Maritime History

[GordMay]

November 28

1979 ~ Air New Zealand DC-10 crashes into Mt Erebus on Antarctica (257 die)
As the sightseeing plane headed over the Ross Ice Shelf, the pilot descended below the clouds to give the passengers a better view. The pilot was supposed to stay above 6,000 feet at all times, but went down to 1,500 feet due to the overcast skies. Because of the wrong data on the flight profile, the pilot didn’t know that his descent came right as the plane reached Mount Erebus, a 12,444-foot volcano. The plane crashed into the side of the mountain at 300 miles per hour. There were no survivors.

1967 ~ The 1st pulsating radio source (pulsar) detected
More: http://www.nature.com/physics/lookin...ish/index.html

1954 ~ Enrico Fermi dies
More: http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/p...fermi-bio.html

1943 ~ Tehran conference
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt joins British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin at a conference in Iran to discuss strategies for winning World War II, and potential terms for a peace settlement.

1929 ~ Admiral Richard E Byrd makes 1st South Pole flight
More: http://www.south-pole.com/p0000107.htm

1810 ~ William Froude born
More: http://www.btinternet.com/~philipr/froude.htm

1795 ~ US pays $800,000 and a frigate as tribute to Algiers and Tunis
More: http://africanhistory.about.com/libr.../aa092001a.htm

1520 ~ Ferdinand Magellan begins first “Trans-Pac”
On Sept. 20, 1519, Magellan sailed from Sanlúcar de Barrameda with five ships, and in November of that year reached South America. In February 1520 he explored the Río de la Plata estuary, and on March 31, 1520, his fleet put into Port San Julián, where it remained for nearly six months. During that period one ship was wrecked and a mutiny occurred. After the mutiny had been quelled, Magellan sailed into the passage to the Pacific Ocean that is now named for him, the Strait of Magellan, losing another ship, by desertion, en route.
After 38 days and a journey of 530 km (330 mi), on Nov. 28, 1520, his three ships sailed into the ocean, which Magellan named “Pacific” because of its calmness.
He reached the Marianas, or Ladrone, Islands on March 6, 1521, and ten days later sighted the Philippines, landing on the island of Cebu on April 7. There he made an alliance with the ruler of the island and agreed to aid him in an attack on the natives of the neighboring island of Mactan.
Magellan was killed on April 27 during the Mactan expedition.
More: http://www.mariner.org/educationalad...x/magellan.php

[GordMay]

November 29

2001 ~ Beatle George Harrison dies @ 58
More: http://www.beatlesagain.com/bgeorge.html

1963~ LBJ's Warren Commission investigates JFK assassination
Lyndon Johnson issued Executive Order No. 11130, appointing the President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy - commonly referred to as the Warren Commission, after its leader, Chief Justice Earl Warren. Since the president’s assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, was himself killed by Jack Ruby almost immediately after Oswald killed Kennedy, details of Oswald’s motive for the assassination remained murky.
During its almost year-long investigation, the Warren Commission reviewed reports by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Secret Service, Department of State and the attorney general of Texas. It also poured over Oswald’s personal history, political affiliation and military record. Overall, the Warren Commission listened to the testimony of 552 witnesses and even traveled to Dallas several times to visit the site where Kennedy was shot. The commission concluded that Oswald had acted alone and that the Secret Service had made poor preparations for JFK’s visit to Dallas and had subsequently failed to sufficiently protect him.
More: www.archives.gov/research/jfk/warren-commission-report/

1949 ~ Chiang flees to Taiwan/Formosa
When Chiang Kai-Shek and his Kuomintang Nationalists were ousted from mainland China by Mao Tse-Tung’s (Zedong) Communists, they shifted the seat of their government to Taiwan. The U.S. long supported and aided the Nationalists, but in 1971 it lost China's seat in the UN to the People's Republic of China, and in 1979 the U.S. broke diplomatic relations with the Nationalists to establish relations with the People's Republic of China.

