Before refrigeration, keeping things cold meant waiting for winter, cutting up a frozen lake, packing it in sawdust, and hoping a lot of it survived the boat ride.
Veritasium has a great video on Frederic Tudor, the Boston merchant who helped create the commercial ice trade in the early 1800s. Tudor's big idea was simple and deranged: take ice from frozen New England ponds and ship it to places where ice did not naturally exist. At first, people thought he was nuts. Then they got used to cold drinks.
Tudor and his competitors turned winter into cargo. Workers cut huge blocks from lakes and ponds, stored them in insulated ice houses, packed them with sawdust, and loaded them onto ships bound for the Caribbean, the American South, Europe, and India. Enough ice melted along the way to make the whole business look foolish, but enough survived to make it profitable.
The business was great, but eventually artificial ice beat out lake ice. Once we figured bacteria out, folks really didn't want to play roulette with their drinks.
The refrigerator killed the ice king, but not before he taught the world to want cold.
Previously:
• Ice-cream-obsessed senior dog proves that the sweet treat is the key to longevity!
• Coloured ice fortress
• Timelapse 4K video: Thai street vendor makes ice cream rolls
