Mondo Knows Facts

New England ice was shipped as far as Calcutta

Insulated holds and sawdust let harvested pond ice survive months at sea Frederic Tudor began cutting ice from Massachusetts ponds and selling it in the Caribbean in 1806, a trade that most people thought impossible. Sawdust insulation and purpose-built ice houses kept the cargo from melting, and by the 1830s ice was going as far as Calcutta. Mechanical refrigeration eventually ended the business. It sits in Mondo's history collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.

Where this comes from

Smithsonian Institution

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Tags: ice-trade, refrigeration, shipping

New England ice was shipped as far as Calcutta: the short answers

Where does this come from, and can I check it?
Insulated holds and sawdust let harvested pond ice survive months at sea. The figure is taken from Smithsonian Institution, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
Is this really a history fact?
Yes. It sits on the History shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
What else can I read about it?
The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.