Chicago’s Finest
Born in New York City on 19th December 1887, the eldest son of a wealthy industrialist, Hicks Milligan-Prophecy was the quintessential eccentric millionaire. Having inherited the family fortune aged just twenty-one, and no longer shackled by the restraints of a modest weekly allowance, he swiftly rose to prominence among his high-society peers, becoming a bastion of the city’s social scene.

Eccentric Millionaire
During his life, he had been arrested on numerous occasions for drunk and disorderly behaviour; most notably after losing $5,000 in a game of cards. Having drowned his sorrows in a bottle of Cognac, he was later caught by police running naked through the streets, banging on people’s windows with a wooden dildo and shouting “let me in, let me in, I’m being chased by six feet tall dwarfs”.

A Night to Remember
He had been at a dinner party – inebriated as usual – when tragic news of the Titanic reached the mainland, and it was as he reached for the decanter, he muttered those now immortal words: “Nothing can compete with the awesome power of mother nature…if an iceberg could sink a ship made of steel, the only thing immune to the effects of an iceberg would be an iceberg itself.” It was at this precise moment that he suddenly realised his calling – despite being branded a ‘mentalist’ by everyone within the establishment, he dedicated his life to constructing a transatlantic iceberg, squandering everything he owned on his obsession.

Transatlantic Iceberg
On 15th December 1927, just shy of his 40th birthday, the iceberg complete with steam-powered engine and a revolutionary cooling system to ensure it would not melt in warmer waters, departed from New York City on its maiden voyage to Southampton, England. However, all did not go to plan, and it sank just two miles off the coast of its launch. Hicks Milligan-Prophecy was assumed to have drowned, although his body was never found.

Immortality
Despite achieving near celebrity status for his transatlantic iceberg, Hicks Milligan-Prophecy will, of course, be remembered most famously as the person who discovered that crocodiles cannot walk backwards.

With special thanks to the Milligan-Prophecy family for allowing us to use the Hicks Milligan-Prophecy name – particularly Parker Milligan-Prophecy for the invaluable insight into the life and times of her grandfather, and access to his diaries.