100 Years Ago Today

[Jimbuna]

23rd April 1921

Ship Losses:

Annunziata (Italy) The schooner was driven onto rocks at Sliema, Malta and was wrecked. All six crew were rescued.
Elpis (Greece) The cargo ship foundered in the Mediterranean Sea 24 nautical miles (44 km) north east of Acre, Palestine.

[Jimbuna]

24th April 1921

French General Bailloud visiting the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

[Jimbuna]

25th April 1921

ANZAC Day commemorations in Wellington, New Zealand.


Anzac Day procession following a brass band, Caboolture, Queensland.


Police in Dublin show photographers bombs captured from the IRA

[Jimbuna]

26th April 1921

President Harding meeting with Albert Einstein and his wife.


U.S. adventurer Merian Cooper reaches safety in Riga, Latvia, after escaping a Soviet prison where he had been held for 9 months. Cooper, a volunteer flying for Poland, had been shot down and captured during that country's war with Russia. In 1933, he made the movie "King Kong."

[Jimbuna]

27th April 1921

Lord Edmund Talbot becomes the (last) Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, becoming the first Roman Catholic to hold the post since the 17th century.


The Reparations Commission, established under the treaty of Versailles, decrees that Germany must pay a total of £6.6 billion ($33 billion) in 42 annual instalments. The German Reichstag (parliament) accepts an Allied ultimatum for the payment of reparations (11 May).

Avocourt, 1918, one of the many destroyed French villages where reconstruction would be funded by reparations.


Ship Losses:

Arnus (Spain) The cargo ship sprang a leak and foundered whilst on a voyage from Viveiro, Spain, to Rotterdam, Netherlands. Twenty-one of her 33 crew were rescued.

[Jimbuna]

28th April 1921

Giant Sturgeon at the Mac Fisheries shop in London.


Police seize a barrel of wine from a store in New York to enforce Prohibition.


At Paris, M. Briand, departing for London, tells newspapermen France will occupy the Ruhr region to help the German people to get rid of reactionaries.


Ship Losses:

Bona H (United Kingdom) The schooner was destroyed by fire off Havana, Cuba.

[Jimbuna]

29th April 1921

Worker with a 16-inch barbette carriage at the Watertown Arsenal, Massachusetts.


Conscripted French men of the class of 1921 drinking before departure.


The train carriage where the armistice of the First World War was signed, exhibited in the courtyard of Les Invalides, Paris.



Ship Losses:

Bara Bi (Spain) The passenger ship sprang a leak and foundered in the Atlantic Ocean (approximately 48°N 5°W). All on board were rescued by Helena ( Netherlands).
Mormugao (Portugal) The passenger ship ran aground on the south of Block Island, Rhode Island, United States. Her passengers were taken off. She was refloated on 2 May.
Spathari (United Kingdom) The cargo ship was sunk by barratry in the Atlantic Ocean off Ericeira, Portugal. Her crew were rescued.

[Jimbuna]

30th April 1921

British soldiers searching a horse-drawn wagon in Ireland.


Ship Losses:

E. A. Sabean (United Kingdom) The schooner sprang a leak and sank in the Atlantic Ocean off Pensacola, Florida. Her crew were rescued.
Gloria (France) The ship foundered in the Mediterranean Sea off Soller, Majorca, Spain. All 28 crew were rescued.

[Jimbuna]

1st May 1921

The Jaffa Riots begin in the British Mandate of Palestine when a dispute between the Jewish Communist Party and another Jewish socialist party devolves into a general disturbance, triggering an Arab attack against Jewish residents.


Ship Losses:

Lysglimt (Denmark) The schooner caught fire in the Atlantic Ocean (27°55′N 41°01′W). She was abandoned on 4 May and burnt out. Her crew were rescued by Vittorio Veneto ( United Kingdom).

[Jimbuna]

2nd May 1921

The Third Silesian Uprising begins as Polish forces revolt against Germany as Allied disagreements remain unresolved on the results of the Upper Silesia Plebiscite. Polish insurgents in Silesia.


Jewish writer Yosef Haim Brenner is killed during the Jaffa Riots.

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3rd May 1921

Northern Ireland is created as the Fourth Home Rule Bill comes into effect, partitioning Ireland into two. Irish protestors demonstrating against the partition on Downing Street.


Ship Losses:

Tokuyo Maru (Japan) The passenger ship caught fire and sank in the Pacific Ocean. USAT Buford ( United States Army) rescued 65 people.

[Jimbuna]

4th May 1921

Conscripted French soldiers of the class of 1921 preparing to deploy as Allied governments threaten to occupy the Ruhr region of Germany for reparation payments.


Chancellor Constantin Fehrenbach of Germany and his cabinet resigned upon news that an ultimatum would be sent from the Allies to agree to binding reparations payments.


Throngs gather outside Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris hoping to attend the mass for Napoleon Bonaparte, which marks the 100th anniversary of his death on May 5, 1821. More than 60 generals are present.


Ship Losses:

Mary Eleanor (United Kingdom) The cargo ship foundered in the Irish Sea. Her crew survived.

[Jimbuna]

5th May 1921

The Supreme Council at London delivers to Dr. Sthamer, Berlin envoy, an ultimatum requiring German trial of war culprits, disarmament, and reparation payments of 132,000,000,000 gold marks before May 12 on penalty of seizure of the entire Ruhr industrial region.

Commemoration of the centenary of Napoleon’s death are held in Paris.


Ship Losses:

Admiral Keyes (United Kingdom) The auxiliary schooner sprang a leak in the North Sea and was beached off Hartlepool, County Durham She was refloated on 6 May.

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6th May 1921

New York policemen turn into human traffic lights under a new plan by Traffic Commissioner John Harriss to relieve congestion and improve road safety. Ten patrolmen are outfitted with the lights on and around Fifth Avenue.


Ship Losses:

Sao Paulo (Brazil) The cargo ship sank at Rio de Janeiro.

[Jimbuna]

7th May 1921

French politician Guist'hau reviews marines at Clignancourt barracks.