What happens
The Pacific Story presents a documentary account of the Marquesas Islands, tracing their history from early European contact to the present day. Captain Porter of the United States Navy arrives during the War of 1812, makes alliances with local tribes, and claims the islands for America, while a beachcomber named Wilson advises him. The program then follows the later arrival of traders, missionaries, and disease, and the French takeover of the islands. The episode, first broadcast on NBC on January 26, 1947, is narrated by Dave Ormont and written by Arnold Marquis.
The Marquesas Islands in the South Pacific, from the arrival of Europeans through the 1940s.
Characters: Captain Porter, Wilson, Captain Hart, Admiral Dajan Lu, Ivan Krusenstern, Robert Louis Stevenson
Listen for: The description of Captain Porter's dealings with the local tribes and the story of his attempt to claim the islands for the United States.
Written from the episode itself; it never gives away the ending. Every recording is remastered for the stream: cleaned of rumble, hiss and mains hum (and the old TV whine where we found it), then levelled in two passes to steady broadcast loudness, so one show is never quieter than the next.