Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length.

[ardarossan]

January 23rd...

1856: American steam packet SS 'Pacific' (1849) sailed out of Liverpool for her usual destination of New York carrying 45 passengers and 141 crew on board, and was never seen again.
'Pacific's' fate remained a mystery until 1861, when a note found in a bottle, washed ashore on the west coast of the remote Hebrides island of Uist, revealed the tragic truth...

"On board the Pacific from Liverpool to N.Y. - Ship going down. Confusion on board - icebergs around us on every side. I know I cannot escape. I write the cause of our loss that friends may not live in suspense. The finder will please get it published. W.M. GRAHAM".

1909: RMS 'Republic', a White Star steam-powered ocean liner was lost off Nantucket, Ma., after being struck amidships by the Lloyd Italiano liner SS 'Florida'.
Fortunately, 'Republic' was equipped with the new Marconi wireless telegraph system, and became the first ship in history to issue a CQD distress signal, sent by Jack R. Binns. As a result an estimated 1200 lives were saved.

White Star luxury liner RMS 'Republic', known as the "Millionaires' Ship"

1945: Karl Dönitz launches Operation Hannibal, involving the evacuation by sea of German troops and civilians from mid-January to May, 1945 as the Red Army advanced during the East Prussian and East Pomeranian Offensives and subsidiary operations.

1960: Bathyscaphe 'Trieste', carrying Jacques Piccard and U.S. Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh, descends to Challenger Deep (the deepest southern part of the Mariana Trench at 35,814 ft (10,900 m). This was the first time a vessel, manned or unmanned, had reached the deepest known point of the Earth's oceans.

Bathyscaphe 'Trieste'

1961: A group of armed Portuguese and Spanish opposition movement members seize control of the Santa Maria, a 609-foot-long, 20,900-ton Portuguese luxury cruise liner with 600 passengers and 300 crew members aboard.

1968: North Korea seizes the USS 'Pueblo' (AGER-2), an American Banner-class technical research ship (Navy intelligence), stating that 'Pueblo' had strayed into their territorial waters.
At this time, 'Pueblo' is still held by North Korea and remains a commissioned vessel of the US Navy.

USS Pueblo (AGER-2) off San Diego, California, 19 October 1967

[Capt Podge]

Tuesday, 23rd January 1940   'SS Pluto' (1,598t) a Norwegian ship, was sailing E of Longstone Island, Farnes when she was torpedoed by U 23 and sank at 55°33'24"N - 01°28'30"W. Possibly the same U Boat that sank the 'Everene'.
 
 Thursday, 23rd January 1941   'SS Lurigethan' (3,564t) cargo ship, Port Sudan to Hull was sunk by Focke-Wulf Condor aircraft, 200 miles from the Irish coast. Sixteen of her crew were lost.
 
The Newcastle-registered 'SS Langleegorse' (4,542 t), was attacked and sunk by Focke-Wulf Condor aircraft some 200 miles off the Irish coast while en route from Durban to London. All hands were lost including the Master, South Shields born Richard Edmondson, aged 26.
 
 
(adross - thank you for your recent pm - I've been "off air" for a few days but catching up now)
 
Regards,
 
Ray.


   

                Addition by Rottweiler



Could I please add a retrospective date,that I really am ashamed not to have placed on the correct date of 23rd January            Done
 


