The Ice King | Slippery Business
12/24/202534 min
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 the ice trade into the American South.
Tudor rushed to South Carolina, only to clash with state officials who refused to grant him a monopoly on trade – a tactic he’d come to rely on. Their refusal forced him to rethink everything, and revise his strategy. But just as he bega...
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First 90 secondsLindsay Graham· Host0:00
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Steve Nash0:24
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Lindsay Graham· Host0:37
Imagine it's December 1816, in the state house in Columbia, South Carolina. You're sitting at a long table with five other members of the state trade committee, working your way through a stack of papers and permits that have been sent for your review. You stifle a yawn as you pick up yet another document from the pile. But just then, an attendant enters the room and informs you that there's a gentleman from New England asking for an audience with the committee. You nod to the attendant, who steps out and returns with a weary-looking man with dark circles under his eyes. He wipes his nose with a handkerchief as he takes a seat across from you. You reach across the table and shake his hand. "Well, welcome. Uh, I was informed that you've only recently arrived in our fine city. I, I hope the journey went well." "Mm-hmm. I, I can't say it did. A, a week by sea from Boston to Charleston, followed by three miserable days on, on rutted roads to Columbia,