Maritime History

[GordMay]

October 29

1966 ~ Lunar Orbiter 1 crashes on moon: 6.7 degrees N 162 degrees E
More: http://www.iki.rssi.ru/solar/eng/orbiter1.htm

1960 ~ Muhammad Ali's* 1st professional fight, beats Tunney Hunsaker in 6
*Muhammad Ali was born Cassius Marcellus Clay
More: http://www.ali.com/
Former heavyweight champion Trevor Berbick was found dead in a church courtyard Saturday, October 28, 2006, with chop wounds to his head in a suspected homicide.
Oddly, Ali’s last fight (Nassau, Bahamas) was against Trevor Berbick (Ali lost the decision in 10 rounds) on December 11, 1981.

1929 ~ “Black Tuesday” Stock Market crash triggers Great Depression

1867 ~ Mail packets "Rhone" and "Wye" capsize off St. Thomas Virgin Islands (165 die)
The Rhone 124 die) and the Wye (41 die) were wrecked in a hurricane that swept the West Indies, over 80 ships were wrecked or damaged.
More: http://www.bviwelcome.com/articles/shipwrk/index.html

1814 ~ "Demologos" 1st steam-powered warship, is launched
In the early 19th century, Navy brass had a hard time accepting the theory that upstart young steam engines would ever take the place of sails when it came to powering warships. However, the practical naval applications of steam pioneer Robert Fulton’s (1765-1815) engines could not be ignored. So in 1814, Congress approved the funding for a steam-driven warship already under construction in New York. This ship, alternately called the “Demologos” (Fulton’s name for the vessel) or the “Fulton” (named in honor of the designer, after he died during construction) became the first steam-powered warship in the world. She was not finished until 1816, after the conclusion of the War of 1812 (1812-1815), and was thus considered a bit of a white elephant by the Navy.
The Fulton was pierced to accommodate thirty guns, but it is unlikely she ever received her complete battery. Peacetime inactivity forced the unique Fulton into the role of receiving ship at Brooklyn Navy Yard, where she stayed until 1829, when an accidental fire ignited her gunpowder magazine and she exploded.

[GordMay]

October 30

1995 ~ Quebec votes to remain within the federation of Canada (50.6% to 49.4%)

1991 ~ “Perfect Storm” hits North Atlantic
On October 27, Hurricane Grace formed near Bermuda and moved north toward the coast of the southeastern United States. Two days later, Grace continued to move north, where it encountered a massive low pressure system moving south from Canada. The clash of systems over the Atlantic Ocean caused 40-to-80-foot waves on October 30 (unconfirmed reports put the waves at more than 100 feet in some locations). This massive surf caused extensive coastal flooding, particularly in Massachusetts; damage was also sustained as far south as Jamaica and as far north as Newfoundland.
The storm continued to churn in the Atlantic on October 31; it was nicknamed the "Halloween storm." It came ashore on November 2 along the Nova Scotia coast, then, as it moved northeast over the Gulf Stream waters, it made a highly unusual transition into a hurricane. The National Hurricane Center made the decision not to name the storm for fear it would alarm and confuse local residents. It was only the eighth hurricane not given a name since the naming of hurricanes began in 1950.
The disaster spawned the best-selling book (& movie) “The Perfect Storm” by Sebastian Junger, which described the week-long search for the fishing boat “Andrea Gail”. When the boat did not return to port on November 1 as scheduled, rescue teams were sent out. Neither the Andrea Gail, nor its crew, was ever found.
More: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/satellit...pfctstorm.html


1960 ~ Guatemala's "La Hora" reports plan for invasion on Cuba
In November 1960, “The Nation” published the first American article on preparations being made for what would become the Bay of Pigs invasion. According to Carey McWilliams, The Nation's editor at the time, "Ronald Hilton, director of Stanford University's Institute of Hispanic-American Studies had just returned from Guatemala with reports that it was common knowledge, indeed, it had been reported in La Hora, a leading newspaper, on October 30, that the CIA was training a guerrilla force at a secret base for an early invasion of Cuba."
More: http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/bayofpigs/chron.html

1953 ~ Eisenhower approves NSC 162/2
The top secret National Security Council document made clear that America's nuclear arsenal must be maintained and expanded to meet the communist threat. It also made clear the connection between military spending and a sound American economy.

1944 ~ Last transport for Auschwitz arrives in Birkenau
More: http://www.auschwitz.org.pl/html/eng/start/index.php

1941 ~ FDR approves Lend-Lease aid to the USSR

1882 ~ U.S. Admiral William "Bull" Halsey born
More: http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq36-5.htm

1862 ~ Dr. Richard Gatling patents machine gun

1775 ~ Congress establishes Naval committee
Members of the first naval committee included some of the most influential members of the Continental Congress and several "founding fathers," including John Adams, Joseph Hewes, John Langdon, Richard Henry Lee, Silas Deane and Stephen Hopkins, the committee’s chairman.