1887 ~ First US rights at Pearl Harbor (Oahu, Hawaii)
The United States first gained rights at Pearl in 1887, when the Hawaiian monarchy permitted a coaling and repair station. After the United States annexed Hawaii in 1900, Pearl Harbor was made a naval base.

1864 ~ Sand Creek massacre
Peaceful Southern Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indians are massacred by a band of Colonel John Chivington's Colorado volunteers at Sand Creek, Colorado.
About 9 or 10 soldiers were killed ,and three dozen wounded. Between 150 and 184 Cheyennes were reported dead, and some were reportedly mutilated, and most were women, children, and elderly men. Chivington and his men later displayed scalp and other body parts, including human fetuses and genitalia in the Apollo Theater in Denver.
More: http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/reso...ur/sandcrk.htm

1803 ~ Austrian physicist Christian Doppler born
Johann Christian Andreas Doppler was an Austrian mathematician and physicist, most famous for the hypothesis of what is now known as the Doppler effect, which is the apparent change in frequency and wavelength of a wave that is perceived by an observer moving relative to the source of the waves.

[GordMay]

November 30

1994 ~ “Achille Lauro” destroyed by fire at Somalia (4 die)
The construction of the “Willem Ruys” by the Royal Rotterdam Lloyd Line took more than 10 years. The completed ship, which weighed in at 24,000 gross tons and was launched in 1947, was used to carry passengers and cargo back and forth from the Netherlands to the East Indies. In the 1960s, it was primarily used to carry immigrants to Australia. In 1965, the StarLauro company bought the ship to add it to its cruise line.
In 1971, the ship, re-named “Achille Lauro”, rammed an Italian fishing boat in the Mediterranean Sea, killing one person. Ten years later, a fire on board the ship killed two people. The most infamous incident in the history of the Achille Lauro, though, occurred in 1985, when it was hijacked by Palestinian terrorists who shot and killed an American passenger, Leon Klinghoffer.
In 1994, the Achille Lauro was carrying 1,000 passengers near the Horn of Africa when a fire broke out on board. The lifeboats were launched as the fire caused the huge ship to list to the port side. A tug boat was sent to bring it back to shore, but as the tug was trying to connect to the ship, there was a huge explosion. Two people died and the Achille Lauro sank to the bottom of the ocean.
The survivors in the lifeboats were picked up by the USS Gettysburg. The Achille Lauro’s two sister ships, the Lakonia and the Angelina Lauro, also fell victim to on-board fires.

1983 ~ Radio Shack announces Tandy Model 2000 computer (80186 chip)

1966 ~ Barbados gains independence from Britain (National Day)

1944 ~ Last British Battleship HMS “Vanguard” launched
HMS Vanguard was launched on 30th November 1944 by Her Royal Highness Princess Elizabeth, and was the last battleship to serve in the Royal Navy. She was armed with eight 15-inch, sixteen 5.25 inch, and as a result of developments in technology throughout her building, numerous anti-aircraft guns with modern fire control and radar systems.

1874 ~ Winston Churchill born

1782 ~ Britain signs agreement recognizing U.S. independence
"Preliminary articles of peace" signed in November 1782 stated that the British recognized American independence, but they were not to be effective until they were included in a final peace treaty (Treaty of Paris).

1776 ~ Capt Cook begins 3rd and last trip to Pacific

[Amgine]

Didn't Cook depart on 12 July 1776?

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/exp...e/c/cook.shtml
http://www.nla.gov.au/collect/treasu..._treasure.html
http://www.zoomschool.com/explorers/page/c/cook.shtml

[Amgine]

Oh, and isn't today the close of the "official" Atlantic hurricane season?

[GordMay]

December 1

2006 ~ Amgine appointed Gord’s official fact checker
Glad to see someone is reading this

1990 ~ British and French workers meet in English Channel tunnel (Chunnel)
French worker, Philippe Cozette, and his British counterpart, Graham Fagg, waved flags and shook hands as the first men able to walk between the two countries.

