The Wreck of the Royal Tar
In Episode 145, Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger stroll the beaches of Maine’s Vinalhaven Island in Penobscot Bay reminiscing about the circus, and exploring the history and wreck of the Royal Tar—one of New England’s worst maritime disasters. In October of 1836, 32 people perished along with a menagerie of animals from the Burgess and Dexter’s Zoological Institute in an event that still haunts the coast of Maine.