1629 King Charles I gives Bahamas to Sir Robert Heath
More: http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/heath.htm

1493 ~ Christopher Columbus discovers island of Dominica
More: http://www.bartleby.com/67/572.html

[GordMay]

October 31

1984 ~ The prime minister of India is assassinated
Indira Gandhi (66), the prime minister of India, is assassinated in New Delhi by two of her own bodyguards.

1961 ~ Hurricane Hattie - the storm /w three names
Hurricane Hattie was a powerful Category 5 hurricane that hit Central America on Halloween during the 1961 Atlantic hurricane season. It caused millions of US dollars in damages and killed hundreds of people. Hattie is the only hurricane on record to have earned three names (Hattie, Simone, Inga) while crossing into different basins (Caribbean, Pacific & Gulf) twice. Stann Creek, a small fishing village on the coast near Belize City, was completely destroyed. Following the hurricane, the village was rebuilt and renamed Hattieville.
More: http://www.islandnet.com/~see/weathe...threenames.htm

1956 ~ British and French troops land in Suez Canal zone

1952 ~ First thermonuclear (hydrogen) bomb detonated
The first thermonuclear bomb was exploded in 1952 at Enewetak, Marshall Islands, by the United States, the second in 1953 by Russia (then the USSR).

1941 ~ U.S. destroyer

[GordMay]

November 1

1981 ~ Antigua and Barbuda gains independence from Britain (National Day)

1979 ~ Galveston Oil Spill
the BURMAH AGATE collided with the freighter MIMOSA southeast of Galveston Entrance in the Gulf of Mexico. An estimated 2.6 million gallons of oil was released into the environment; another 7.8 million gallons was consumed by the fire onboard. This spill is currently #57 on the all-time list of largest oil spills.
See the list: http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/edu/st...rgest%20Spills

1954 ~ U.S. Senate censures Joseph Mccarthy
More: http://usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/...emocrac/60.htm

1947 ~ Howard Hughes flies "Spruce Goose” (Hughes H-4 Hercules)

1941 ~ FDR puts US Coast Guard under control of the Navy
The Coast Guard was established as the Revenue Marine Service by Alexander Hamilton, secretary of the treasury, in 1790. In 1915, the U.S. Lifesaving Service, formed in 1878, and the RMS combined to become the Coast Guard. During peacetime, the Guard was under the direction of the Department of Treasury until 1967, when the Department of Transportation took control. But during war, it was under the control of the U.S. Navy. What made FDR's November 1 announcement significant was that the United States was not yet at war; but more and more American ships were nevertheless becoming casualties of the European war.

1918 ~ Yugoslav battleship “Viribus Unitis” sunk at anchor
More: http://www.lostbattalion.com/t-bb_ViribusUnitis.aspx

1914 ~ Sea-Battle of Coronel
In a crushing victory, a German naval squadron commanded by Vice-Admiral Maximilian von Spee sinks two British armored cruisers (“Good Hope” & “Monmouth”) commanded by Sir Christopher Cradock, with all aboard, off the southern coast of Chile.
More: http://www.worldwar1.co.uk/coronel.html

[GordMay]

November 2

1997 ~ Typhoon “Linda” (Openg) strikes Southern Vietnam (hundreds die)
The rapid development of the storm in the East Sea, not far from the Vietnamese coast meant that there was little time for warnings to be issued and acted upon. Over 600 people are known to have died in the storm’s passing. Typhoon Linda, after moving through the Philippines and the South China Sea, hit the Malay Peninsula on November 3. It re-strengthened in the Bay of Bengal, but vertical shear caused Linda to dissipate on the 9th.
More: http://cidi.org/disaster/97b/0067.html

1920 ~ First significant public radio news broadcast
Pittsburgh radio station KDKA broadcast the results of the 1920 presidential race between Warren G. Harding and James M. Cox. The following year, Americans spent $10 million on radios. By 1922, some 500 radio stations were broadcasting.

1920 ~ Warren G. Harding elected president (happy birthday, Warren)
1865 ~ Warren Gamaliel Harding born

1777 ~ John Paul Jones embarks on raiding voyage
The USS “Rangr”, with a crew of 140 men under the command of John Paul Jones, leaves Portsmouth, New Hampshire, for the naval port at Brest, France, where it will stop before heading toward the Irish Sea to begin raids on British warships. This was the first mission of its kind during the Revolutionary War.
More: http://www.history.navy.mil/bios/jones_jp.htm

[GordMay]

November 3

1994 ~ DOGS find spiral nebula “Dwingeloo 1"
”Dwingeloo 1" is a barred spiral galaxy, and member of the nearby Maffei 1 Group of galaxies. Despite its considerable size (about a third that of our own galaxy) and proximity (about 10 million light-years away) it remain undiscovered until 1994 because more than 99% of its visible light is absorbed by dust in the plane of the Milky Way. It was the first system to be found in the Dwingeloo Obscured Galaxy Survey (DOGS) carried out by astronomers at the Dwingeloo Radio Observatory in the Netherlands.
More: http://icarus.stsci.edu/~ferguson/re...dogs/dogs.html

1986 ~ “Iran-Contra” arms-for-hostages revealed
The Lebanese magazine Ash Shiraa reports that the United States has been secretly selling arms to Iran in an effort to secure the release of seven American hostages held by pro-Iranian groups in Lebanon. The revelation, confirmed by U.S. intelligence sources on November 6, came as a shock to officials outside President Ronald Reagan's inner circle and went against the stated policy of the administration. In addition to violating the U.S. arms embargo against Iran, the arms sales contradicted President Reagan's vow never to negotiate with terrorists. Reagan went on television, and vehemently denied that any such operation had occurred. He retracted the statement a week later, insisting that the sale of weapons had not been an “arms-for-hostages” deal.
More: http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/

1979 ~The Hostage Crisis in Iran
On Oct. 22, 1979, the Shah of Iran was allowed to enter the United States for gall bladder surgery, prompting a new round of protest in Iran, in which thousands of students, demanding the return of the shah, overran the U.S. embassy and took about 90 people captive. Later, some were freed, including women, non-Americans and blacks. This terrorist act triggered the most profound crisis of the Carter presidency and began an ordeal that lasted 444 days.
More: http://www.jimmycarterlibrary.org/do...hostages.phtml

1957 ~ ”Laika" flies aboard ”Sputnik 2"
Laika, part Siberian husky, lived as a stray on the Moscow streets before being enlisted into the Soviet space program. Laika survived for several days as a passenger in the USSR's second artificial Earth satellite, kept alive by a sophisticated life-support system. Electrodes attached to her body provided scientists on the ground with important information about the biological effects of space travel. She died after the batteries of her life-support system ran down.

1941 ~ The order is given to Bomb Pearl Harbor
The Combined Japanese Fleet receive Top-Secret Order No. 1: In 34 days time, Pearl Harbor is to be bombed, along with Mayala, the Dutch East Indies, and the Philippines.
More: http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/monos/152/152app01.html

1930 ~ Detroit - Windsor tunnel opens
The Detroit-Windsor Tunnel is the only vehicular international subaqueous border crossing in the world. It has been recognized as one of the great engineering wonders of the world, and remains one of the busiest crossings between the United States and Canada. Located between Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Ontario, connecting the US Interstates to Ontario's Highway 401, it is one of the fastest links between Ontario and the United States.

1903 ~ Panama declares independence
With the support of the U.S. government, Panama issues a declaration of independence from Colombia. The revolution was engineered by a Panamanian faction backed by the Panama Canal Company, a French-U.S. corporation that hoped to connect the Atlantic and Pacific oceans with a waterway across the Isthmus of Panama.
[i]More: http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/A...a-HISTORY.html

1718 ~ John Montague, 4th Earl of Sandwich born
Mantague was the inventor of the “sandwich”.

[GordMay]

November 4

1984 ~ Sandinistas win 1st free Nicaraguan elections in 56 years
On November 4 1984, about 75 percent of the registered voters went to the polls. The FSLN won 67 percent of the votes, the presidency, and sixty-one of the ninety-six seats in the new National Assembly. The three conservative parties that remained in the election garnered twenty-nine seats in the National Assembly; the three parties on the left won a total of six seats. Foreign observers generally reported that the election was fair.
More: http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2479

1980 ~ Ronald Reagan (R) defeats President Jimmy Carter (D) by a landslide

1970 ~ Russian nuclear physicist Sacharov forms Human Rights Committee
Together with Igor Tamm, Andreij Sacharov made a proposal that led to the construction of the Soviet Hydrogen bomb. By 1961 Sacharov became concerned about the potential use of the hydrogen bomb and made a formal protest against the atmospheric testing of the bomb. For his work Sacharov was awarded the 1975 Nobel Peace Prize. His political activities eventually led him to be exiled in Gorkiy in 1980. He was allowed to return to Moscow in December 1986 and in April 1989 he was elected to the Congress of People's Deputies. He remained a leading spokesman for human rights and political and economic reform until his death in December 1989.
More: http://www.aip.org/history/sakharov/
And: http://www.time.com/time/time100/her...akharov01.html

1956 ~ Soviets crush Hungarian revolt
Following nearly two weeks of protest and political instability in Hungary, Soviet tanks and troops viciously crush the protests. Thousands were killed and wounded, and nearly a quarter-million Hungarians fled the country.
Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev had pledged a retreat from the Stalinist policies and repression of the past, but the violent actions in Budapest suggested otherwise. Inaction on the part of the United States angered and frustrated many Hungarians. Voice of America radio broadcasts and speeches by President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Secretary of State John Foster Dulles had recently suggested that the United States supported the "liberation" of "captive peoples" in communist nations.
More: http://www.historicaltextarchive.com...book&bookid=13


1928 ~ Jose Moncada elected president of Nicaragua
More: http://www.stanford.edu/group/arts/n...ory/index.html

1928 ~ Arnold Rothstein dies (shot)
The Black Sox scandal: http://www.davidpietrusza.com/Rothstein-BlackSox.html
More: http://www.carpenoctem.tv/mafia/rothstein.html