1965 ~ Airlift of refugees from Cuba to U.S. begins
The Cuban airlift begins, which, in its first year, brings more than 45,000 refugees to the U.S.A.

1955 ~ Rosa Parks arrested for refusing to move to the back of bus (fined $10)
Parks was actually sitting in the first row that had been assigned to black people in the rear of the vehicle, but because the front of the bus was full, the driver demanded that she give her seat to a white rider. Her refusal to give up her seat, and the controversy that ensued, resulted in a local boycott, for which Parks and 88 others were arrested in February 1956. In spite of this obstacle, the protest lasted more than a year, until the Supreme Court ruled that the Montgomery ordinance was unconstitutional.
More: http://teacher.scholastic.com/rosa/

1842 ~ U.S. naval officer Philip Spencer condemned for mutiny, hanged
Philip Spencer is hanged, along with Samuel Cromwell and Elisha Small, without court-martial, for attempted mutiny while serving as a midshipman on board the USS “Somers”. He was the son of John C. Spencer, Secretary of War in U.S. President John Tyler's administration.
More: www.history.navy.mil/wars/somers-1.htm
And www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A1162388

[Amgine]

I'm more than just reading it/fact checking... I'm plagiarizing it! (I have a website or three, and adding some of these historic events to my "selected events".)

And that's the sincerest form of flattery, honest!

[GordMay]

December 2

1956 ~ Fidel Castro (+ 81 others) returns to Cuba (12 survive landing)
More: http://www.cuba-solidarity.org/cubas...p?ArticleID=70

1942 ~ Enrico Fermi demonstrates1st controlled nuclear chain reaction

1805 ~ Napoleon defeats Russians and Austrians at Austerlitz
More: http://www.napoleonguide.com/battle_austerlitz.htm

[Amgine]

1755 - The second Eddystone Lighthouse is destroyed by fire.
1971 - Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Fujairah, Sharjah, Dubai, and Umm Al Quwain form the United Arab Emirates.

Births:
1703 - Ferdinand Konscak, Croatian explorer (d. 1759)

Deaths:
1547 - Hernán Cortés, Spanish explorer and conqueror (b. 1485)
1594 - Gerardus Mercator - Cartographer (b. 1512)

Holidays:
United Nations - International Day for the day Abolition of Slavery.

[GordMay]

December 3

1972 ~ Dean of US Yacht Designers, L. Francis Herreshoff dies
Herreshoff died at the age of 82 on Sunday, December 3, 1972 after undergoing surgery for a broken hip.
L. Francis Herreshoff was born in 1890, the son of an already established yacht designer; Captain Nathaniel Herreshoff. Francis had a natural artistic genius, a skill he considered far more important than knowledge of mechanical precision. His main criteria in yacht design were, grace of line, stability and sea kindliness, sound construction principles and economy achieved by straightforward simplicity and good materials. There is no doubt that his many designs, (he produced more than 100 in the period 1920 - 1960), exhibit these qualities admirably.
Herreshoff had very firm ideas on boat building, and he was not afraid to express them. He had an aversion to motors, ("which cause noise, smell, drag, added cost, extra weight, dirty bilges..."), flashy gadgetry, ("which lines the pockets of manufacturers and advertisers, while doing little for sailing performance...."), ice boxes, and any unnecessary holes below the waterline. He was an outspoken exponent of timber construction, and the use of a cedar bucket for the toilet.
"It looks like frozen snot." ~ L. Francis, looking at a Herreshoff Bullseye built of fiberglass.
Author of:
“Nathanial Herreshoff, The Wizard of Bristol”
“Sensible Cruising Designs”
“Common Sense of Yacht Design”


1948 ~ Chinese refugee ship "Kiangya" explodes in E China Sea (1,100 die +)
"Kiangya" was a Chinese steamship that weighed about 2,100 tons. It acted as a refugee ship during the Chinese Civil War (1946-1949). It struck a mine and exploded on Huangpo Jiang, Shanghai on December 3, 1948. The exact number of deaths was not known, but estimated around 1,100 - 3,920 people.
Source: AllExperts

1775 ~ Jones raises Continental Flag at Philadelphia
U.S. Navy Lt. John Paul Jones first raised this flag on a Continental warship when he hoisted it above the “Alfred”.
More: http://www.midcoast.com/~martucci/flags/us-hist2.html

[Amgine]

I didn't have any of these!

