Why Sailors Carried Storm Oil — Transcript

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1. 0:00He poured cooking oil into the sea, with
2. 0:02a pirate ship so close behind them he
3. 0:04could hear the pirates laughing. His
4. 0:05captain grabs him by the collar and
5. 0:07goes, "We're about to get boarded, and
6. 0:08you're making soup?" But he doesn't even
7. 0:10look up. He just points at the black
8. 0:12clouds. "Steer into the storm." The
9. 0:14captain yells that they'll never survive
10. 0:16it, and all he gets back is, "Trust the
11. 0:18oil." But then a grappling hook clangs
12. 0:20off the railing. So the captain turns
13. 0:21the wheel and the pirates couldn't be
14. 0:23happier. Why waste a cannonball when the
15. 0:25storm will do it for free? Deeper in,
16. 0:27the waves get taller than the mast, and
17. 0:29the crew is tying themselves to anything
18. 0:31bolted down, but he's still pouring, a
19. 0:33little at a time, always on the side the
20. 0:35wind is coming from. Then the pirates
21. 0:37swing in to board, and up ahead a wave
22. 0:39big enough to swallow both ships rises
23. 0:42out of the dark. You see, sailors really
24. 0:44carried oil just for this. They called
25. 0:46it storm oil. Ever blown on a bowl of
26. 0:48soup? The broth ripples, but the oily
27. 0:50spots stay perfectly smooth, because
28. 0:52your breath can't grab [music] them, and
29. 0:53a wave can't crash if the wind can't
30. 0:55grab it. So when the wave reaches their
31. 0:57oily patch of sea, it just lifts the
32. 0:59ship and sets it down. And 50 yards
33. 1:01behind, it curls over and drops straight
34. 1:03onto the pirates'