1922 ~ Howard Carter discovers tomb of Tutankhamen in Egypt
When Carter first arrived in Egypt in 1891, most of the ancient Egyptian tombs had been discovered, though the little-known King Tutankhamen, who had died when he was 18, was still unaccounted for. After World War I, Carter began an intensive search for "King Tut's Tomb," finally finding steps to the burial room hidden in the debris near the entrance of the nearby tomb of King Ramses VI in the Valley of the Kings. On November 26, 1922, Carter and fellow archaeologist Lord Carnarvon entered the interior chambers of the tomb, finding them miraculously intact.
Thus began a monumental excavation process in which Carter carefully explored the four-room tomb over several years, uncovering an incredible collection of several thousand objects. The most splendid architectural find was a stone sarcophagus containing three coffins nested within each other. Inside the final coffin, which was made out of solid gold, was the mummy of the boy-king Tutankhamen, preserved for more than 3,000 years. Most of these treasures are now housed in the Cairo Museum.


1916 ~ Newsman & Cruiser, Walter Cronkite born

1875 ~ "Pacific" collides with "Orpheus" off Cape Flattery Wash (236 die)
On November 4, 1875 the side-wheeler “Pacific” steamed out of Victoria headed for San Francisco. On board were 277 passengers and crew, freight, horses and buggies, and a strongbox containing nearly $80,000 in gold. That afternoon the “Pacific” rounded Cape Flattery Light and headed into a gale blowing from the south. At 10 p.m. everyone on board was awakened by a crash. The “Pacific” had struck the sailing ship “Orpheus”.
Not realizing that the Pacific was in serious trouble, the crew of the Orpheus sailed on while working to repair damaged rigging and maintain control of their ship. Meanwhile, water poured into the Pacific. In a panic, passengers stormed the deck, preventing the crew from lowering lifeboats. Within minutes the ship sank. Of those fortunate enough to cling to debris, only two survived the night. Passenger Henry Jelley was rescued two days later, but died of hypothermia. Quartermaster Neil Henley was adrift for 80 hours before his rescue by the revenue cutter Oliver Wolcott.
The Orpheus was also doomed. Several hours after the collision she ran aground off the west coast of Vancouver Island. No lives were lost, but the ship was a total loss. As pieces of the Pacific drifted to shore along the Strait of Juan de Fuca it was discovered that the ship was filled with dry rot. Records revealed that 14 years earlier she had run aground and sunk near the mouth of the Columbia River. Eventually refloated, she served for another ten years and was once again retired from service. When gold was discovered in the Cassiar district of British Columbia in 1874, the owners of the Pacific gave her a new coat of paint and promoted her as the equal of a brand new ship. They were never held accountable for the deaths of almost 300 people.

[GordMay]

November 5

Not much to print today

“... "Just once how I'd like to see the headline say
Not much to print today, can't find nothin' bad to say", because
Nobody robbed a liquor store on the lower part of town
Nobody OD'ed, nobody burned a single buildin' down
Nobody fired a shot in anger, nobody had to die in vain
We sure could use a little good news today ...”

From
”A Little Good News”
Written by Charles Black, Rory Bourke, and Thomas Rocco
Recorded by Anne Murray (1983)

[GordMay]

November 6

1968 ~ Dickie’s back ... Hubert Humphrey concedes to Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon, the 55-year-old former Vice President who lost the Presidency for the Republicans in l960, reclaimed it yesterday to climax one of the greatest personal comebacks and one of the closest elections in the history of American politics.
His Democratic opponent, Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey, conceded Nixon's victory shortly after noon, when the 26 electoral votes of Illinois, a major state whose loss helped deprive Nixon of victory over John F. Kennedy in l960, gave the Republican contender an Electoral College majority.
The Vice President (Humphrey), in his telegram of concession to Richard Nixon, and in a brief talk to supporters in Minneapolis, pledged that he would continue to work on "the urgent task of unifying this country."

1962 ~ Nixon’s “last” press conference
After failing to be elected Governor of California (he lost to Pat Brown), Richard M. Nixon Nixon gives an infamous final press conference, in which he states: "As I leave you I want you to know -just think how much you're going to be losing - you won't have Nixon to kick around anymore, because, gentlemen, this is my last press conference,and it will be one in which I have welcomed the opportunity to test wits with you."

[GordMay]

November 7

1940 ~ Galloping Gertie collapses
Only four months after its completion, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, in Washington State suffers a spectacular collapse.

1885 ~ Canada's transcontinental railway completed
At a remote spot called Craigellachie in the mountains of British Columbia, the last spike is driven into Canada's Canadian Pacific Railroad.

