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[ardarossan]

February 11th...
 
1573: Francis Drake sees the Pacific for the first time, from a vantage point near the top of a tree in Panama.
 
1809: Robert Fulton patents his steamboat in the U.S. on February 11 1809. He adds a supplement on February 09, 1811.
 
1813: 200 Currachs were fishing off Bruckless Bay, Donegal, Ireland. When the shoal of herring they were catching, moved out to sea, it was followed by the fragile boats. Unfortunately, they were caught by a sudden storm which capsized most of them, and over 80 fishermen drowned.
A Currach is a type of Irish boat with a wooden frame, over which animal skins or hides were once stretched, though now canvas is more usual. It is sometimes anglicised as "Curragh". The construction and design of the currach are unique to the west coasts of Ireland and Scotland, with variations in size and shape by region.
 
Link to Plans & Drawings of various Currachs, from the book "British Coracles and Irish Currachs"
 

A Currach on the shore in Inishbofin, Galway

1847: Thomas Alva Edison born in Milan, Ohio, USA. He was the seventh and last child of Samuel Ogden Edison, Jr. and Nancy Matthews Elliott.
Thomas Edison would go on to become the fourth most prolific inventor in history, holding 1,093 US patents in his name, as well as many patents in the United Kingdom, France, and Germany.
 

"Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration." Thomas Eddison, 1902.

1893: SS 'Naronic', built by Harland and Wolff in Belfast for the White Star Line, was lost at sea after leaving Liverpool bound for New York. For this voyage, 'Naronic' had a crew of 50, plus 24 cattlemen to attend to the ship's primary cargo, livestock. After leaving Liverpool, she stopped briefly at Point Lynas, Anglesey, North Wales, to put her Maritime pilot ashore before heading west into heavy seas, never to be seen again. The ship's fate is a mystery that remains unsolved to this day.
 
1907: During the night of 11th/12 February, off Rhode Island's Block Island, the 250ft passenger side-wheel steamer, 'Larchmont' was sailing through a blizzard when she was struck by a coal-hauling schooner, the 'Harry Knowlton'. The 'Knowlton' tore into the 'Larchmont', causing her to keel over and fill with freezing water. The boilers exploded, filling the ship with steam, and within 15 minutes the 'Larchmont' had sunk taking most of her passengers to their deaths. Reasonable estimates put the death toll between 183 and 200, but couldn't be confirmed as the only copy of the passenger list went down with the ship. There were 17 survivors. The incident would be Rhode Island’s worst maritime disaster of the 20th century.
 

Illustration of SS Larchmont

1942: The Channel Dash, (codenamed Operation Cerberus by the Germans), was a major naval engagement during World War II in which a German Kriegsmarine squadron consisting of 'Scharnhorst', 'Gneisenau', and heavy cruiser 'Prinz Eugen' along with escort destroyers 'Paul Jakobi', 'Richard Beitzen', 'Friedrich Ihn', 'Hermann Schoemann', Z-25, and Z-29, ran a British blockade and sailed from Brest in Brittany to their home bases in Germany via the English Channel. Scharnhorst struck two mines while passing through the English Channel but entered Wilhelmshaven on the 13th February.
 
1971: Eighty-seven countries, including UK, USA, and USSR, sign the Seabed Treaty outlawing the placement of nuclear weapons on the ocean floor in international waters.
 
1977: Off Nova Scotia, a fisherman catches a 20.2 kg lobster. It is the world's heaviest known crustacean.
 
1999: Aground for a week on a beach north of Coos Bay, Oregon, the MV 'New Carissa', a 639ft wood-chip freighter, was being battered by the surf and had started to leak oil from two of her fuel tanks. An inspection revealed that yesterday's attempt to burn-off the fuel in her tanks hadn't been unsuccessful, with only one tank having burned.
A second attempt was made today by explosive experts from the US Navy, using 39 shaped charges to breach the top of the fuel tanks, and 2,280 litres of Napalm with nearly 180 kg of plastic explosives to ignite the fuel within the cargo holds.
When the explosives were detonated, a giant fireball burst up into the sky, and a plume of thick, black, oily smoke, belching out from the holds, confirmed the diesel & bunker fuel had set alight. The fire would continue to burn for approximately 33 hours.
 

Offshore view of 'New Carissa' as explosives are detonated within her hull

[Capt Podge]

Wednesday, 12th February 1941   The German battlecruiser 'Admiral Hipper' encountered a Freetown to UK convoy of nineteen ships, she sank five of them, one of which was 'SS Derrynane' (4,684t) Laurenco Marques, Portuguese East-Africa, to the Humber with a cargo of iron ore.
 
 
Regards,
 
Ray.
 

[ardarossan]

February 12th...

1502: Commanding a fleet of 15 ships with 800 men, Vasco da Gama sets sail from Lisbon, Portugal, on his second voyage to India.

1809: Charles Robert Darwin is born at his family home, The Mount, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The fifth of six children of wealthy society doctor and financier Robert Darwin, and Susannah Darwin (née Wedgwood). Later, his five-year voyage on HMS Beagle would establish him as an eminent geologist and publication of his 'journal of the voyage' would make him famous as a popular author.

1909: SS 'Penguin', a New Zealand inter-island ferry, set sail from Picton for an evening crossing to Wellington, but ran into a storm. The captain, uncertain of his exact position due to poor visibility, decided to head further out to sea until the weather improved. As the ship turned, it struck an (unconfirmed) object and seawater rushed in. When the cold seawater reached the the boilers, the resulting explosion tore the ship apart. The lifeboats were launched, but many capsized, tipping passengers into the heavy seas or trapping them underneath. Of the 102 people on board, 72 people drowned.
The incident was New Zealand's worst maritime disaster of the 20th century.

'Penguin' in the French Pass N.Z. Originally built by Tod & MacGregor, Glasgow, 1839.

