This date in history

[Aktungbby]

On May 4, 1624, two years after the Pilgrim's Captain Jones' death in 1622, an application was made to the Admiralty court for an appraisal of the aged Mayflower-originally a wine-hauler with room for 180 casks, by three of her owners including Jones' widow, Mrs. Josian (Joan) Jones. This appraisal probably was made to determine the valuation of the ship for the purpose of settling the estate of its late master. The appraisal was made by four mariners and shipwrights of Rotherhithe, home and burial place of Captain Jones, where the Mayflower was apparently then lying in the Thames mud rotting at London. The appraisement is extant and provides information on ship's gear on board at that time as well as equipment such as muskets and other arms. The ship may have been laid up since Jones' death and allowed to get out of repair, as that is what the appraisal indicates.
What finally became of the Mayflower is an unsettled issue. Per Banks, an English historian of the Pilgrim ship, claims that this historic ship was finally broken up, with her timbers used in the construction of a barn at Jordans village in Buckinghamshire. At the present time, within the grounds of Old Jordan in South Buckinghamshire is what tradition calls the Mayflower Barn. In 1624 Thomas Russell supposedly added to part of a farmhouse already there with timbers from a ship, believed to be from the Pilgrim ship Mayflower, bought from a shipbreaker's yard in Rotherhithe.

wiki < No verifiable proof of the timbers origin notwithstanding; only oral tradition: the Mayflower Barn; Old Jordans, Buckinghamshire

[Jimbuna]

1791 Colonel Napoléon Bonaparte is promoted to General and appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Armies of the French Republic.

1871 The first human cannonball, Emilio Onra, is fired.

1916 HMHS Britannic sinks in the Aegean Sea after a mine explodes, killing 30 people.

1918 The German High Seas Fleet of 5 battlecruisers, 9 battleships, 7 cruisers and 49 destroyers surrendered to the British Grand Fleet and were shepherded into the Firth of Forth.

1942 Hitler names field marshal Erich von Manstein commander of the newly-created Army Group Don (Heeresgruppe Don).

1967 Vietnam War: American General William Westmoreland tells news reporters: "I am absolutely certain that whereas in 1965 the enemy was winning, today he is certainly losing."

1977 First flight of Concorde (London to New York).

2002 NATO invites Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia to become members.

[Jimbuna]

1941 British cruiser Devonshire sinks German auxiliary cruiser Atlantis.

1963 American President John F. Kennedy assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas, Texas.

[Aktungbby]

1718: Edward Teach, known to history as BLACKBEARD dies in battle aboard his own pirate ship off North Carolina. One of history's more fearsome self-image promoters with burning fuse-matches in his hair and beard...he went down fighting to the end truly living up to billing:

The two sloops set out for Blackbeard's hideout at Ocracoke Island and arrived on late November 21, 1718. The next morning, the battle began. The two leased sloops, HMS Jane and HMS Ranger, were unarmed so they had to fight only with small guns and swords, but Blackbeard's sloop Adventure had 9 guns so he was able to fire at the approaching sloops. At their approach, Adventure set sail and fired at the sloops but there was very little wind so there was not much speed in the chase so oars were needed. Ranger was essentially knocked out from a lethal broadside shot from Adventure so Maynard moved in alone with Jane. Jane managed to damage Adventure enough, and Maynard ordered most of his crew below decks to bluff Blackbeard into thinking the crew was killed.(SHADES of Master andCommander here!) His bluff worked, when the two ships were alongside one another, Blackbeard and several of his crew boarded Jane. At this time, Maynard's armed and waiting crew below deck surfaced and a raging hand-to-hand battle ensued. Soon Maynard and Blackbeard were fighting each other in duel of naval officer versus pirate - a fight between good and evil. After Blackbeard wounded Maynard's fingers with a cutlass blow, Maynard moved back and shot him but had little effect in stopping Blackbeard. Several other Jane crewmen fought with Blackbeard after this before his numerous wounds eventually overcame him. (It has also been stated that Blackbeard was decapitated by a sword blow to the back of the head during the fighting rather than getting his head removed after his death.) Maynard later commented that Blackbeard fell with at least five gun shot wounds and at least 20 sword wounds. Blackbeard's severed head was hung from Maynard's sloop's bowsprit as a trophy and also to prove that the legendary Blackbeard the pirate was indeed dead

The Royal Navy came out...ahead on this one! Blackbeard's flag: 'Pierce the heart and drink to the Devil' was user specific: "no Quarter given". http://www.encyclopedia.com/people/history/us-history-biographies/blackbeard <Great pic; but the flags not right!

[Mr Quatro]

That's a great painting Aktungbby ... I don't usually like paintings, but that one has action to it, must have been hard to paint the spray's of water too.

As for the Mayflower survey crew ... I was always taught to never trust a dry bilge. They're trying to hide something.

[Jimbuna]

1869 In Dumbarton, Scotland, the clipper Cutty Sark is launched - one of the last clippers ever built, and the only one still surviving.

[Jimbuna]

1944 US bombers based on Saipan begin 1st attack on Tokyo.

1950 UN troops begin an assault intending to end Korean War by Christmas.

1954 Air Force One, first US Presidential airplane, christened.

1955 1st test flight of Fokker's F-27 Friendship.

