Legendary Legends: The Greatest Adventurer and the Voyage of the Nautilus

At 11:15 PM on August 3, 1958, United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower received a historic radio message: “Nautilus 90 North.” U.S.S. Nautilus, the world’s first nuclear-powered submarine, had just reached the North Pole while sailing beneath the Arctic ice cap. Known as Project Sunshine, this submerged voyage to the top of the world was designed to show off the superiority of nuclear power for naval propulsion and salvage American pride following the Soviets’ launch of Sputnik 1, the world’s first artificial satellite, the year before. It was also the triumphant culmination of a decades-long dream. For while Nautilus’s atomic power plant ultimately allowed her to succeed in her mission, she was not the first submarine - or even the first vessel named Nautilus - to attempt an Arctic voyage. Nearly three decades earlier a maverick Australian explorer, sailing in a far cruder war-surplus submarine, also set out to conquer the Pole from beneath. But while this now-forgotten expedition was beset with misfortunes and ultimately met with failure, its mission was bold and visionary and set the stage for a century of Polar exploration. And the man behind it all? Few humans in history can match his exploits in adventure. This is the incredible story of a man whose life was like something out of a movie, Sir Hubert Wilkins, and the doomed voyage of the Nautilus. Though largely forgotten today, Sir George Hubert Wilkins was an extraordinary figure straight out of an adventure novel, packing several normal lifetimes of experiences and accomplishments into an eventful 70 years. Born on October 31, 1888 in Mount Bryan East, South Australia, the thirteenth child of sheep farmer Henry Wilkins and his wife Louise, young George lived and worked on his family’s sheep station until the age of 15, when he left home to study mechanical and electrical engineering at the Adelaide School of Mines. In his spare time, he immersed himself in the relatively young arts of photography and cinematography. In 1908 at the age of 20, Wilkins left Australia as a stowaway aboard a ship bound for Africa, kickstarting his life of adventure. Author: Gilles Messier Host: Daven Hiskey Editor: Daven Hiskey Producer: Samuel Avila Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices