

How a Massachusetts man invented the global ice market - bwanab
http://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2014/12/19/how-massachusetts-man-invented-global-ice-market/aoJjlHGR4Kj53Z62ZQrhrJ/story.html

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kamikazi
India's underrated, unheralded and inimitable columnist, Vikram Doctor wrote a
fantastic column last year about the Indian connection in ice trade |
[http://blogs.economictimes.indiatimes.com/onmyplate/cold-
com...](http://blogs.economictimes.indiatimes.com/onmyplate/cold-comfort)

The first few trade ships brought in ice simply as a ballast with the
reasoning that if any remained at the end of journey - they'll just sell it.

Here's a quote that HNers might appreciate:

"And this is just what happened in India, with the added benefit that Tudor
reaped tons of admiration from the British for his judicious pricing. Many of
the Times reports are full of estimations about the near-loss he was making
and how this had to be solved in order for this precious trade to continue.
There can be few comparable examples where customers have been as eager for
their supplier to make a profit as with the British and Boston’s Ice King, as
Tudor was called."

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fernly
The creation of the ice trade is covered in entertaining detail in chapter 4
of Bill Bryson's At Home [1], including a story of how the first speculative
shipload to London was held so long by Customs trying to figure out how to tax
it, that most of it melted.

[1] [http://www.amazon.com/At-Home-Short-History-
Private/dp/07679...](http://www.amazon.com/At-Home-Short-History-
Private/dp/0767919394/)

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rmason
The ice business was very big in Michigan. In fact the only museum in the
world about the ice trade is located here in Port Huron:

[http://www.knowltonsicemuseum.org/main.html?src=%2F](http://www.knowltonsicemuseum.org/main.html?src=%2F)

Port Huron is North of Detroit on the Canadian border across from Sarnia. I've
been there and its definitely a worthwhile place to see if you're in the area.

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DanBlake
These guys are still going - [http://tudorice.com/](http://tudorice.com/)

Friends with one of the main dudes there. Its cool to see how the business can
still exist, even today. (albeit with a slightly different business model :)

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kbart
_" To this day, Europeans rarely put ice in their drinks, but Americans do."_

What? Where did this come from? I live in Europe and can hardly imagine a
cocktail without an ice. Well yes, nobody is going to put a good scotch "on
rocks" (at least nobody who knows the basics of whiskey), but that's a
different story.

~~~
mercer
I've lived in many places around Europe, and I've lived among Americans from
all over the US, and I definitely noticed a difference. Perhaps you're right
about cocktails, but in most cases American used ice where the Europeans
didn't (a glass of coke being a prime example). They would even did this in
winter, which always seemed funny to 'us' Europeans.

