks before she comes to visit. And this book comes out in 2020, I think. Just a few years ago, this happened. Goodluggers in his hometown. And he meets an elderly local woman out in front of the hardware store.

He's kind of popped in to get something and he knew, because it's a small town, he knew that this elderly woman was going to have her 90th birthday that weekend. And so he stops to wish her happy birthday and then this flip-on-y toy writes, Page 53 if you're following at home. She looked up at him without recognition, meaning the older woman. Do we know each other? I said, meaning good-ligger says, don't you remember me? She was his swimming teacher, the one who taught him how to swim

and the old swimming pool 50 years ago. He doesn't often go out of his way to remind people who he is, but he wanted her to remember that she taught him to swim. I said, meaning good-ligger said, well, it turned out well for me. He pauses and smiles. And then she understood who I was. How quaint. Where is their shits Creek? Where is where is Hamas shits Creek? Oh, I Where is their shits Creek? Where is where is Hamas shits Creek? Oh, I I bet it's good I like all takes place at the swimming pool. I'm so down. Yeah, oh You would be sick, thank you

Thank you that so in the end did this story Accomplish what you had hoped in terms of like kind of cooling you down a bit I'd say so yeah, I mean it's still insanely hot outside and accomplish what you had hoped in terms of like kind of cooling you down a bit. I'd say so. Yeah. I mean it's still insanely hot outside and somewhat delirious but uh you know what? It could be worse. It could be worse. It could be worse. I don't know if I'm a cold weather person or hot weather person. Some people are like I can't do cold at all. Temperate. Temperate baby, that's the way to go. I'm just a hot house flower, yeah. You should come somewhere temperate soon. Mmm, like a temperate rainforest.

Can we rain for you, yes. So I'm making a proposition for Bitter Sweet Iceland. I'm down, fucking down to do Iceland, fucking down. But yeah, that's my story. I really liked it. I found that really compelling. I liked all the twists and turns. I hadn't heard any of it before. All brand new to me. Well, okay, cool. Oh yeah. Just Bjork Phoebe. Me and Bjork and Sigour Rose, that's all I know. Yeah, yeah. Can you give me a whale sound to finish us out? Yeah, can you give me a whale sound to finish this out?

Absolutely. He asked me if I can give you a whale sound. So I just want to get you to buckle in. Hahaha. Wheeeee. Wheeeee. Oh. I feel like that's what's cool in me down. I feel like I'm underwater.

There you go. You didn't know. You didn't know. He writes, he makes art, he is a whale. Ha ha ha ha. Humble too, to boot. Well done man, Kadoo. And humble to boot.

Ha ha ha ha. Ah. Thanks for listening. If you want more inamy, we've got plenty more episodes at bittersweetinthemy.com. Or wherever you listen to podcasts. If you want to support the podcast, shoot us a few bucks via our coffee account. At KO-FIN-FI.com-forward-slash-bittersweetinthemy. But no pressure. Bittersweetinthmeat.com The No Pressure. Bitter Sweetinthmeat is free.

Baby. You can always support us by liking, rating, subscribing, leaving a review following us on Instagram at Bitter Sweetinthmeat. Or just pass the podcast long to a friend who you think would day it. Stay Sweet. My sources for this week's Memphis were Jin-Kas, attempted assassination of King Jing of Qin, created by an anonymous artist, Circus III's entry in the Historian's Hat, written by C. Keith Hansley, April 29, 2020, and that account drew from the records

of the grand historian by Su-Mati-ian. I watched the first Emperor of China's Ridiculously Dramatic Life by G. Renn J. Zhao on YouTube, and I read the Wikipedia articles for Yossia and Jinke. The sources that I used for this week's episode, first and foremost, I want to shout out the book Why We Swim by Bonnie Choi. It was published in 2020 by Gongkwin Books of Chapel Hill. I read this when it first came out and that's where I initially found the story.

And she does a really wonderful job of interviewing Goodlugger and just a very like I mentioned careful and conscientious rendering of his story. I watched the 2012 Icelandic film The Deep, directed by Balthazar Kormakur, which was a fictional retelling of the story. I read an article in NMJ Medical Science Journal, entitled Scientific Evidence Based Effects on Hydrotherapy on various systems of the body written by A. Vintan and L. Nivethita. I looked at a short article in the 1986 new scientist journal, why the fat Icelander survived his arctic swim. I read an article published on BBC.com entitled The Man Who Refused to Freeze to Death, written by William Park, published February 27, 2020.

I looked at an article on guide to Iceland.is, a modern day Viking, the heroic deed of the fisherman Goodluger Fridorsen in the Westman Islands, written by Regina Horne-Ragnar Stortur, probably mispronouncing about Regina Apologies. And lastly, I watched a video posted to YouTube April 21st, 2022 by all things Iceland, ultimate guide to Icelandic swim slash bathing quick. This podcast is on the 604 podcast network and we are always indebted to our monthly subscriber, Jonathan Mountain.

Thank you for all you do. The interstitial music that you heard earlier is by Mitchell Collins. And the song you are listening to now is Tees Street by Brian Steele.