On This Day:
Saturday September 3, 2011
This is the 246th day of the year, with 119 days
remaining in 2011.
Fact of the Day: Titanic
Almost 75 years after the Titanic sunk in the North Atlantic
after striking an iceberg, a joint American-French
expedition led by marine geologist Dr. Robert Ballard
located the wreck. The luxury liner was resting on the ocean
floor 12,500 feet down - about 350 miles southeast of
Newfoundland, Canada. Ballard returned about a year later to
explore the ship with underwater robots. As a result of the
disaster, the first International Convention for Safety of
Life at Sea was called in London in 1913. The convention
drew up rules requiring that every ship have lifeboat space
for each person embarked; that lifeboat drills be held
during each voyage; and (because the distress signals of the
Titanic had not been heard) that ships maintain a 24-hour
radio watch. The International Ice Patrol also was
established to warn ships of icebergs in the North Atlantic
shipping lanes.
Holidays
San
Marino's St. Marinus' Day or Republic Day.
Venezuela:
Civil Servants' Day.
Events
1189
- Richard
I (Richard
the Lion-Hearted) was crowned King of England
at Westminster
Abbey.
1609
- Henry
Hudson discovered the island of Manhattan.
1777
- The flag Stars
and Stripes was flown in battle for the first time at
Cooch's Bridge, Maryland
during the Revolutionary
War.
1783
- Treaty
of Paris officially ended the Revolutionary
War between the United
States and Great
Britain. It was signed by representatives of the United
States, Great
Britain, Spain,
and France,
and the United
States became a free and independent nation.
1838
- Frederick
Douglass escaped slavery. He became an abolitionist,
orator, writer, and diplomat.
1888
- George
Eastman patented his roll film camera and registered
the Kodak
name.
1935
- New land speed record was set by Britain's Malcolm
Campbell in the Bluebird at Bonneville
Salt Flats, Utah.
The car averaged 301 mph.
1939
- Britain
and France
declared war on Germany,
two days after the Nazi invasion of Poland.
New
Zealand and Australia
joined in on the same day.
1939
- Passenger liner Athenia,
transporting women and children to the United
States, was torpedoed and sunk by a German U-boat.
One-hundred and twelve people died.
1943
- British Field Marshal Bernard
Montgomery began the Allied invasion of the Italian
peninsula, landing in Calabria.
1967
- Nguyen
Van Thieu elected president of South
Vietnam under a new constitution.
1967
- Sweden
switched from driving on the left- to the right-hand side of
the road.
1976
- Unmanned U.S. spacecraft Viking
II landed on Mars,
taking the first close-up color photographs of the planet.
1978
- Pope
John Paul I installed as 264th pontiff of the Roman
Catholic Church.
1995
- The online auction Web site eBay
was founded in San
Jose, California
by computer programmer Pierre
Omidyar as AuctionWeb.
Births
1728
- Matthew
Boulton, British engineer, inventor, and partner of James
Watt.
1856
- Louis
H. Sullivan, American architect of the first modern
skyscrapers and writer.
1913
- Alan
Ladd, American actor.
1915
- Kitty
Carlisle, American actress.
1923
- Mort
Walker, American cartoonist.
1964
- Adam
Curry, Internet
entrepreneur.
1965
- Charlie
Sheen (Carlos Irwin Estevez), American actor.
1986
- Shaun
White, American professional snowboarder
and skateboarder.
Deaths
1658
- Oliver
Cromwell, English soldier and statesman.
1948
- Edvard
Beneš, President
of Czechoslovakia.
1962
- E.E.
Cummings, American poet and painter.
1970
- Vince
Lombardi, American pro football coach.
1991
- Frank
Capra, American motion-picture director.
2005
- William
Rehnquist, Chief
Justice of the United States.
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