The Ice King Who Sold Winter to the Tropics
The story of Frederic Tudor, the Boston merchant who built a global empire by shipping New England pond ice to the hottest corners of the earth.
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Frederic Tudor survived multiple stints in debtor prison before successfully shipping Massachusetts pond ice to the tropics.
Horse-drawn ice plows with serrated blades standardized blocks to minimize melting during four-month voyages.
Double-walled ice houses using sawdust insulation created a temperature-controlled monopoly in tropical ports.
Tudor manufactured demand in India by giving free ice to bartenders to hook customers on chilled drinks.
The eighteen thirty-three Tuscany voyage successfully crossed the equator twice with one hundred eighty tons of ice.
Artificial ice production finally overtook natural harvesting in nineteen fourteen, ending the era of the ice trade.
- 01Intro1 min
- 02The Madman of Boston3 min
- 03Engineering the Harvest3 min
- 04The Calcutta Breakthrough2 min
- 05The Great Melt2 min
- 06Outro1 min
- Frederic Tudor
- Frederic Tudor: The King of Ice
- Frederic Tudor in 1806 Brings Cocktails and Ice Cream to the Rest of the World - New England Historical Society
- Comercial Ice - Cambridge Historical Society
- BULLETIN of The BUSINESS
- History of the 'clinking' glasses — How Tudor Ice Co. brought ice to India
- Creating Cold
- The Ice Trade Between America and India.
- Ice trade
- Ice, Continued: Technology That Changed Chicago
- The Ice Industry in Houston
- History of Ice - International Packaged Ice Association
- History of Ice: How Artificial Ice Changed the Industry
- [PDF] The Rise and Decline Of the Anglo-Norwegian Ice Trade, 1850-1920
- The Advent of Mechanical Refrigeration Alters Daily Life and ...
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