1872 ~ Cargo ship "Mary Celeste” sets sail from New York
The 'Mary Celeste' had sailed from New York on November 7th bound for Genoa with a cargo of 1701 barrels of American Alcohol.
On the Afternoon of December 5th 1872 half way between the Azores and the Portuguese coast the 'Dei Gratia' came up with a Brigantine which Captain Morehouse recognised as the 'Mary Celeste'. He knew Captain Briggs and had dined with him before he sailed. He was puzzled to see the ship yawing, coming into the wind and then falling off, she was out of control. He knew Captain Briggs to be a good seaman. There were no distress signals, and after watching for two hours and hailing her and getting no reply they set off in a small boat and duly boarded her.
The vessel was found to be in good seaworthy condition and the general impression was that the crew had left in a great hurry. They had left behind their oil skin boots and pipes. Captain Morehouse's explanation was that they had left in panic thinking the vessel to be sinking. The chronometer and sextant were not found on board. The last entry on the ships slate showed she had made the island of St Mary in the Azores on November 25th.
More: http://www.maryceleste.net/
The final resting place of the Mary Celeste has been found by Clive Cussler. The ship kicked around for many years after its "ghostly" episode. It was scuttled on the Rochelois Reef in Haiti in about 1884. More: http://www.numa.net/expeditions/mary_celeste.html

[GordMay]

November 8

1994 ~ Hurricane “Gordon” is born
The storm that would become Hurricane Gordon forms in the Gulf of Mexico east of Costa Rica on this day in 1994. Although it spent far more time as a tropical storm than as a hurricane, Gordon went on to kill as many as a thousand people in Central America, the Caribbean and South Florida.

1984 ~ Anna Fisher becomes 1st "mom" to go into orbit
More: http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/fisher-a.html

1966 ~ Actor Ronald Reagan elected governor of California

1965 ~ British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) formed
Established as a territory of the UK in 1965, a number of the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) islands were transferred to the Seychelles when it attained independence in 1976. Subsequently, BIOT has consisted only of the six main island groups comprising the Chagos Archipelago. The largest and most southerly of the islands, Diego Garcia, contains a joint UK-US naval support facility. All of the remaining islands are uninhabited. Former agricultural workers, earlier residents in the islands, were relocated primarily to Mauritius but also to the Seychelles, between 1967 and 1973. In 2000, a British High Court ruling invalidated the local immigration order that had excluded them from the archipelago, but upheld the special military status of Diego Garcia.

1945 ~ Riverboat sinks off Hong Kong (1,550 die)

1939 ~ Failed assassination attempt on Hitler in Burgerbraukeller, Munich
On the 16th anniversary of Hitler's Beer Hall Putsch, a bomb explodes just after Hitler has finished giving a speech. He was unharmed.
Hitler had made an annual ritual on the anniversary of his infamous 1923 coup attempt, (see below) of regaling his followers with his vision of the Fatherland's future. On this day, he had been addressing the Old Guard party members, those disciples and soldiers who had been loyal to Hitler and his fascist party since the earliest days of its inception. Just 12 minutes after Hitler had left the hall, along with important Nazi leaders who had accompanied him, a bomb exploded, which had been secreted in a pillar behind the speaker's platform. Seven people were killed and 63 were wounded.

1923 ~ "Beer Hall Putsch" in Munchen (Munich)
Adolf Hitler, president of the far-right Nazi Party, launches the Beer Hall Putsch, his first attempt at seizing control of the German government. On the evening of November 8, Nazi forces under Hermann Goering surrounded the Munich beer hall where Bavarian government officials were meeting with local business leaders. A moment later, Hitler burst in with a group of Nazi storm troopers, discharged his pistol into the air, and declared that "the national revolution has begun." Threatened at gunpoint, the Bavarian leaders reluctantly agreed to support Hitler's new regime.
In the early morning of November 9, however, the Bavarian leaders repudiated their coerced support of Hitler and ordered a rapid suppression of the Nazis. At dawn, government troops surrounded the main Nazi force occupying the War Ministry building. A desperate Hitler responded by leading a march toward the center of Munich in a last-ditch effort to rally support. Near the War Ministry building, 3,000 Nazi marchers came face to face with 100 armed policemen. Shots were exchanged, and 16 Nazis and three policemen were killed. Hermann Goering was shot in the groin, and Hitler suffered a dislocated elbow but managed to escape.
Three days later, Hitler was arrested. Convicted of treason, he was given the minimum sentence of five years in prison. He was imprisoned in the Landsberg fortress and spent his time writing his autobiography, “Mein Kampf”.
Political pressure from the Nazis forced the Bavarian government to commute Hitler's sentence, and he was released after serving only nine months. In the late 1920s, Hitler reorganized the Nazi Party as a fanatical mass movement that was able to gain a majority in the Reichstag in 1932.