1915: One of the biggest air raids of World War I occured, when 34 planes from the British Naval Wing attacked three German-occupied coastal towns in Belgium. One of their targets was Zeebrugge, which the Germans were using as an operations base for their deadly submarine warfare, and from where they planned to blockade the Belgian coast.
The raids were successful, causing massive damage to the occupying military force. Despite coming under heavy German anti-aircraft fire, not a single Allied plane was shot down and no Allied lives were lost.

1927: The first contingent of British troops land in Shanghai to begin protection of British citizens from the Chinese Civil War that was threatening the city. Within a week, 21 warships from the U.S., Britain, Japan, France and Italy had anchored at the Huangpu River.

1935: One of the two largest helium-filled rigid airships, USS 'Macon' (ZRS-5), built and operated by the United States Navy, suffers a structural failure and loses a tail fin during a storm over California's Big Sur coast. Despite losing gas, it takes 20 minutes for her to descend into the sea off Monterey Bay where she sank, along with four Curtiss F9C Sparrowhawk biplanes still stowed in their bays inside her hull.

Flying aircraft-carrier USS 'Macon' over New York City.

1944: The 'Oria', was a Norwegian steamship commandeered by the Germans to transport Italian prisoners-of-war from the Dodecanese Islands (Rhodes etc.) to Piraeus, Greece. Whilst carrying (well) in excess of 4,000 Italian POW's, approximately 90 Germans (guards & transfers), and the ships crew, she ran into a severe storm near the island of Patroklos and sank close to the Gaidaroneos Reef off  Cape Sounion.
With more than four thousand casualties, this was one of the worst maritime disasters ever, and possibly the worst loss of life caused by the sinking of a single ship in the Mediterranean Sea. Varying sources estimate there were between 20 and 60 survivors.

1946: At 1004hrs. the Type XXI boat U-3514 received the distinction of being the last U-Boat sunk during Operation Deadlight. Operation Deadlight was the codename given to the routine scuttling of 116 captured German U-boats in deep water off the North-West coast of Ireland/West coast of Scotland. Further details at http://uboat.net/fates/deadlight_map.htm

1947: Off the coast of Point Mugu, California, the USS Cusk (SS-348) becomes the world's first missile submarine when she successfully launches a 'Loon' guided missile. USS Cusk website at http://www.usscusk.com/

USS 'Cusk' launching the first guided-missile from a submarine. 12th February 1946.

1999: A USCG helicopter is dwarfed in size as it surveys the ex-639ft wood-chip freighter 'New Carissa' which ran aground at Coos Bay, Oregon on the 4th February.
Unfortunately, the structural stress caused by the fire, combined with continued severe weather, caused the vessel to break into two sections around midnight of February 11th/12th. and whilst the fuel-oil fires were still burning, the hope of averting an ecologically disastrous oil spill was looking less likely...

The 'New Carissa' x 2, near Coos Bay, Oregon - 12th February 1999.

[ardarossan]

February 12th...
 
1944: Requisitioned as a British troopship, the 7,513-ton SS 'Khedive Ismail' was part of Convoy KR-8 sailing from Mombasa, Kenya to Colombo, Ceylon. The convoy consisted of five troop transports ('Khedive Ismail', 'City of Paris', 'Varsova', 'Ekma' & 'Ellenga'), escorted by the heavy cruiser HMS 'Hawkins' and the destroyers HMS 'Petard' and HMS 'Paladin'.

'Khedive Ismail' was carrying 1,511 personnel including 178 crew, 996 officers and men of the East African Artillery´s 301st Field Regiment, 271 Royal Navy personnel, and a detachment of 19 Wrens. Also on board were 53 nursing sisters accompanied by one matron, and 9 members of the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry.

In the early afternoon of Saturday 12th February 1944, the Japanese B1 type submarine I-27, attacked the convoy in the 'One and a Half Degree Channel', south-west of the Maldives, destroying the 'Khedive Ismail' with two torpedoes. She sank in just two minutes.

As survivors floundered in the sea, I-27 submerged and hid beneath them. While HMS 'Paladin' lowered boats over her side to rescue survivors, HMS 'Petard' raced in to launch a counter-attack. The grim reality of the situation becoming apparent as she began to release depth charges whilst the survivors were still in the water.

On 'Petard’s' third run, her depth charges forced I-27 to the surface. 'Paladin' rammed the submarine, in the process causing considerable damage to herself. Finally a torpedo from 'Petard' destroyed the I-27.

The sinking was the third worst Allied shipping disaster of World War II. 1,297 people were lost, including 77 women, the worst single loss of female personnel in the history of the British Commonwealth. There were 214 survivors, 208 men and 6 women.

SS 'Khedive Ismail' (formerly 'Aconcagua').

[ardarossan]

February 12th...

1997: Somewhat larger and a great deal heavier than the Billings Boat model of a similar subject, the sculpture of U.S.C.G. 44ft Motor Lifeboat '44363', mounted on top of a 7,300lbs block of Granite (below), is situated within the grounds of Station Quillayute River, La Push, Washington.

It is a memorial marking the tragic loss of three of the four Coast Guardsmen who responded to a distress call from a small demasted sailboat, the 'Gale Runner', in danger of sinking in the stormy North Pacific Ocean, off Washington State's Quillayute River Bar.

In the early morning, the four-man crew of '44363' had set out from C.G. Station Quillayute River towards the helpless 'Gale Runner'. Shortly after they crossed the treacherous Quillayute River bar, their Lifeboat was capsized by a towering wave. The lifeboat righted itself and the crew pressed on. The tumultuous sea struck again, this time tossing the boat stern over bow, before rolling her for a third time, ripping the superstructure off and battering her against the rocks.