 St.Ives Lifeboat Disaster  1939
 
 On 23 January 1939 a huge storm was blowing with gusts up 100 miles per hour when a steamship was reported to be in trouble off Cape Cornwall (never verified)  Sennen Cove lifeboat could not be launched due to the conditions.,At 3 o'clock the John and Sara Eliza Stych replaced from Padstow less than a year previously was launched into the dark mountainous seas,with Coxn Thomas Cocking seven more men: John Cocking (his son), Matthew Barber, William Barber and John Thomas who had all been in the Caroline Parsons wreck,the previous year along with Edgar Bassett, Richard Stevens, and William Freeman,When the boat rounded The Island it met the full force of the storm as it headed westwards and off Clodgy Point she capsized but did what it was designed to do and righted itself. Five of the crew were thrown overboard only Freeman made it back into the boat.They managed to get the engine restarted but with the propeller fouled they were drifting back towards The Island where and having dropped anchor the rope parted and she capsized and righted a second time;with only three surviving this time.
The Lifeboat now drifted north-eastwards across St Ives Bay towards Godrevy Point where she capsized for a third time. When it righted only Freeman was left. when she was thrown up high on the rocks he scrambled ashore,and made his way to a nearby farmhouse to raise the alarm. All eight crew members were awarded bronze medals.As is the R.N.L.I. tradition,the wreck was burnt on site.Since then two more Tommy Cockings, the drowned coxswain's son and grandson, have served as coxswain on the St Ives Lifeboat as a great grandson is now serving aboard.
William Freeman,the sole survivor,never ever went to sea again,and uncannily died a good many years after,on the Anniversary of the disaster,sadly now seemingly long forgotten.These men were true Heroes. 
  john & sara eliza stych.jpg (49.74 kB, 432x288 - viewed 15 times.)




 

[Capt Podge]

Saturday, 24th January 1942   'SS Empire Wildebeeste' (5,631t) cargo ship, Hull to the United States, sunk by U 106, NE of Bermuda.
 
34 survivors were rescued by USS Lang DD-399 (1938-1947).
 
Regards,
 
Ray.
 

[dave301bounty]

Thanks to all who put these posts down ,really fasinating ,thankyou ,Dave .

[ardarossan]

January 24th...

1709: Admiral of the Fleet, Sir George Rooke died on this day, (1650 – 24th January 1709).
An English naval commander, he is known for his service in the wars against France and particularly remembered today for his victory at Vigo Bay and for capturing Gibraltar for England in 1704, during the War of the Spanish Succession.

Admiral Sir George Rooke (1650-1709)
painted by Michael Dahl, c. 1705

1848: On this day in 1848, James W. Marshall, found several flakes of gold in the tailrace of a saw mill he was building on the American River.
As word got out, the tiny settlement of San Francisco (est. pop. 1000) was changed forever, as waves of immigrants flooded in to seek their fortunes.
To meet the demands of the arrivals, supply ships from around the world sailed into the wharves & docks of San Francisco where, ironically, hundreds of them were abandoned as their crews deserted and also went to the gold fields.
Many of the ships were later destroyed and used for landfill to create more buildable land in the boomtown.
 

San Francisco Bay during the Gold Rush

1915: The Battle of Dogger Bank is fought between squadrons of the British Grand Fleet and the German High Seas Fleet, after decoded radio intercepts provide the British with advance knowledge of the German's movements in the North Sea. The German armoured cruiser SMS Blücher is sunk, and the British flagship HMS Lion is put out of action with heavy damage.

German battlecruisers Derfflinger, Moltke & Seydlitz en route to Dogger Bank

1943: Refitting of German battleship Tirpitz is completed at Fćttenfjord/Lofjord near Trondheim, Norway.

1984: Wooden harbour ferry SS (MV) Karrabee is raised after sinking at her berth following the Great Ferry Race on Sydney harbour two days earlier. Investigations into the incident placed the blame on the workmen who renovated her, as they had not cleared rubbish that was gathered around the bilge pump inlet, severely restricting the ability of the pumps to clear the water. (Ref: http://ferriesofsydney.com/karrabee.html)

SS Karrabee being raised. Image source: dunedoo

[ardarossan]

January 25th...

1575: Luanda, the capital of Angola is founded by the Portuguese navigator Paulo Dias de Novais.

1765: Port Egmont, the first British settlement in the Falkland Islands is established, by an expedition led by Commodore John Byron consisting of the boats HMS Dolphin, HMS Tamar and HMS Florida. The expedition left a watering place and a vegetable garden.

