# History's Toughest Heroes: Robert Smalls: Last Chance for Freedom

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/history-s-heroes-6396729/history-s-toughest-heroes-robert-smalls-last-chance-for-freedom
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/history-s-heroes-6396729/history-s-toughest-heroes-robert-smalls-last-chance-for-freedom.md
Podcast: [History's Heroes](https://stenobird.com/podcast/history-s-heroes-6396729)
Published: 2025-10-28T05:00:00+00:00
Episode link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002l352
Audio file: http://open.live.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/6/redir/version/2.0/mediaset/audio-nondrm-download-rss/proto/http/vpid/p0m95s34.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/history-s-heroes-6396729/episodes/history-s-toughest-heroes-robert-smalls-last-chance-for-freedom
Duration seconds: 1751

## Resource

For an enslaved man like Robert Smalls during the American Civil War, there was only way out of Charleston: through the harbour and past hostile Confederate forts. He just needed a ship... In History's Toughest Heroes, Ray Winstone tells ten true stories of adventurers, rebels and survivors who lived life on the edge. Robert Smalls was born a slave in the American South. His one chance at escape and freedom hung on a key act of bravery on a single night. He’d have to sail right under the noses and massive cannons of the Confederate ships and forts . If he hoped to survive with his fellow fleeing slaves, he’d have to be bold, be a great actor, don a cunning disguise and have nerves of steel to pull it off. A BBC Studios production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds. Producer: Michael LaPointe Development Producer: Georgina Leslie Executive Producer: Paul Smith Written by Imogen Robertson Commissioning editor for Radio 4: Rhian Roberts

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## Transcript

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