At some point whilst this was happening, Boatswain's Mate Second Class David A. Bosley, Machinery Technician Matthew Schlimme, and Seaman Clinton Miniken were swept into the churning sea and drowned. Somehow, Seaman Apprentice Benjamin Wingo remained tethered, and was the only survivor aboard the severely damaged lifeboat. It was the first fatal sinking of this type in its 35-year history.

The two people aboard the battered sailboat were rescued by a Coast Guard helicopter crew moments before the boat also struck the rocks.

The C.G. Stn. Quillayute River Memorial

[Capt Podge]

Friday, 13th February 1942   'Motor Minesweeper 180' lost in a collision off the Tyne.
 
 Sunday, 13th February 1944   The Free French minesweeping trawler 'Cap D'Antifer' was torpedoed by an E Boat off the Humber.
 
 
Regards,
 
Ray.
 

[ardarossan]

February 13th...

1601: The East India Company's first voyage departs from Woolwich for the Spice Islands. The five-vessel fleet acomprise of, the 'Red Dragon' (renamed 'Scourge of Malice'), commanded by James Lancaster, the 'Hector' (300 tons), 'Ascension' (260 tons), 'Susan' (240 tons) and the 'Gift', a small victualler.

1633: Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei arrived in Rome for trial before the Inquisition for professing belief that earth revolves around the Sun
 
1718: (Admiral Sir) George Brydges Rodney (1st Baron Rodney, KB) was was baptized in St Giles-in-the-Fields. He was most likely born sometime in January 1718 either in Walton-on-Thames or in London, though the family seat was Rodney Stoke, Somerset. He was the third of four surviving children of Henry Rodney and Mary Rodney (born Mary Newton).
Rodney would be sent to Harrow School, his naval career beginning at the age of fourteen as a volunteer on board HMS Sunderland.

1782: The French fleet under de Grasse occupies St Christopher.

1831: Rear Admiral Sir Edward Berry, 1st Baronet, KCB (1768 - 13th February 1831), died at his residence in Bath, England, and was buried at nearby St Swithin’s Church, Walcot, Bath, (where his grave can still be seen).
He entered the British Royal Navy at the age of 10, as a volunteer aboard the 'Burford'.
He was known primarily for his role as flag captain of Rear Admiral Horatio Nelson's ship HMS Vanguard at the Battle of the Nile, until he received his knighthood on 12th December 1798 when he was also given the Freedom of the City of London.
He commanded HMS Agamemnon at the Battle of Trafalgar, and in 1921 became a Rear Admiral.

Captain Sir Edward Berry, 1768-1831, oil on canvas, by John Singleton Copley

1934: On 2nd August 1933, SS 'Chelyuskin', a recently completed Soviet steamship, reinforced to navigate through polar ice, left Murmansk with an expedition of 111 people on board to determine the possibility of a non-icebreaker passing through the Northern Maritime Route in a single navigation season. The steamship managed to get through most of the route before it was caught in the ice fields in September. After that it drifted in the ice pack, before it was eventually crushed and sank on 13th February 1934, near Kolyuchin Island in the Chukchi Sea.

1943: Avro Lancaster Mk III ED450 (EA-G) from 49 Squadron based at Fiskerton in Lincolnshire, caught a Barrage Balloon cable and crashed on the breakwater in Plymouth Sound as she returned from a raid on the U-boat pens at Lorient in France. The 5-man crew were never recovered.

2000: The last original "Peanuts" comic strip appears in newspapers one day after Charles M. Schulz dies.

[Capt Podge]

Wednesday, 14th February 1940   'SS Langleeford' (4,622t) steamer, Boston to the Tyne was torpedoed by U 26 about 70 miles from Fastnet. Four of her crew died.
'SS Tiberton' (5,225t) cargo ship, Narvik to Middlesbrough with iron ore, disappeared, possibly sunk by U 23. All 33 of her crew perished.
 
 
Regards,
 
Ray.
 

[ardarossan]

February 14th...

1779: Whilst Captain Cook's crew were making repairs to 'Resolution' in Kealakekua Bay, the theft of a ship's cutter by the Hawaiian islanders lead Captain Cook to put ashore to demand the return of the boat, possibly attempting to take the chief hostage to trade for the cutter's return.

Unfortunately, the situation escalated, and when the party turned to retreat from the beach, they were attacked by the islanders who clubbed Captain Cook to the ground. Lying face down in the surf, he was then stabbed to death, before the Hawaiians dragged his body away. Four of the Marines with Cook were also killed and two wounded in the confrontation.

Following an appeal by Captain Clerke and the crew, (some of) Cook's remains were eventually returned. After confirming that the remains were those of Captain Cook, they were placed into a coffin, and with great ceremony, were buried at sea on 21st February 1779.

Captain James Cook, FRS, RN (7th November 1728 - 14th February 1779)

World renowned as explorer and navigator, Cook's achievements in mapping the Pacific, New Zealand and Australia radically changed understanding of world geography and set the seal on the quality of British prepared charts which still exists today. His work led to the formation of the Royal Navy Survey Squadrons whose charts are second to none with every ship afloat carrying its share of Admiralty Charts.

[ardarossan]

February 14th...

1778: The United States Flag is formally recognized by a foreign naval vessel for the first time, when French Admiral Toussaint-Guillaume Picquet de la Motte rendered a nine gun salute to USS 'Ranger', commanded by John Paul Jones.

USS 'Ranger' receives a nine-gun salute

1797: The Battle of Cape St Vincent takes place. One of the opening battles of The Anglo-Spanish War (1796–1808), and part of the French Revolutionary Wars, the British fleet under Admiral Sir John Jervis defeating a larger Spanish fleet under Admiral Don José de Córdoba in a massive engagement near Cape St. Vincent, Portugal.

The Battle of Cape St Vincent

1813: USS 'Essex' becomes first United States warship to round Cape Horn and enter the Pacific Ocean.