Falkland Islands showing location of Port Egmont

1865: CSS 'Shenandoah', a Confederate commerce raider, was assigned to "seek out and utterly destroy" commerce in areas as yet undisturbed (i.e., attack Union ships), and thereafter her course lay in pursuit of merchantmen on the Cape of Good Hope–Australia route and of the Pacific whaling fleet.
The battle ensign of CSS Shenandoah is unique amongst all of the flags of the Confederate States of America as it was the only Confederate flag to circumnavigate the Earth during the Confederacy.

On a slip at Williamstown, Australia, in 1865

1881: Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell form the Oriental Telephone Company. The company was licensed to sell telephones in Greece, Turkey, South Africa, India, Japan, China, and other Asian countries

1890: 'Nellie Bly' was the pen name of American journalist Elizabeth Jane Cochrane. On 14th November 1889, she boarded the Augusta Victoria, a steamer of the Hamburg America Line, and began her 24,899-mile journey around the world in emulation of Jules Verne's character Phileas Fogg.
The record-breaking feat was achieved when she arrived back in New Jersey at 3:51 p.m on this day in 1890, having taken "Seventy-two days, six hours, eleven minutes and fourteen seconds after her Hoboken departure"

1917: SS 'Laurentic' was a British ocean liner of the White Star Line. When the Great War broke out, she was used as a troop-ship, before conversion to an armed merchant cruiser in 1915.
On 25 January 1917, whilst carrying 475 people and 43 tons of gold ingots stowed in her second class baggage room, she struck two mines off Lough Swilly in the north west of Ireland and sank within an hour. There were just 121 survivors.

SS ' Laurentic'

1941: USS Gudgeon (SS-211), a Tambor-class submarine is launched, sponsored by Mrs. William S. Pye.

1941: Carrier HMS 'Illustrious' arrives in Alexandria, Egypt at noon for temporary repairs to bomb damage received off Sicilly on the 10th of January, and further strikes received whilst undergoing repairs in Malta on the 16th and the 19th January.

[ardarossan]

January 26th...

1788: The First Fleet weighed anchor and sailed the short distance from Botany Bay to Port Jackson. The site selected for the anchorage had deep water close to the shore, was sheltered, and had a small stream flowing into it.

Captain Arthur Phillip named it Sydney Cove, after Lord Sydney the British Home Secretary. The British flag was planted and formal possession taken. This was done by Phillip and some officers and marines from HMS 'Supply,' with the remainder of 'Supply's' crew and the convicts observing from on board ship. The remaining ships of the Fleet did not arrive at Sydney Cove until later that day.

The Founding of Australia, 26 January 1788, by Captain Arthur Phillip R.N. Sydney Cove.
Original oil sketch by Algernon Talmage (1937)

The 26th January is the official national day of Australia. Celebrated annually, 'Australia Day' commemorates the arrival of the colonists in Sydney Cove and the beginnings of the first British settlement. However, the formal establishment of the Colony of New South Wales occured on 7th February 1788, when the formal proclamation of the colony and of Arthur Phillip's governorship were read out. The vesting of all land in the reigning monarch George III also dates from 7th February 1788.

'Happy Australia Day!'

[ardarossan]

January 26th...

1500: Spanish navigator and explorer Vicente Yáńez Pinzón becomes the first European to set foot on what we now know as Brazil, when he disembarked on the shore called Praia do Paraíso, in present-day Cabo de Santo Agostinho of the state of Pernambuco.

Vicente Yáńez Pinzón

1856: The Battle of Seattle was an attack by Native Americans upon Seattle, a settlement in what was then known as the Washington Territory.
Supported by Marines from the United States Navy sloop-of-war USS Decatur (anchored in Elliot Bay), and artillery fire, including sixteen shipborne 32-pounders firing fuzed shells, the battle lasted one day. Two settlers died. Native American casualties were believed to be 28 dead and 80 wounded.

1911: In San Diego Harbor, Glenn Curtiss successfully demonstrated the first practical sea plane in the history of flight, as he lands next to a battleship and has the aircraftraised onto the deck and down to the water again.

