Episode 2: Shame

Episode 7 of That Sinking Feeling tells the story of a nuclear submarine that sank just north of San Francisco, and the ramifications of a son purposefully peeing on the floor of a grade school bathroom.

The Kungsholm was a passenger ship that went aground in the Caribbean. My Dad salvaged her while more than 450 guests stayed aboard. In this episode we talk about the way every inconvenience is just a misunderstood adventure.

The Betty L was a 420-foot barge built especially for a sewer project for the City of San Francisco’s Clean Water Project. Only a week after going into service she was grounded on the beach. My father’s proposed solution involved quick action. Which could have been wrong, but in the end saved the barge. This episode is about ADHD medication.

The Igara was an Italian ore ship that partially sank in the South China Sea. Her bow sunk below the waves while her stern section remained entirely visible. My Dad used explosives to cut her in half, sacrificing the bow to save the valuable stern.

The H-3 was a submarine that ran aground in heavy fog along the Northern Coast of California in 1916. It’s not a ship my Dad salvaged, but it’s one of his favorite stories for the incredibly unique salvage plan used by a local lumber company. This episode is about taking a step back and looking out for unusual solutions. For parents of a kid with ADHD, suggestions from the more neurotypical world tend not to work. The narrative in this episode is about being willing to stand up in the face of advice from someone who just doesn’t get it.  

The Eldia, a Maltese freighter that went aground on Cape Cod, generating massive interest from the community which flocked to the beach to see the ship. This episode explores the topic of shame: both the shame spiral that many people with ADHD experience, as well as the instinct of so many bystanders to shame people with ADHD for their neurodivergent behaviors.

The Sea Witch, departing from Staten Island, crashed into an oil tanker and exploded. Later she was towed to the Brooklyn Navy Yard. And then fell over in drydock. Host Elizabeth Rynecki's dad custom designed a multicell buoyancy assist module (kind of like a giant pool floaty) to refloat her. Elizabeth wishes she too could design a metaphorical module to help Owen navigate life with ADHD.  This episode introduces listeners to her son, Owen, and her father, the ship salvage engineer.

This six-episode series is about the unlikely intersection of ADHD and marine salvage.    https://www.elizabethrynecki.com/that-sinking-feeling/