The USS 'Essex'

1814: Frigate USS 'Constitution' captures British armed merchant vessel 'Lovely Ann' and British 16-gun schooner HMS 'Pictou' within hours of each other. 'Lovely Ann' is kept as a prize, whilst 'Pictou' is destroyed.

1879: The War of the Pacific breaks out when Chilean armed forces occupy the Bolivian port city of Antofagasta.

1939: The massive hull of the German battleship 'Bismarck' was launched at the Blohm & Voss Shipyard facilities in Hamburg. The launch ceremony was attended by thousands of people, government officials, military personalities, and yard workers. At the time of her launch she had a straight stem, although this would later be replaced with the Atlantic bow.

The launching of the 'Bismarck'

[ardarossan]

February 15th...
 
1493: The first known document announcing the results of the first voyage of Christopher Columbus that reached the Americas in 1492 was ostensibly written by Columbus himself, on February 15, 1493, aboard the 'Niña', while still at sea, on the return leg of his voyage. A post-script was added upon his arrival in Lisbon on May 4, 1493, and it was probably from there that Columbus dispatched two copies of his letter to the Spanish court.

Fullsize replica of Columbus' 'Nina'

1564: Galileo Galilei was born in Pisa (then part of the Duchy of Florence), Italy, the first of six children of Vincenzo Galilei (a famous lutenist, composer, and music theorist;) and Giulia Ammannati. Galileo would become a physicist, mathematician, astronomer, philosopher, and play a major role in the Scientific Revolution.

1856: USS 'Supply', commanded by LT David Dixon Porter, sails from Smyrna, Syria, bound for Indianola, Texas, with a load of 21 camels intended for experimental use in the American desert west of the Rockies.

1874: (Sir) Ernest Henry Shackleton, (CVO, OBE, FRGS) was born in Kilkea near Athy, County Kildare, Ireland, about 46 miles from Dublin. Ernest's father was Henry Shackleton, and his mother was Henrietta Letitia Sophia Gavan. Ernest was the second of their ten children and the first of two sons.
He would become an experienced polar explorer and recognised as one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.

1894: Possibly the first "international terrorist" incident in Britain occurs with an attempted bombing at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. The bomb was accidentally detonated while being held by 26-year-old French anarchist Martial Bourdin in Greenwich Park, near the Observatory building. With his hand completely missing and a gaping hole in his stomach, Bourdin died about 30 minutes later. It is not known why he chose the observatory, or whether the detonation was intended to occur elsewhere.

1882: First cargo of frozen meat leaves New Zealand for Britain, on the SS 'Dunedin'. She sailed with 4331 mutton, 598 lamb and 22 pig carcasses, 250 kegs of butter, as well as hare, pheasant, turkey, chicken and 2226 sheep tongues. She would arrive in Britain 98 days later to complete a truly successful transport of refrigerated meat.

SS 'Dunedin' by Frederick Tudgay

1898: While USS 'Maine' is at anchor in Havana harbour, she is sunk by an explosion (of undetermined origin) in the ship's magazine. Of the 374 officers and men aboard, 266 died immediately, another eight died later from their injuries. The sinking leads the United States to declare war on Spain.

1912: The Norwegian ship 'Fram', which had just dropped off Roald Amundsen’s party for their own record-setting push to be first to the South Pole, reaches latitude 78°41'S, the farthest south ever by surface ship. Therefore, the 'Fram' also became the first ship to have sailed the farthest north and the farthest south.

A 1:50 model of 'Fram' (1910-1912), by Egil Kalland.
The Fram Museum, Oslo, Norway.

1974: The Air & Sea search for the missing British trawler 'Gaul' and her 36-man crew is called off. After vanishing in a force ten gale, 70 miles north of Norway a week ago, it is believed the 'Gaul' sank on 8th or 9th February 1974.
An official report later that year concluded the ship had been swamped by heavy seas. Several theories circulated regarding 'Gaul's' fate, until she was located in 1997. Investigation of the wreck via an ROV, suggested that a chute design fault lead to the tragedy. Despite the new evidence, the case remains closed. 

1982: Off the Atlantic coast of Newfoundland, an intense weather system (cyclone) producing 100-knot winds and 55-65ft waves, capsizes and sinks the 'Ocean Ranger', a semi-submersible mobile offshore drilling rig, killing all 84 crew members.

The 'Ocean Ranger'

[Capt Podge]

Saturday, 15th/Sunday, 16th February 1941   
South Shields:
The Model Yacht House in the South Park and a small building were completely wrecked; and parts of the plane, maps, papers and clothing were subsequently collected from the South Park and dredged from the Lake.
 
 
Regards,
 
Ray.
 

[Capt Podge]

Oops ! sorry about that - somehow managed to miss the relevant details regarding this air-raid (see above posting)
 
South Shields.. This night will be long remembered in South Shields. 130 enemy aircraft were engaged in an action on the coast from Hull to Berwick. Bombers& minelayers came over in waves and were met with intense AA fire. At 00.25.. a Heinkel 111, was hit by gunfire& collided with a Barrage Balloon cable on the North Foreshore. Part of one wing was broken off and fell on the shore. The plane lost height very quickly and crashed in Beach Rd., exactly on the crater made in 1940. One member of the crew bailed out but his parachute caught on the overhead wires and he hung downwards until rescued. He was badly injured and died shortly after admission to the Ingham Infirmary. The remainder of the crew perished with their plane on impact with the ground.
At 00.50.. a mine, which had not been released from the bomb rack of the plane, exploded with terrific force. Some idea of the explosion may be gathered from the facts that it was seen and heard from beyond Newcastle and many windows were broken as far away as Tynemouth, North Shields, Westoe and Laygate.
The Model Yacht House in the South Park and a small building were completely wrecked; and parts of the plane, maps, papers and clothing were subsequently collected from the South Park and dredged from the Lake.
Unhappily the explosion had tragic results; one officer of the Borough Police Force& one Auxiliary Fireman were killed; two other members of the AFS died in hospital. Seventeen more members of the Police Force, Fire Brigade and Auxiliary Fire Service were injured, some very gravely, and were admitted to the Ingham Infirmary.