1883 ~ English freighter “Nisero” stranded at Atjeh (Aceh)
The Dutch colonial government declared war on Aceh on 26 March 1873. An expedition under general-major Köhler was sent out in 1874, which was able to occupy most of the coastal areas, but never gained full control over the mountainous interior. A second expediton led by general Van Swieten managed to capture the kraton (sultan's palace): the Sultan had however been warned, and had escaped capture. Intermittent guerrilla warfare continued in the region for ten years, with many victims on both sides. Around 1880 the Dutch strategy changed: rather than continuing the war, they now concentrated on defending areas already under control, which were the central region (modern day Banda Aceh), and the harbour town of Olehleh. On 13 October 1880 the colonial government declared the war as over.
War began again in 1883, when the British ship “Nisero” was stranded in Aceh, in an area not controlled by the Dutch. A local leader asked for ransom from both the Dutch and the English, and under English pressure the Dutch were forced to attempt to liberate the sailors. After a failed Dutch attempt to rescue the hostages, where the local leader Teuku Umar was asked for help but he refused, the Dutch together with the English invaded the territory. The Sultan gave up the hostages, and received a large amount in cash in exchange. The Dutch Minister of Warfare Weitzel now again declared open war on Aceh, and warfare continued, with little success, as before. The Dutch now also tried to enlist local leaders: the aforementioned Umar was bought with cash, opium, and weapons. Umar received the title panglima prang besar (upper warlord of the government). Umar called himself rather Teuku Djohan Pahlawan (Johan the heroic). On 1 January 1894 Umar even received Dutch aid to build an army. However, two years later Umar attacked the Dutch with his new army, rather than aiding the Dutch in subjugating inner Aceh. This is recorded in Dutch history as "Het verraad van Teukoe Oemar" (the treason of Teuku Umar).
In 1892 and 1893 the subjugation of Aceh was considered to have failed. Major J.B. van Heutsz, a colonial military leader, then wrote a series of articles on Aceh, proclaiming the use of excessive force to subjugate the province. This advice was followed: in 1898 Van Heutsz was proclaimed governor of Aceh, and with his lieutenant, later Dutch Prime Minister Hendrikus Colijn, most of Aceh was (nominally) brought under Dutch control. They charged colonel Van Daalen with breaking remaining resistance. Van Daalen destroyed several villages, killing at least 2,900 Acehnese, among which 1,150 women and children. Dutch losses numbered just 26, and Van Daalen was promoted. By 1904 Aceh was fully under Dutch control. Estimated total casualties on the Aceh side range from 50,000 to 100,000 dead, and over a million wounded.
Until the independence of the Dutch Indies, as Indonesia, following the end of Japanese occupation guerilla warfare against the Dutch continued.

1789 ~ Bourbon Whiskey, 1st distilled from corn (by Elijah Craig, Bourbon Ky) - Or Not?
More: http://www.straightbourbon.com/articles/ccname.html

1519 ~ 1st meeting of Montezuma and Hernando Cortes in Mexico

[GordMay]

November 9

1989 ~ East Berlin opens its borders
East German officials today opened the Berlin Wall, allowing travel from East to West Berlin. The following day, celebrating Germans began to tear the wall down. One of the ugliest and most infamous symbols of the Cold War was soon reduced to rubble, that was quickly snatched up by souvenir hunters.

1965 ~ Great North-East Blackout
At dusk (5:16 p.m.), on November 9, 1965, the largest blackout in history occurred. The northeast power system broke up 4 seconds after the initial disturbance, and 30 million people were without electricity for as long as 13 hours, delaying millions of commuters, trapping 800,000 people in New York's subways, and stranding thousands more in office buildings, elevators, and trains. Power was gradually restored overnight.
More: http://www.ceet.niu.edu/faculty/vanmeer/outage.htm

1938 ~ "Kristallnacht", or the Night of Broken Glass
On the night of October 27, Zindel Grynszpan and his family were forced out of their home by German police. His store and the family's possessions were confiscated and they were forced to move over the Polish border. Zindel Grynszpan's seventeen-year-old son, Herschel, was living with an uncle in Paris. When he received news of his family's expulsion, he went to the German embassy in Paris on November 7, intending to assassinate the German Ambassador to France. Upon discovering that the Ambassador was not in the embassy, he settled for a lesser official, Third Secretary Ernst vom Rath. Rath, was critically wounded and died two days later, on November 9.
The assassination provided Goebbels, Hitler's Chief of Propaganda, with the excuse he needed to launch a pogrom against German Jews. Grynszpan's attack was interpreted by Goebbels as a conspiratorial attack by "International Jewry" against the Reich and, symbolically, against the Fuehrer himself. This pogrom has come to be called Kristallnacht, "the Night of Broken Glass."

1932 ~ Hurricane storm wave sweeps over Santa Cruz del Sur Cuba (>2500 die)
The small fishing village of Santa Cruz del Sur (Camaguey) remembers November 1932, when a monumental storm wave estimated at more than twenty feet high washed the town away, carrying out to sea more than 2,500 of the total 3,000 residents.

1915 ~ Italian liner “Ancona” sunk by German “U-38" (272 die)
The Italian liner Ancona was torpedoed and destroyed by an Austrian U-boat (U38) off the coast of Sardinia in early November 1915.
The ship had made regular runs between Naples and New York City, serving the needs of thousands of immigrants headed to America. Some dispute remains about whether the Ancona received and heeded an order to halt (Italy was not at war with Germany). The ship was struck twice by torpedoes that set off an internal explosion. The Ancona went down so rapidly that it was impossible to deploy lifeboats properly.

