100 Years Ago Today

[Jimbuna]

22nd February 1921

Ceremony at the base of the Washington Memorial on Presidents Day.


Eton boys firemen demonstrating a life net to catch a jumper. The jumper is Charles Duncombe, 3rd Earl of Feversham.


Bogd Khan is reinstalled as the Khagan of Mongolia by forces led by Baron Roman von Ungern-Sternberg, an anticommunist Russian general. Bogd Kahn was deposed in 1919 when Chinese troops occupied Mongolia.

[Jimbuna]

23rd February 1921

A luncheon for U.S. General Staff members at the Army and Navy Club, Washington, D.C.


Tibetan soldiers on parade in the capital Lhasa.

[Jimbuna]

24th February 1921

First Lieutenant William DeVoe Coney completes the first transcontinental flight across the United States with only one fuel stop, with the journey taking 22.5 hours.


Ship Losses:

Minnie J. Smith (United Kingdom) The schooner sank off Wabana, Dominion of Newfoundland.
San Pasqual (United States) The cargo ship ran aground off Port Eads, Louisiana. She was refloated on 28 February.

[Jimbuna]

25th February 1921

The Russian Red Army captures the Georgian capital of Tbilisi, less than two weeks since the start of the invasion and less than three years since Georgia’s independence from Russia. Red Army troops in Tbilisi.

[Jimbuna]

26th February 1921

American destroyer U.S.S. Woolsey is accidentally rammed and sunk by the merchant ship SS Steel Inventor. 17 sailors are killed.


British soldiers search passengers at Fermoy Station, Ireland during the Irish War of Independence. IRA forces had ambushed British troops at Upton train station last week.


Ship Losses:

Gregorios (Greece) The cargo ship foundered off Gibraltar. Her crew were rescued by Penmoroah ( United Kingdom).

[Jimbuna]

27th February 1921

London Conference, Lloyd George, Briand, Foch at Chequers.


Ship Losses:

Suzanna (United Kingdom) The schooner was abandoned in the Atlantic Ocean (46°50′N 7°00′W). Her crew were rescued by Archimedes ( United Kingdom).

[Jimbuna]

28th February 1921

The Kronstadt Rebellion begins, as mutinous Russian sailors revolt against the Bolsheviks. The rebels issue 15 demands, asking for freedom of speech and press as well as new elections.


The Kronstadt rebellion is initiated by sailors of the Soviet Navy's Baltic Fleet.


Ship Losses:

Huntspill (United Kingdom) The cargo ship sank at Southampton, Hampshire.

[Jimbuna]

1st March 1921

Protestors in Dublin demonstrate against the execution of IRA members.


Welsh Guard soldiers fashioning leeks on their caps for St. David’s Day.

[Jimbuna]

2nd March 1921

U.S. Congressman William E. Mason calls Japan’s colonial control over Korea “the most reprehensible and cowardly of any nation in history.” Yesterday marked the 2nd anniversary of large-scale Korean independence demonstrations against Japan, known as the March 1st Movement.


Anti-Bolshevik rebels capture Kronstadt fortress, located on an island west of Petrograd (St. Petersburg). The Bolsheviks hurriedly muster troops to retake the fortress before ice over the Gulf of Kronstadt melts in the spring, which would make an assault much more difficult.


Ship Losses:

Charlot (France) The brigantine was destroyed by fire.

[Jimbuna]

3rd March 1921

Passenger ship SS Hong Moh runs aground in a storm off the coast of Swatow (Shantou, China) with the loss of around 900 lives.


19-year-old Crown Prince Hirohito of Japan begins a tour of Europe. He will sail on the battleship IJN Katori.


Ship Losses:

Anna Laura McKenney (United States) The schooner was wrecked at Puerto México. Veracruz, Mexico.
Appolonia Italy The cargo ship was wrecked at İnebolu, Turkey.[66]
Hong Moh (United Kingdom) The passenger ship struck the White Rocks off Lamock Island near Swatow, China and sank with the loss of about 1,000 lives. HMS Carlisle, HMS Foxglove (both Royal Navy) and Shansi (flag unknown) rescued 294 survivors between them.
Maria (Greece) The cargo ship caught fire and sank in the Mediterranean Sea off Phourni, Crete.
Megali Hellas (Greece) The cargo ship ran aground off Kum Kale, Turkey. She was refloated on 8 March.
Omega (United States) The barquentine departed Hobart, Tasmania, Australia for Lyttelton, New Zealand. No further trace; presumed foundered in the Pacific Ocean with the loss of all hands.
Tipperary (United Kingdom) The schooner was abandoned off Trepassey, Newfoundland.

[Jimbuna]

4th March 1921

The massive Caproni Ca.60 seaplane crashes on its second flight, destroying the plane. The pilot and flight engineers were unhurt.


Ship Losses:

HMS Gloaming (Royal Navy) The Admiralty-type drifter was wrecked on the coast of England near The Lizard.

[Jimbuna]

5th March 1921

Brigadier General Hanway Robert Cumming is killed by IRA forces in an ambush at Clonbanin, County Cork. He is one of the highest-ranking British officers to be killed in the Irish War of Independence.


Ship Losses:

Madimba (Belgium) The cargo ship collided with Italier ( Belgium) in the North Sea off the Ruytingen Lighthouse (51°19′N 2°06′E) and sank with the loss of all 43 crew.

[Jimbuna]

6th March 1921

The Petrograd Soviet meeting in Petrograd (St. Petersburg). The city is currently under martial law, as rebel troops have captured the island of Kronstadt a few miles west of the city.

[Jimbuna]

7th March 1921

Negotiations between Germany and Allies over the details of reparations payments ends with no agreement reached. German Foreign Minister Walter Simons and ambassador Friedrich Sthamer in London.


Bolshevik forces launch its first counterattack against anti-Bolshevik rebels that took over the port city of Kronstadt, but the attack fails with heavy losses. Soviet artillery targeting the rebels.


Auxiliaries of the Royal Irish Constabulary assassinate George Clancy, the Sinn Féin mayor of Limerick, and his predecessor Michael O’Callaghan. The funeral of George Clancy and Michael O’Callaghan.


Ship Losses:

Swan (United Kingdom) The trawler was sunk in a collision with Edgemont ( United States) in the Atlantic Ocean at (49°26′N 11°14′W).

[Jimbuna]

8th March 1921

Eduardo Dato, the Prime Minister of Spain, is assassinated by Catalan anarchists while he was being driven from the parliament building.


French and Belgian troops enter and occupy the German cities of Düsseldorf, Duisburg, and Ruhrort to exert pressure on Germany to resolve the diplomatic stalemate over the reparations agreement.


Ship Losses:

Ernemore (United Kingdom) The cargo ship struck a submerged wreck at Constantinople, Turkey and was beached.
Mosken (Norway) The cargo liner was wrecked at Dragnes, north-west of Hadseløya, Norway.