[Capt Podge]

Sunday, 16th February 1941   The paddle steamer 'Southsea' (825t) was on Admiralty service as a minesweeper when she hit a mine, killing seven of her crew. She was subsequently beached and abandoned between Herd Groyne and South Shields pier. Her remains now lie in 20ft of water, just off the beach at Herd Sands at 55°00'06"N - 01°25'00"W. The framework of her paddles can be seen at low water. She was built in 1930.
 
Regards,
 
Ray.
 

[ardarossan]

February 16th...

1804: During the First Barbary War, Lt. Stephen Decatur leads a raiding party aboard the disguised ketch USS 'Intrepid'. Entering Tripoli harbour by night, they are unable to reclaim the captured frigate USS 'Philadelphia', so it is destroyed instead. The raiding party escape with no fatalities. British Vice Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson, who at the time was blockading the French port at Toulon, claimed that it was "the most bold and daring act of the Age."

Burning of the USS 'Philadelphia' by Edward Moran (1897)

1832: Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle (1831-36): Westbound across the Atlantic, the 'Beagle' stops at the tiny island of St Pauls. Darwin notes that there are just two kinds of birds (the booby and the noddy), which are so tame and unaccustomed to visitors that he could have hit them with his geological hammer. Shortly after leaving St. Pauls, the 'Beagle' crosses the equator. Four days later, they arrive at the volcanic island of Fernando de Noronha, where they stay for just a few hours.

A Brown Booby

1870: The British clipper ship 'The Cutty Sark' is commissioned.

1940: The German tanker 'Altmark', suspected of illegally transporting 299 British merchant seamen (hidden in her hold) through neutral Norwegian waters, was intercepted and boarded by British sailors from the destroyer HMS 'Cossack' (F03). After some hand-to-hand fighting with bayonets and the last recorded Royal Naval action with cutlass, the 'Altmark's' crew were overwhelmed and the British prisoners were found and released. 
To date, the incident remains the last major boarding action fought by the Royal Navy.

1960: The U.S. Navy submarine USS 'Triton' (SSRN-586) sails from New London, Connecticut, on what was announced as her shakedown cruise at the beginning of 'Operation Sandblast' - the first submerged circumnavigation of the globe. Although submerging soon after departure, the actual circumnavigation wouldn't begin until 24th February, when 'Triton' marks the St. Peter and Paul Rocks in the Central Atlantic Ocean as her start/finish point.

Departure of USS 'Triton' (SSRN-586), 16 February 1960.

1986: MS Mikhail Lermontov ran aground on rocksand sank near Port Gore in the Marlborough Sounds, New Zealand, resulting in the death of one crew member. Launched in 1972, Mikhail Lermontov was the last of the five 'poet' ships: Ivan Franko, Taras Shevchenko, Alexandr Pushkin (now Marco Polo), Shota Rustaveli and Mikhail Lermontov. Originally used as an ocean liner between Leningrad and New York , the Soviet government realised that there was more money to be made by converting it to a cruise ship.

MS Mikhail Lermontov after conversion to acruise ship

1993: The Haitian passenger ferry 'Neptune' sank in a squall. Grossly overcrowded with up to 2000 passengers on their way to market, it was said that the 150ft vessel capsized when the passengers rushed to the leeward side of the ship to shelter from the weather. Estimates suggested that somewhere in the region of 1,500 people lost their lives.

[Capt Podge]

Monday, 17th February 1941   'SS Empire Knoll' (2,824t) was wrecked off the Tyne's north pier, just by the foundations of the old pier, while she was waiting to load for maiden voyage. The crew of thirty-two got ashore safely. She became a total wreck and much of her remains on the sea-bed, on the seaward side of the north pier, to this day.
 
 Monday, 17th/Tuesday, 18th February 1941   Approximately ninety enemy aircraft employed in minelaying activities off Flamborough Head and southwards.
 
 
Regards,
 
Ray.
 

[ardarossan]

February 17th...

1621: Myles Standish, an English military officer and one of the .Mayflower' passengers, is elected to be the first commander of Plymouth colony. The colony continued to re-elect him to that position for the remainder of his life.

1836: Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle (1831-36): 'Beagle' & Darwin leave Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania), sailing west for King George's Sound, on the South-West tip of Australia.

1864: The Confederate States submarine 'H. L. Hunley', plays a small part in the American Civil War, but a large role in the history of naval warfare when she becomes the first combat submarine to sink an enemy warship, the 1240-short ton screw sloop USS 'Housatonic'. She also demonstrated the dangers of undersea warfare as she was also lost at some point following the  attack. The Confederacy lost 21 crewmen in three sinkings of the 'Hunley' during her short career.

An illustration of CSS 'H.L. Hunley'

1911: Glenn Curtiss flies his 'hydro-aeroplane' (seaplane) from North Island to the battleship USS 'Pennsylvania' anchored in San Diego Bay. A boat crane was then used to hoist the seaplane aboard the ship. Later, the seaplane was lowered to the water and Curtiss returned to North Island. This was the first demonstration for the Navy showing the practicability of the seaplane.

Glenn Curtiss being hoisted aboard USS 'Pennsylvania'

1999: After the fires have burned out aboard of the 'New Carissa', the newly broken dry-bulk freighter, aground since 4th February north of Coos Bay, Oregon, an inspection reveals an estimated 130,000 to 150,000 gallons of unburned fuel oil is still on board. Calculations suggest that the total amount of fuel-oil burned was somewhere between 165,000 and 255,000 US gallons.
With the tugboat 'Sea Victory' now in attendance, high seas foil an attempt to tow the bow section to sea and sink it. Officials announce new plans to pump fuel oil off the ship before trying again.