1914 ~ Australian warship “Sydney” sinks German “Emden”
On this day in 1914, in the first ever wartime action by an Australian warship, the cruiser “Sydney” sinks the German raider “Emden” in the Indian Ocean during the first autumn of World War I.
When World War I broke out in the summer of 1914, the Emden was part of Germany’s East Asiatic Squadron, commanded by Maxmilian von Spee. On November 9, the Australian light cruiser Sydney surprised the Emden as the latter ship was raiding a British wireless communications station on the Cocos Islands. The attack killed 134 of the ship’s crew members, while Muller and the other survivors were taken prisoner by the British. Despite the demise of the Emden on November 9, the exploits of its crew continued, as Muller had put a landing party ashore at nearby Direction Island. The group promptly seized a schooner and sailed to Yemen, crossing the Red Sea and braving Arab attacks on its way to Damascus and finally to Constantinople in May 1915.


1865 ~ Confederate Gen Lee surrenders to Union Gen Grant at Appomattox

1799 ~ Napoleon becomes dictator (1st consul) of France

[GordMay]

November 10

1989 ~ The Wall comes tumbling down
Germans begins demolishing Berlin Wall
“... Governments crack and systems fall cause Unity is powerful -Lights go out - walls come tumbling down ...” ~ The Style Council
More: http://www.historyguide.org/europe/lecture16.html

1975 ~ The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald (all 29 die)
The SS Edmund Fitzgerald sinks 17 miles from the entrance to Whitefish Bay on Lake Superior, taking all 29 crew members with her.
The Edmund Fitzgerald began its last journey on November 9, 1975, carrying 26,116 tons of iron-ore pellets. The next day, the ship and her crew met a storm with 60 mph winds and waves in excess of 15 feet. Captain Ernest McSorley steered the ship north, heading for the safety of Whitefish Bay, but the ship's radar failed, and the storm took out the power to Whitefish Point's radio beacon, leaving the Fitzgerald traveling blind. In the heavy seas, the vessel was also taking on a dangerous amount of water. Another ship, the Anderson, kept up radio contact with the Fitzgerald and tried to lead it to safety but to no avail.
Just after 7 p.m. on November 10, the Fitzgerald made its last radio transmission.
* 7:10 PM - Radio transmission between the Anderson and the Fitzgerald.
The Fitzgerald is still being followed by the Arthur M. Anderson. They are about 10 miles behind the Fitzgerald.

Anderson: "Fitzgerald, this is the Anderson. Have you checked down?"
Fitzgerald: "Yes we have."
Anderson: "Fitzgerald, we are about 10 miles behind you, and gaining about 1 1/2 miles per hour. Fitzgerald, there is a target 19 miles ahead of us. So the target would be 9 miles on ahead of you."
Fitzgerald: "Well, am I going to clear?"
Anderson: "Yes. He is going to pass to the west of you."
Fitzgerald: "Well, fine."
Anderson: "By the way, Fitzgerald, how are you making out with your problem?"
Fitzgerald: "We are holding our own."
Anderson: "Okay, fine. I'll be talking to you later."

They never did speak later...The 29 men onboard the Fitzgerald will never again speak with anyone outside of the ship. Presumably, the ship, which was taking on water, was forced lower and lower into the water until its bow pitched down into the lake and the vessel was unable to recover.

The Fitzgerald’s sinking was the worst wreck in the Great Lakes since November 29, 1966, when 28 people died in the sinking of the Daniel J. Morrell in Lake Huron.
The disaster was immortalized in song the following year in Canadian folk singer Gordon Lightfoot’s "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald."
Lyrics: http://gordonlightfoot.com/Lyrics/Wr...itzgerald.html
More: http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/wxwise/fitz.html
And: http://www.ssefo.com/

1970 ~ Gen. Charles DeGaulle (French President) dies at 79

1775 ~ Congress forms U.S. Marine Corps
During the American Revolution, the Continental Congress passes a resolution stating that "two Battalions of Marines be raised" for service as landing forces for the recently formed Continental Navy. The resolution, drafted by future U.S. president John Adams and adopted in Philadelphia, created the Continental Marines and is now observed as the birth date of the United States Marine Corps. The USMC fought diligently throughout the American revolution but, after the Treaty of Paris in April 1783, it was dissolved only to be reestablished in 1798.

1483 ~ Martin Luther born
Martin Luther (born as Martin Luder) was born on November 10, 1483, at Eisleben.
Nothwithstanding Luther’s belief that he was a simple reformer of the Catholic church, he eventually divided Christianity into two separate churches, and that second division, Protestantism, would itself divide over the next four centuries into a near infinity of separate churches.
More: http://www.island-of-freedom.com/LUTHER.HTM

[GordMay]

November 11

1968 ~ Maldives (in Indian Ocean) become a republic
Although governed as an independent Islamic sultanate for most of its history from 1153 to 1968, the Maldives was a British protectorate from 1887 until July 25, 1965. In 1953, there was a brief, abortive attempt at a republican form of government, after which the sultanate was re-imposed. Following independence from Britain in 1965, the sultanate continued to operate for another 3 years. On November 11, 1968, it was abolished and replaced by a republic, and the country assumed its present name.
See our own Blueleve

