100 Years Ago Today

[Jimbuna]

29th May 1920

Ship Losses:

Cypress (United States) The 33-gross register ton fishing vessel was wrecked on a shoal in Dry Bay on the south-central or southeast coast of the Territory of Alaska. Her crew of four survived. The wreck report does not specify in which of several bays of the name the loss took place. Her gasoline engine was salvaged.

[Jimbuna]

30th May 1920

George Ernest Morrison, political advisor to the Republic of China and a collector of books on Asia, has passed away. He is credited for influencing China’s decision to join the Great War against Germany.


Former Russian General Aleksei Brusilov publishes an article in Pravda appealing for all former Tsarist officers to join the Red Army to defend the country in the Polish-Soviet War.

[Jimbuna]

31st May 1920

Oil tanker SS Selma, an experimental ship made out of concrete, hits a jetty and suffers damage. (Efforts to repair the ship fails and it is scuttled in 1922)


Actors Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford on board the SS Lapland in their honeymoon, 1920.

[Jimbuna]

1st June 1920

Adolfo de la Huerta becomes the new President of Mexico as the country transitions to peace after the near decade-long Mexican Revolution.


Ship Losses:

Little Florence (United Kingdom) The sailing ship foundered in the English Channel off Paimpol, Côtes-du-Nord, France.

[Jimbuna]

2nd June 1920

A beggar running alongside King George V’s carriage while heading to the Epsom Derby.

[Jimbuna]

3rd June 1920

US Battleship USS Tennessee is launched (USS Tennessee will survive the Pearl Harbor Attack and participate in numerous Pacific War battles).


Ship Losses:

Samos (Greece) The cargo ship ran aground at Pointe Fern, Ouessant, Finistère, France. She broke in two on 11 June and was a total loss.

[Jimbuna]

4th June 1920

Treaty of Trianon is signed between the Allied Powers and the Kingdom of Hungary, officially ending the state of war and reducing Hungary to 28% of its prewar territory. Hungarian delegates heading to sign the treaty at Versailles.

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5th June 1920

The UNOVIS group pose for a photograph. Founded at the Vitebsk Art School by Kazimir Malevich, the group leaves a lasting influence on avant-garde art in Russia and abroad.

[Jimbuna]

6th June 1920

Germany holds its federal election, with Chancellor Herman Müller’s Social Democratic Party losing a third of its seats. With no party winning more than 21.9% of the vote, protracted negotiations to form a government ensues. Scenes from the election.


Birthday ceremony for King George V is celebrated today (his actual birthday is on June 3rd). Winston Churchill is in the foreground on the right.

[Jimbuna]

7th June 1920

King George V tries his hands at brick laying at an instructional factory for former servicemen.


Men of the German Reichswehr, 2nd Pioneer Battalion in Stettin (Szczecin, Poland)


Ship Losses:

Britannia (United Kingdom) The barque foundered in the North Sea 125 nautical miles (232 km) east by north of Spurn Point, Yorkshire with the loss of a crew member. Survivors were rescued by the trawler Dragon ( United Kingdom).
Irmgard (United States) The schooner was wrecked at Suva, Fiji.
Pak Ling (United Kingdom) The cargo ship ran aground on Button Island, East China Sea. She was refloated on 15 June.

[Jimbuna]

8th June 1920

Ship Losses:

Berwyn (United States) The cargo ship struck rocks off Sharbithat, Oman (17°50′N 57°22′E): She refloated but consequently foundered. Her 54 crew were rescued by Katiagallus (flag unknown).

[Jimbuna]

9th June 1920

American boy scouts collecting clothing and shoes for those affected by the Great War in Europe.


An 18-inch naval gun, and beneath it, a 4-inch naval gun that fired the first British shot in the Great War. Displayed at the Crystal Palace in London, the exhibit will be opened today.

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10th June 1920

The Polish offensive in Ukraine against the Soviets is defeated, and Polish armies begin retreating in the face of the Red Army counteroffensive. Soldiers of the 3rd Polish Army retreating from Kiev (the city falls on the 13th)

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11th June 1920

A vocational therapy workshop for convalescent American veterans.


Ship Losses:

Boswell (United Kingdom) The tug struck a mine and sank in the North Sea off Terschelling, Netherlands with the loss of sixteen of her 22 crew. Survivors were rescued a Dutch tug.

[Jimbuna]

12th June 1920

Experimental ship made out of concrete SS Cuyamaca being launched in San Diego.


Mehmed VI, the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. His role is substantially diminished after the defeat in the Great War and as Mustafa Kemal leads the Turkish Independence movement in Anatolia.