'New Carissa' Broken and hard aground in heavy seas

[ardarossan]

February 17th... The 'Terra Nova' Expedition - Return from the South Pole.

1912: Petty Officer Edgar Evans, RN, perished on the 17 February 1912, when returning from the South Pole with the Southern Party of the British Antarctic Expedition under the command of Captain Robert Falcon Scott, C.V.O., R.N.
Evans was suffering from a severe head injury sustained after a fall into a crevasse two weeks earlier, he was also malnourished and carrying a hand injury. Struggling with severe frostbite and noticably run-down, he was having difficulty keeping up in the extreme conditions and collapsed near the bottom of Beardmore Glacier. Later he fell into a coma before finally passing away in his tent that night.

"To seek, to strive, to find, and not to yield."

Edgar Evans (7th March 1876 – 17th February 1912) and the 'Terra Nova'

[ardarossan]

February 18th...

1637: 'The Battle off Lizard Point' occured off the coast of Cornwall, England, during the Eighty Years' War. The Spanish Admiral Miguel de Horna, commander of the Armada of Flanders, intercepted an important Anglo-Dutch merchant convoy of 44 vessels escorted by 6 warships, destroying or capturing 20 of them, before returning safely to his base in Dunkirk.

An early 17th century naval battle between the Spanish and Dutch.

1639: The 'Action of 18 February 1639', also a naval battle of the Eighty Years' War, was fought off Dunkirk between a blockading Dutch fleet under Admiral Maarten Tromp and the Spanish Dunkirk Squadron under Miguel de Horna. When the Spanish attempted to exit Dunkirk, a ferocious 4-hour battle ensued. Horna was forced to retreat into Dunkirk leaving behind two of his galleons, with another one ran aground, whilst many of Tromp's ships suffered heavy damage and were forced to abandon the blockade.

'The naval battle against the Spaniards near Dunkerque, 18 february 1639'
by Willem van de Velde the Elder (1659).

1653: The three-day long Battle of Portland (18th-20th February 1653 New Style), saw the English inflict a heavy defeat on a Dutch fleet under Admiral Maarten Tromp, in the process regaining control of the English Channel, lost after the Dutch victory at Dungeness in the previous November.

1797: As part of the French Revolutionary Wars, a fleet of 18 warships under the command of Sir Ralph Abercromby invade and take the Island of Trinidad. Within a few days the last Spanish Governor, Don José María Chacón surrendered the island to Abercromby.

1846: A General order was issued by the Secretary of the US Department of Navy "on Port and Starboard", in which the term "port" replaced "larboard".

1946: Sailors of the Royal Indian Navy mutinied in Bombay (Mumbai) harbour, from where the action gathered suppost and spread throughout the Provinces of British India, ultimately coming to involve 78 ships, 20 shore establishments and 20,000 sailors. It was repressed by force by the British Royal Navy.   

Revolt broke out on board the Royal Indian Navy ship, HMIS 'Hindustan' off Manora Island.

[ardarossan]

February 19th...

1473: Nicolaus Copernicus, was born in Toruń in north central Poland. He would become known as a Renaissance mathematician, an astronomer, and the first modern European scientist to propose that the Earth and other planets revolve around the Sun. The publication of Copernicus' epochal book, De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres), just before his death in 1543, is considered a major event in the history of science.

Nicolaus Copernicus portrait from Town Hall in Toruń (1580)

1819: While sailing to Valparaiso, Chile, Captain William Smith in the British merchant brig 'Williams', deviated from his route south of Cape Horn, and on 19 February sighted 'Williams Point', the northeast extremity of Livingston Island. Thus Livingston Island became the first land ever discovered south of the 60th southern latitude. Smith revisited the South Shetlands, landed on King George Island on 16 October 1819, and claimed possession for Britain.

1878: Thomas Edison patents the phonograph. While other inventors had produced devices that could record sounds, Edison's phonograph was the first to be able to reproduce the recorded sound. His phonograph originally recorded sound onto a tinfoil sheet phonograph cylinder, and could both record and reproduce sounds.

1915: The naval operations in the Dardanelles Campaign begins at 07:30hrs, with two allied destroyers moving in to probe the straits. The first shot was fired from Kumkale by the Orhaniye Tepe battery's 240 mm (9.4 in) Krupp guns at 07:58. The battleships HMS 'Cornwallis' and 'Vengeance' moved in to engage the forts and the first British shot of the campaign proper was fired at 09:51 by 'Cornwallis'.

1942: Australia came under attack for the first time with Japanese air raids on Darwin. The attacks were planned and led by the commander responsible for the attack on Pearl Harbour ten weeks earlier, and involved 54 land-based bombers and approximately 188 attack aircraft which were launched from four Japanese aircraft-carriers in the Timor Sea.
Heavy bombers pattern-bombed the harbour and town, dive bombers escorted by Zero fighters attacked shipping in the harbour, the military and civil aerodromes, the hospital at Berrimah, and the Royal Australian Air Force base at Parap. The raids killed at least 243 people and between 300 and 400 were wounded. Twenty military aircraft were destroyed, eight ships at anchor in the harbour were sunk, and most civil and military facilities in Darwin were destroyed.
The air attacks on Darwin continued until November 1943, by which time the Japanese had bombed Darwin 64 times.

Ammunition-ship 'Neptuna' on the outer-berth (about to explode), and 'Barrossa' on the inner-berth.
Darwin Harbour, 19th February, 1942.