SS Kiangya - http://jcgi.pathfinder.com/time/maga...799461,00.html - Dec. 13th 1948 TIME magazine story about the disaster.

I did have a couple of others, however:

1894 Robert Louis Stevenson - adventurer, sailor, writer dies in Samoa
1999 - After rowing for 81 days and 2,962 miles, Tori Murden becomes the first woman to cross the Atlantic Ocean by rowboat alone when she reaches Guadeloupe from the Canary Islands.

[GordMay]

December 4

1981 ~ Reagan Executive Order on Intelligence (No 12333)
The order: http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/eo12333.htm

1915 ~ Frank Friday Fletcher is 1st Admiral to receive Congressional Medal of Honor
More: http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/ff-fletc.htm

[Amgine]

1872 - The crewless U.S. ship Mary Celeste is found by the British brig Dei Gratia (the ship was abandoned for 9 days but was only slightly damaged).
1969 - Surfer Greg Noll rides a 65-foot wave on the North Shore of Oahu, still the highest ever recorded.

[GordMay]

December 5


1945 ~ "Lost Squadron" (Flight 19) crashes east of Florida (Bermuda Triangle)
Flight 19 is the most famous aviation mystery in history. It is the disappearance in peacetime of an entire squadron of 5 US Navy torpedo bombers and their crews while flying a routine training mission off Florida on December 5, 1945. Flight 19’s disappearance was key in the development of the mythos of the Bermuda Triangle.
At 1410 on 5 December 1945, five TBM Avengers comprising Flight 19 rose into the sunny sky above NAS Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Turning east the formation headed out over the Atlantic on the first leg of a routine exercise from which neither the 14 men of Flight 19 nor the 13-man crew of a PBM Mariner sent out to search for them were ever to return.
The disappearance of the five Avengers and the PBM sparked one of the largest air and seas searches in history as hundreds of ships and aircraft combed over 200,00 square miles of the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico, while, on land, search parties scoured the interior of Florida on the outside chance that the aircraft might have gone down there undetected.
But nothing was ever found. No wreckage, no bodies, nothing.
More: http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq15-1.htm

1941 ~ John Steinbeck's “Sea of Cortez” is published
The book reflects Steinbeck's serious study of marine biology. He also uses his knowledge of the sea and its creatures in creating Doc, the marine biologist character in “Cannery Row”.
More: http://www.ecotopia.org/about/cortez.html

1594 ~ Gerardus Mercator dies
Gerardus Mercator, Latin name of Gerhard Kremer, was a Flemish cartographer, geographer and mathematician best known for his mapping work, especially the Mercator projection, which used straight lines to indicate latitude and longitude.
In 1568 he devised and produced a system of map projection, now called Mercator projection. This system represents meridians by parallel lines, and parallels of latitude by straight lines intersecting the meridians at right angles. Only four copies of this map are known to exist.
Mercator's great Atlas (begun in 1569), in which he sought to describe the creation and history of the world, was printed in its unfinished state by his son in 1595.
More: http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/..._Gerardus.html

[Amgine]

Mercator actually died 2 December.

• 1492 - Christopher Columbus becomes the first European to set foot on the island of Hispaniola.
• 1715 - Alexander Dalzeel, a Scottish privateer in French service, is executed in London, England.
• 1843 - USS Michigan is launched at Erie, Penn. Michigan as America's first iron-hulled warship, as well as the first prefabricated ship.