Queens of the High Seas

For centuries, the Northwest Passage, the long-sought sea route connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans through northern Canada, was a holy grail of Arctic exploration. Even now, sailing through it isn’t guaranteed. Mark Synnott, a National Geographic Explorer, writer, and adv ...  Show more

There’s a lost continent waiting to be explored, and it’s right below our feet. We’ll dig into the deep human relationship to the underground—and why we understand it from an instinctive point of view, but not so much from a physical one. (Hint: We’re afraid of the dark.) In an e ...  Show more

From sailing the high seas and buried treasure to swilling rum, pirates represent a lot about the human spirit. Through the centuries, we’ve fallen in love with adventure, danger, and exploration. In season 2 of Grim & Mild Presents, we take a swashbuckling, narrative journey int ...  Show more

Throughout the late 17th and early 18th Century, the waters of the Caribbean were crawling with pirates. Stories about swash-buckling buccaneers, and insatiable treasure-seekers haunted the tropical islands, as navies tried in vain to put a stop to their reign of terror. But who ...  Show more

It’s November 28th, 1809. The Imperial fleet in Tung Chung Bay is aflame. But the crew of Zheng I Sao’s ship watch on and cheer. This is the greatest victory of the Pirate Queen, scourge of the South China Sea. At its peak, her fleet was more than twice the size of the Spanish Ar ...  Show more

They are familiar figures in folklore and popular culture, swashbuckling across the silver screen, snarling on stage as pantomime villains or committing daring deeds in childhood literary classics. But who were the real life pirates of the Caribbean and how much of what we think ...  Show more