1945: After months of preparatory naval bombardment, The Battle of Iwo Jima begins at 08:59hrs, one minute ahead of schedule, as the first of an eventual 30,000 U.S. Marines land on the beach. The initial wave was not hit by Japanese fire for quite some time. It was the plan of General Kuribayashi to hold fire until the beach was full of the Marines and their equipment.

Enemy fire screams overhead as US Marines haul an ammo cart up the beach
Iwo Jima, 19th February,1945.

1967: The Aith Lifeboat launched into a storm and choppy seas at 05:48hrs to assist the 12-man crew of the Aberdeen-based trawler 'Juniper', which went aground in Lyra Sound, Shetland Islands, on the night of 18/19 February 1967.
When the lifeboat eventually reached and got alongside the 'Juniper', it was damaged after twice striking the trawler, as the swell was causing her to rise and fall some 12-15 feet during the process of taking-off the trawler crew.
A Silver Medal was awarded to Coxswain John R Nicholson, and the Thanks of the Institution inscribed on Vellum awarded to the seven members of the crew for their courage, skill and determination in the execution of the rescue.

1977: Using the research submersible Alvin (DSV-2), deep-ocean researchers John B. Corliss and John M. Elmond found an extraordinary oasis of life on the Pacific Ocean floor off the Galapagos Islands, including new types of worms, clams and crabs around geothermal hot water vents. These organisms appeared to depend upon bacteria oxidizing hydrogen sulfide contained in the volcanic gases spewing out of the hot springs.

'Alvin' in 1978, a year after first exploring hydrothermal vents.
The rack hanging at the bow holds sample containers.

[Capt Podge]

Thursday, 20th February 1941   'HM Trawler Marjorie Hastie' struck a mine and was driven ashore in a force 7 NNE gale at Marsden. Her crew was rescued.
 
This is her history:

MARJORY M HASTIE
STEEL
TRAWLER
1930
Yard Number: 631

Renamed: WALTER PATON (by 1946); KENDALE (by 1957)

Requisitioned in June 1940 and converted to minesweeper. Returned to owners, November 1945.
Owned in 1943 by Ardrossan Tr. Co. Ltd, North Shields.
Owned in 1946 by Ardrossan Tr Co. Ltd, Glasgow and renamed WALTER PATON.
Owned in 1957 by J & L Tomlinson, North Shields and renamed KENDALE.
R Hastie & Sons, Aberdeen and North Shields
A. HALL & Co., Aberdeen
length 123 1/3' x breadth 23 1/12' x depth 13'
Gross Tonnage: 244 ton


upload foto
 
This image is the vessel as the Kendale.
 
Regards,
 
Ray.
 

[BrianB6]

 20^th. February 1815About 6 p.m. the British 22-gun ship Cyane, Captain Gordon Thomas Falcon, and the 20-gun ship Levant, Captain and senior officer, the Honourable George Douglas, in order to protect a merchant convoy, engaged the “nominally 44, but mounting 50 guns” U.S.S. Constitution who opened fire with her 32-pdrs. well out of range of the British ships' carronades.[/color]By 10.30 p.m. both British ships had been so damaged that they had to surrender and were taken as prizes.[/size]Out of her 115 men and 16 boys, the Levant had six seamen and marines killed, one officer and 15 seamen and marines wounded; and the Cyane, out of her 145 men and 26 boys, had six seamen and marines killed and 13 wounded. The Constitution had on board 469. Out of this number, she had six killed and mortally wounded and six others severely and slightly wounded.After the capture, while on his way to one of the Cape de Verds islands, Captain Stewart of the Constitution had the Cyane painted so as to resemble a 36-gun frigate. The object of this was to ‘aggrandize his exploit in the wondering eyes of the gaping citizens of Boston.’ On the 28th of June a court-martial was held on board the Akbar at Halifax, Nova-Scotia, to try the two captains and their respective officers and ships' companies for the loss of the Levant and Cyane. They were all, except three seamen of the Cyane who deserted to the Americans, most honourably acquitted for the surrender of their ships, and justly applauded for the gallant defence they had made, against an enemy ship so decidedly superior.At the court-martial, it was stated by the British officers, “that the crews of the two ships were, for three weeks, kept constantly in the Constitution's hold, with both hands and legs in irons, and there allowed but three pints of water during the 24 hours. This, too, in a tropical climate !”[/color]To a modern generation this seems shocking, considering that it was known that a peace treaty had been signed and, in fact, had been ratified three days before the action.[/size]
 

[ardarossan]

February 20th...

1472: The islands of Orkney and Shetland (both possessions of the Norwegian crown), are pawned by Norway to Scotland in lieu of a dowry for Margaret of Denmark

1685: A French colony, 'Fort St. Louis' is established near what is now Inez, Texas, USA. French nobleman and explorer Robert Cavelier de La Salle intended to found the colony at the mouth of the Mississippi River, but inaccurate maps and navigational errors caused his ships to instead anchor 400 miles west, off the coast of Texas near Matagorda Bay. The 3-year existence of the colony forming the basis for France's claim to Texas.
 

''La Salle's Expedition to Louisiana in 1684'' by Theodore Gudin.
'La Belle', 'Le Joly', and 'L'Aimable' (which has run aground) at the entrance to Matagorda Bay.

1823: English Captain James Weddell commanding the brig 'Jane', and Captain Matthew Brisbane on the cutter 'Beaufoy' head south from the South Orkneys. With the season being unusually mild and tranquil, the two ships reach latitude 74°15' S and longitude 34°16'45" W. Approximately 940 miles from the South Pole, it was the southernmost position any ship had ever reached before, and a record that would hold for more than 80 years.

1835: In Valdivia, Chile, Charles Darwin experienced a massive earthquake. Later, whilst the 'Beagle' tried to make anchorage at Concepcion, Darwin was dropped off at the island of Quiriquina, where he found areas of land that had risen a few feet due to the earthquake. He went on to hypothesize that coral reefs in the Pacific could develop along margins of subsiding landmasses. The next day he went by ship to the town of Talcuhano, and from there rode by horse to Concepcion to meet up with the 'Beagle'.

