100 Years Ago Today

[Jimbuna]

1st February 1920

[February 1st, 1920] "Our New Year's gifts for 1920. Everything increases, especially taxes" (Petit Journal)


Ship Losses:

Berrima (United Kingdom) The passenger ship ran aground off Margate, Kent. She was refloated the next day by the tugs HMT Firm ( Royal Navy), Java, Lady Brassey, Lady Duncan and Scotia (all United Kingdom).
Ruth Hickman (United Kingdom) The schooner was driven ashore at Minard, Argyllshire and wrecked. Her crew were rescued by HMS Fearless ( Royal Navy).

[Jimbuna]

2nd February 1920

The Treaty of Tartu is signed between Estonia and the Soviet Union, bringing the end to the Estonian War of Independence.


Royal Canadian Mounted Police is formed with the merger of the Royal North-West Mounted Police and the Dominion Police.


Ship Losses:

C.J.S. (United Kingdom) The barque sprang a leak and was abandoned in the Indian Ocean off Mauritius.
Kaskaskia (United States) The cargo ship caught fire at New York and was beached.
Kenora (United Kingdom) The cargo ship was abandoned in the Bristol Channel off Lundy Island, Devon. Her crew were rescued by an Admiralty trawler.

[Jimbuna]

3rd February 1920

Secty Daniels testifying before the Senate Committee investigating award of medals in the Navy. February 3, 1920.


Ship Losses:

Doris Andreta (United Kingdom) The schooner sprang a leak in the Atlantic Ocean (approximately 39°N 22°W). She was set afire and abandoned.

[Jimbuna]

4th February 1920

General Pershing, former Commander of the American Expeditionary Force, reviewing troops at Fort Sam Houston, Texas.


Ship Losses:

Francis Molison (United Kingdom) The schooner foundered in the North Sea 9 nautical miles (17 km) off the mouth of the River Tyne. Her crew were rescued by the trawler Dover Patrol ( United Kingdom).
Sterling (United Kingdom) The auxiliary schooner sank in Tees Bay.
Ville d'Alger (France) The cargo ship caught fire in the Indian Ocean off Réunion. She was abandoned at approximately 18°S 52°E.

[Jimbuna]

5th February 1920

Berlin: The German government refuses to turn over alleged war criminals to the Allies.

French Marshal Ferdinand Foch being received at the Institut de France, Paris.


Ship Losses:

Sybil (France) The cargo ship collided with Veratyr ( Denmark) off Barry, Glamorgan, United Kingdom and was beached.

[Jimbuna]

6th February 1920

Mexican authorities cross the Rio Grande to aid Texas Rangers in hunting down criminals and bootleggers.


Fifteen current and former Duluth, Minnesota police officers were reinstated after charges of drinking while on duty less than a month after Prohibition became the law of the land. Pictured are officers Herbert Cavanaugh and Jerry Gleeson, two of the 15 exonerated.


Ship Losses:

Bradboyne (United Kingdom) The cargo ship was abandoned in the Atlantic Ocean (43°36′N 36°10′W) after her cargo shifted. Six of her 31 crew were lost. Survivors were rescued by Monmouth ( United States) and Oxonian ( United Kingdom), which lost thirteen crew during the rescue when a lifeboat capsized.
Brookland (United States) The cargo ship caught fire at Havana, Cuba. She sank and was a total loss.
Hyltonia (United Kingdom) The cargo ship ran aground off Saint-Clément-des-Baleines, Finistère, France. Her crew were rescued. She was refloated on 5 March.
Polias (United States) The steamer ran aground on Old Cilly Ledge off Rockland, Maine in a snowstorm. 11 crew abandoned ship against orders and died. The rest of the crew left in boats the next day going to USCGC Acushnet ( United States Coast Guard). Later slid into deeper water.

[Jimbuna]

7th February 1920

Admiral Alexander Kolchak, Supreme Ruler of Russia, is executed by the Bolsheviks after he was captured last month.


French aviator Joseph Sadi-Lecointe breaks the world airspeed record by going 171 mph (275 km/h) in a Nieuport-Delage NiD 29V plane.


Ship Losses:

Princess Anne (United States) The passenger ship ran aground off Long Island. Her passengers and 29 of her crew were taken off by a United States Coast Guard cutter.

