In the 1860s, Bostonians could pay 20 cents and watch a captive whale swim in a custom built aquarium on Washington Street in Boston’s Downtown Crossing. Today, there’s no sea world near Boston, and our New England Aquarium doesn’t hold any whales or dolphins. Perhaps that’s for the best, as we now realize how intelligent these giants of the sea are. However, things were different 160 years ago, when an entrepreneurial inventor did the impossible, bringing a beluga whale alive from the arctic ocean to Boston and keeping it alive here for at least 18 months, before being betrayed by the greatest showman, PT Barnum himself.

Full show notes: http://HUBhistory.com/185

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