1856: With approximately 120 passengers and 16-20 crew on board, the 'John Rutledge', an American packet-ship sailing from Liverpool, UK to New York, US, hit an iceberg in the North Atlantic. Passengers and crew manned the pumps, but could not overcome the water pouring in. Although some passengers panicked, there were enough lifeboats to accommodate everybody on board, and most were off the ship when it sank.
On February 28th, the 'Germania', en route from Havre to New York, picked up one lifeboat containing several dead bodies and Thomas W. Nye, a youth from New Bedford, Massachusetts. He was the only survivor, the other 135 (or so) were lost at sea.

1935: Caroline Mikkelsen is believed to be the first woman to set foot in Antarctica.

1958: The British government announces the closure of Sheerness Docks, one of the oldest naval dockyards in the UK. The first ever secretary of the Admiralty, Samuel Pepys, established the dockyard in the 17th century as an extension to the Royal Navy headquarters in nearby Chatham.

1962: In various locations across the globe, twenty-four U.S. Navy ships are standing-by to pick up astronaut, Lt. Col. John Glenn, USMC, and his craft, as he returns from space after becoming the first American to orbit Earth in 'Friendship 7' (MA-6).
He made 3 orbits in 88 minutes at a velocity of 17,544 mph with the highest altitude of 162.2 statute miles, eventually 'splashing-down' safely in the Atlantic Ocean, 240 miles north-west of Puerto Rico, where he was met by the destroyer USS 'Noa' (DD-841).

Launching 'Friendship 7' - 20th Februtry 1962.

1974: The Lockheed S-3A Viking ASW aircraft (carrier jet) was introduced officially, when it became operational with the Air Antisubmarine Squadron Four-One (VS-41), the "Shamrocks," at NAS North Island, California, USA.
The first operational cruise of the S-3A took place in 1975 with the VS-21 "Fighting Redtails" aboard USS 'John F. Kennedy'.
Launching 'Friendship 7', 20th February 1962.

A Lockheed S-3A Viking aircraft from the anti-submarine squadron VS-37 'Sawbucks'.

[ardarossan]

February 20th...

1734: Sir John Norris (1670 or 1671 - 13th or 14th June 1749), was appointed Admiral of the Fleet (Royal Navy).

   
Admirals of the Fleet, Sir John Norris (left), and The Earl of Clanwilliam (right)

1895: Richard James Meade, 4th Earl of Clanwilliam, GCB, KCMG (3rd October 1832 - 4th August 1907), was appointed Admiral of the Fleet (Royal Navy).

[ardarossan]

February 21st...

1705: Edward Hawke (1st Baron Hawke) was born in London, the only son of a lawyer. He will go on to become an officer in the Royal Navy, best remembered for his service during the Seven Years' War, particularly his victory over a French fleet at the Battle of Quiberon Bay in 1759, preventing a French invasion of Britain.

1779: Captain James Cook's remains are formally buried at sea in Kealakekua Bay, Hawaii.

1907: Approaching the Hoek of Holland in heavy conditions, the SS 'Berlin' was swept onto the granite tip of the Noorderpier breakwater at around 05:00hrs. With the rough seas preventing the Dutch steam life-boat 'President van Heel' from assisting the stricken vessel, the 'Berlin' broke in two at around 06:00hrs. The majority of those on board had fled to the bow, which sank when the ship broke in half. It would be the following day before rescuers would be able to assist the handful of survivors still on the stern section.
Although the death toll was never finally established the subsequent Board of Enquiry found that in its opinion 85 passengers and 48 of the crew, including all the certificated officers, were lost.

SS 'Berlin'

1917: The SS 'Mendi', transporting 823 members of the 5th Battalion, South African Native Labour Corps, had sailed from Cape Town (via Lagos, where a gun was fitted to her stern), to Plymouth, before sailing on to Le Havre. At 05:00hrs, in the English Channel off The Isle of Wight, escorted by the destroyer HMS Brisk, she was struck and cut almost in half by the SS 'Darro', an empty meat ship bound for Argentina. She sank 25 minutes later, with lifeboats launched from HMS 'Brisk' rowing among the survivors, trying to rescue them. It was noted that the crew of 'Darro' made no attempt to do likewise.
Almost 616 South Africans (607 of them black troops) plus 30 British crew members died in the disaster. It is considered one of the greatest tragedies in the history of the South African military, and was one of the worst maritime disasters of the 20th century in British waters.

1945: Despite heavy defensive gunfire, a Japanese Kamikaze managed to connect with the Casablanca class escort carrier USS 'Bismarck Sea' (CVE-95), on the starboard side under the first 40 mm gun (aft), crashing through the hangar deck and striking the ship's magazines. As the crew attemped to bring the fire under control, a second Kamikaze struck the aft elevator shaft, exploding on impact and destroying the fire fighting salt water distribution system, thus preventing any further damage control. Shortly after, the order was given to abandon ship. The 'Bismarck Sea' sank in 90 minutes with the loss of 318 officers and men from her crew of 923. 'Bismarck Sea' was the last US carrier to be lost in combat during World War II.

A Kamikaze making it through a curtain of gunfire

1999: Plans for the tugboat 'Sea Victory' to tow the bow section of the 'New Carissa' 248 miles to sea and sink it in deep water, are being delayed by a series of problems relating to the removal of up to 135,000 gallons of thick fuel oil through 700ft of 4" pipe. These include, the recent discovery of water flooding the tanks, the hose kinking, and various difficulties in trying to operate in stinging hail, gale-force winds and strong currents. However, by the afternoon, crews managed to pump 100,000 gallons of fluid from cargo hold No.3 to tanks on shore, although most is water.