[Jimbuna]

8th February 1920

Herbert Hoover insisted he was not a candidate for the 1920 election and would back whoever supported the League of Nations.

In the Russian Civil War the Red Army takes the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Odessa.

In the Illustrated Sunday Herald, Winston Churchill posts that a national homeland for Jews in Palestine could combat the rise of Bolshevism.

[Jimbuna]

9th February 1920

The Svalbard Treaty, signed by members of the League of Nations in Paris, recognises the sovereignty of Norway over the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard (at this time called Spitzbergen), while giving the other signatories economic rights in the islands.

An uprising by Turkish forces occur in the city of Urfa (***350;anl***305;urfa, Turkey) against occupying French forces. Turkish militiamen.

[Jimbuna]

10th February 1920

"GENERAL MARSH RECEVIES "ANOTHER" MEDAL. General Peyton C. March, Chief of Staff U.S.A. today added another medal to his already large collection. This time it was Major Teisauna, of the Rumanian Legation who decorated the General with the Order of the Crown of Rumania."


Poland carries out a ceremony “Wedding to the Sea” as it regains access to the Baltic Sea from Germany. Painting of the event by Wojciech Kossak.


In a plebiscite for Northern Schleswig, 74.9% of the population votes to leave Germany and join Denmark.


Ship Losses:

Pylos (Germany) The cargo ship ran aground at Spannholmen, Utsira, Norway. She broke in two; the stern section sank with the loss of ten of her crew.

[Jimbuna]

11th February 1920

Major General Jan Syrový, commander of the Czechoslovak Legion in Siberia.


Tirana becomes the new capital of Albania after the Congress of Lushnjë.


Dispatch from Bolshevik controlled Moscow claims the ship Karantin, packed with 1400 refugees left Mariupol, Yekaterinoslav (Now in Ukraine). Dispatch claims that White Russian forces fired on the ship causing a huge explosion, quickly sinking the ship and killing everyone on board.


Ship Losses:

Douglas Adams (Canada) The schooner sprang a leak and was abandoned in the Atlantic Ocean 20 nautical miles (37 km) north north east of Castro, Spain. Her crew were rescued by Spanish fishing boats. Douglas Adams was later towed into Bilbao.
Gregor (Germany) The passenger ship ran aground at Kylios, Ottoman Turkey. She broke up and was a total loss. One hundred and fifty of her 200 passengers were rescued by rocket apparatus.
Imperator Pierre le Grand (France) The cargo ship struck a mine and sank in the Black Sea off Varna, Romania. Her crew survived.
Northwestern (United States) The tanker caught fire at Galveston, Texas and was beached. She burnt out and was a total loss.
West Aleta (United States) The Design 1019 cargo ship ran aground on Terschelling, Netherlands. Her crew were rescued.

[Jimbuna]

12 February 1920

Congressman and former Speaker of the House Joseph Gurney Cannon reads the Gettysburg Address on the anniversary of President Lincoln’s birthday.

[Jimbuna]

13th February 1920

Secretary of State Robert Lansing resigns due to disagreements with President Wilson on the role of the League of Nations. Lansing was also accused of usurping presidential authority after Wilson suffered his stroke.


Ship Losses:

Giacomo Pittalugo (Italy) The schooner foundered off the coast of Spanish Morocco. Her crew survived.
Marie Louise H (United Kingdom) The schooner sprang a leak in the Atlantic Ocean (34°08***8242;N 15°32***8242;W). She was set afire and abandoned. All on board were rescued by Molière ( France)
Sahara (France) The cargo ship sprang a leak in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Portugal. She was beached at Leixões.

[Jimbuna]

14th February 1920

Street scene in Seoul, Korea, currently under Japanese colonial rule.


Ship Losses:

Nobility (United Kingdom) The schooner came ashore on the east coast of Barbados and was wrecked.

[Jimbuna]

15th February 1920

French troops occupy the city of Memel (Klaip***279;da, Lithuania), as Germany gives up the region as part of the peace treaty. French military mission in the city.


Crowds in Sydney greet Ross and Keith Smith, the first people to travel from Britain to Australia in an airplane.


Ship Losses

Regina (Norway) The schooner was discovered abandoned in the North Sea. Her crew were rescued by Fritiof ( Sweden). Regina was towed into IJmuiden, Netherland by the trawler Eendracht II ( Netherlands).