1981 1st air-launched cruise missile tested.

2012 Gangnam Style becomes the most viewed youtube video surpassing 808 million views.

[Jimbuna]

1783 Britain evacuates New York city, its last military position in United States.

1867 Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel patents dynamite.

1876 Indian Wars: In retaliation for the American defeat at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, United States Army troops sack Chief Dull Knife's sleeping Cheyenne village at the headwaters of the Powder River.

1940 First flights of the de Havilland Mosquito and Martin B-26 Marauder.

1943 U-600 sinks in Atlantic Ocean.

1944 World War II: A German V-2 rocket hits a Woolworth's store in Deptford, United Kingdom, killing 160 shoppers.

1983 World's greatest robbery 26 million pounds worth of gold, diamonds & cash stolen from the Brink's-Mat warehouse at Heathrow Airport, England.

[Aktungbby]

1876 Indian Wars: In retaliation for the American defeat at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, United States Army troops sack Chief Dull Knife's sleeping Cheyenne village at the headwaters of the Powder River.

An unfortunate mis-translation of history: Dull Knife was his Lakota Sioux name-given in battle; his Cheyenne name was Morning Star (Cheyenne: Vóóhéhéve. He was noted for his active resistance to Western expansion and the Federal government. Transported to the Indian Territory in Oklahoma and unable to hunt, the tribe began to suffer from starvation and disease until September 1878, when Morning Star began to lead the tribe back toward their ancient homelands. He lead his people in a 1,500 mile long journey back to their homeland, where his people wanted to live. The retreat did not come easy and it was not as successful as they hoped it would. Fighting through, the Cheyenne were able to outmaneuver Federal troops in the until they were captured near Fort Robinson in Nebraska. The tribe was said to have taken apart their guns, hidden under blankets or worn as necklaces and bracelets by children. On January 8, 1879, the tribe again tried to escape north when most of the Cheyenne, mostly women and children, were killed by Federal troops. Of those who attempted the break for freedom, 64 were killed, and 78, most of them wounded, were recaptured. However a few of the tribe managed to escape, including Dull Knife. For ten days they lived in terrible conditions before, on January 9, 1879, they stumbled upon Pine Ridge Agency which was at South Dakota. Many months later the Northern Cheyenne were given a reservation in Montana, forced by public opinion to establish a reservation for the northern Cheyenne on the Tongue and Rosebud rivers — the Tongue River Reservation. It is due to the courage and determination of Morning Star and other Cheyenne leaders that the Northern Cheyenne still possess a homeland in their traditional country (present-day Montana). Dull Knife College is in present- day Lame Deer, Montana. wiki

[Jimbuna]

1778 British explorer Captain Cook discovers Maui in the Sandwich Islands (now Hawaii).

1789 1st national Thanksgiving in America.

1914 Battleship HMS Bulwark explodes at Sheerness Harbour, England, 788 die.

1922 English archaeologist Howard Carter opens Tutankhamun's virtually intact tomb in Egypt.

1941 Japanese naval carrier force left its base & moves east toward Pearl Harbor.

1944 Himmler orders destruction of Auschwitz & Birkenau crematoria.

1969 Cream's final concert (Royal Albert Hall).

2003 Concorde makes its last ever flight over Bristol, England.

[Jimbuna]

1967 French President Charles de Gaulle said 'Non!' to British entry to the European Common Market for the second time.

[Jimbuna]

1916 1st German air attack on London.

1918 Kaiser Wilhelm II of Prussia & Germany abdicates.

1919 US-born Lady Astor elected first female member of British House of Commons.

1934 Winston Churchill tells British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin not to under estimate German air power.

1944 400 Rotterdammers attack coal warehouse. In reprisal 40 Dutch men are executed by Nazis.

1958 US reports first full-range firing of an ICBM.

[Jimbuna]

1812 Napoleon's Grand Army crosses Berezina River in retreat from Russia.

1887 US receives rights to Pearl Harbor, on Oahu, Hawaii.

1917 A Supreme Allied War Council meets at Versailles to define war aims.

1941 Passenger ship Lurline sends radio signal of sighting Japanese war fleet.

1943 U-86 sinks in Atlantic Ocean.

1972 Co-founder of Atari, Nolan Bushnell releases Pong, 1st commercially successful video game in Andy Capp's Tavern in Sunnyvale, California.

[Jimbuna]

1776 Captain Cook begins 3rd & last trip to Pacific (South Sea).

1782 Britain signs agreement recognizing US independence.

1909 British House of Lords rejects David Lloyd George's 'People's Budget', which tried to shift tax burden to the wealthy. Leads to the Parliament Act; intent to stop unelected house overruling will of the elected house.

1939 21 U boats sunk this month (52,000 ton).

1940 32 U boats sunk this month (147,000 ton).

1941 Japanese Emperor Hirohito consults with admirals Shimada & Nagano.

1942 109 U boats sunk this month (729,000 ton).

1942 German supply vessel Uckermark (formerly called the Altmark) explodes & sinks off Yokohama.

1982 US submarine Thomas Edison collides with US Navy destroyer in South China Sea.

[Oberon]

1956 - A woman in Alabama is hit by a meteorite:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astro...pace_rock.html