1918 ~ WW I ends (Armistice or Remembrance Day)
At 11 o’clock in the morning of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, the First World War (the Great War) comes to an end, with the signing of an armistice treaty at Compiègne, France. While this official date, marking the end of the war reflects the ceasefire on the Western Front, hostilities continued in other regions, especially across the former Russian Empire and in parts of the old Ottoman Empire. The battle on the Eastern Front was brought to a close in December 1917 (and followed by the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk), as was Romania's war (resulting in the Treaty of Bucharest).
The Great War took the life of some 9 million soldiers, with 21 million more wounded. Civilian casualties numbered close to 10 million.
More: http://www.lib.byu.edu/~rdh/wwi/1918/armistice.html

1909 ~ Construction of Navy base at Pearl Harbor begins
In 1908, Congress had appropriated funds for a drydock at Pu'uloa, or Pearl Harbour, and preliminary engineering work began in 1909. When construction began in 1909 on a the first dry dock, many native Hawaiians were outraged. According to legend the shark god lived in the coral caves under the site. Several collapses of the dry dock construction were attributed by the engineers to "seismic disturbances" but the native Hawaiians were sure that it was the shark god who was angry.
More: http://www.phnsy.navy.mil/timeline/timeline_1909.html

1648 ~ Dutch and French agree to divide St. Maarten/Saint-Martin, Leeward Islands
The legend suggests they decided to have a race to determine the borders. Early one morning, everyone went to Oyster Pond (a small town on the east coast). There, a Frenchman and a Dutchman stood back to back. The Frenchman faced the north, and the Dutchman faced the south. When the gun fired, they both started running as fast as they could. The idea was that they would run along the coast (in opposite directions). Wherever they met would be the dividing line for the border.
As it turned out, the Frenchman ran a lot further than the Dutchman. That's why the French ended up with more land (21 square miles) than the Dutch (16 square miles).
Result of this agreement: birth of the smallest territory in the world divided between two nations.

1493 ~ Columbus discovers Saba, North Leeward Islands (Netherland Antilles)

[GordMay]

November 12

1981 ~ “Double Eagle V” completes 1st balloon crossing of Pacific
The Double Eagle V departed from Nagashami, Japan with crew members Ben Abruzzo, Ron Clark, Rocky Aoki, and Larry Newman. They soared over the Pacific on a treacherous journey battling fierce weather and 6,000 lbs of ice accumulation until landing safely in Cavelo, California. The flight lasted a total of 84 hours and 13 minutes and set a new world distance record of 5,768 miles.

1969 ~ U.S. Army announces second My Lai massacre investigation
Seymour Hersh, an independent investigative journalist, in a cable filed through Dispatch News Service and picked up by more than 30 newspapers, reveals the extent of the U.S. Army's charges against 1st Lt. William L. Calley at My Lai. Hersh wrote: "The Army says he [Calley] deliberately murdered at least 109 Vietnamese civilians during a search-and-destroy mission in March 1968, in a Viet Cong stronghold known as 'Pinkville.'"
The incident, which became known as the My Lai Massacre, took place in March 1968. Between 200 and 500 South Vietnamese civilians were murdered by U.S. soldiers from Company C, 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry, 11th Infantry Brigade of the American Division. During a sweep of the cluster of hamlets known as My Lai 4, the U.S. soldiers (particularly those from Calley's first platoon) indiscriminately shot people as they ran from their huts, and then systematically rounded up the survivors, allegedly leading them to a ditch where Calley gave the order to "finish them off."
All eventually had their charges dismissed or were acquitted, except Calley, who was found guilty of murdering 22 civilians and sentenced to life imprisonment. However, Calley's sentence was eventually reduced and he was released from prison in 1974.
More: http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/proj...ylai/mylai.htm
And: http://www.crimelibrary.com/notoriou...i/index_1.html

1948 ~ Japanese premier Hideki Tojo sentenced to death by war crimes tribunal
More: http://www.ndl.go.jp/portrait/e/datas/142.html

1945 ~ Canadian composer/rocker Neil Young born
”The thing about my music is, there really is no point.”

1944 ~ RAF sink German battleship "Tirpitz" at Tromso Fjord Norway
As the battleship lay at anchor in Norway's Tromso Fjord, 32 British Lancaster bombers, taking off from Scotland, attacked. Each bomber dropped a 12,000-pound Tallboy bomb and two hit their target, causing the Tirpitz to capsize, and killing almost 1,000
More: http://www.lancastermuseum.ca/tirpitz.html

1928 ~ British steamer "Vestris" capsizes and sinks off Virginia (110 die)
During a gale, an overloaded cargo hold caused the ship to become unbalanced.

1912 ~ Captain Robert Scott's dead body found in Antarctica
More: http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/scott.htm

1595 ~ Sir John Hawkins dies at 63
Hawkins, sometimes spelled Hawkyns, was one of the architects of the new Elizabethan navy but more notoriously known as a slave trader. Hawkins became the navy treasurer, the comptroller and rear admiral and was one of the subordinate commanders in the British fleet against the Spanish Armada in 1588. In 1595 Hawkins sailed for the West Indies to plunder Spanish settlements (Pueto Rico) and ships and died during the expedition.
More: http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/TUDhawkinsJ.htm