Glenn H. Curtiss - 26th January 1911

1913: The body of John Paul Jones (6th July 1747 - 18th July 1792), Scottish sailor and the United States' first well-known naval fighter in the American Revolution, is re-interred in a magnificent bronze and marble sarcophagus at the Naval Academy Chapel in Annapolis, USA, after being lost in an abandoned cemetary in Paris, France, since burial  in 1792.

1949: USS Norton Sound, the first guided-missile ship, launched the first guided-missile, 'Loon', off Point Mugu, California. The Loon was the U.S. Navy's version and development of the German V-1 'Buzz-bomb'.

A 'Loon' Guided Missile

2004:  The build-up of gas inside a decomposing sperm whale caused it to explode. It was later determined that the whale had most likely been struck by a large shipping vessel, damaging its spine, and leading to its death. The whale died after beaching on the southwestern coast of Taiwan.

[Capt Podge]

Monday, 27th January 1941   08.53.. Newcastle.. Walker Naval Yard.. Two HEs fell from an enemy aircraft which dived to 250', the bombs narrowly missed an almost completed aircraft carrier (this was 'HMS Victorious' which survived the war). One HE landed on a jetty making a crater 25' in diameter.
 
 
Regards,
 
Ray.
 

[ardarossan]

January 27th...

1671: In his most daring exploit, Admiral Henry Morgan (privateer/pirate), and his force of 1200 buccaneers, defeat the Spanish and capture Panama City.
During the ensuing sack of Panama City, a devastating fire broke out. It is unclear whether Morgan’s men or the Spanish forces started the fire, but it did destroy the city.
Although Panama City was the richest city in New Spain, the raid was not as bountiful as Morgan had hoped for. Aware of an impending attack, the Spanish had managed to put much of their wealth onto a ship which set out for the Caribbean and beyond Morgan’s reach.

1816: Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood, died on this day in Greenwich, aged 92 (12 December 1724 - 27 January 1816).
He was a British Admiral, known particularly for his service in the American War of Independence and French Revolutionary Wars.
He acted as a mentor to Horatio Nelson, and was the chief mourner at his funeral.
Two of the three ships of the Royal Navy named HMS Hood were named after him, including HMS Hood (51), sunk by the Bismarck in 1941 during World War II. Also ref: Samuel Hood, Royal Naval Museum

Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood
Portrait by James Northcote, c.1784

1880: Thomas Alva Edison patents the electric incandescent lamp (U.S. Patent 223,898).

1942: Returning to base at the end of her first war patrol, USS 'Gudgeon' (SS-211) becomes the first American submarine to sink an enemy warship. Approximately 240 nautical miles west of Midway, 'Gudgeon' fired three torpedoes and destroyed 'I-73', a Japanese Kaidai-class submarine that participated in the attack on Pearl Harbor.

USS Gudgeon (SS-211)

1943: The first USAAF daylight bombing raid against the Germany homeland takes place when ninety-one B-17s and B-24s are dispatched to attack the U-Boat construction yards at Wilhemshafen, Germany.

1949: Sailing at night without lights, due to a curfew, a collision between the Chinese steamer 'Taiping' collides and a smaller Chienyuan cargo boat near the Zhoushan Archipelago, leads to the (estimated) loss of 1500 passengers and crew. Although 'Taiping' was only rated to carry 580 passengers, she was packed with people fleeing their war-torn hometowns at the end of the Chinese Civil War.

1961: Soviet submarine S-80 (Project 644), a diesel-electric submarine of the Soviet Navy, sinks in the Barents Sea after she dropped below snorkel depth and a series of mechanical faults cause the submarine to flood.
In the end, a total of 68 men (the complete complement of officers and crew) lost their lives in the accient. The S-80 and the men aboard it were not found for seven and a half years.

A Soviet 'Project 644-class' submarine with external guided-missile tubes
 (Nato: 'Whiskey Twin Cylinder')

[ardarossan]

January 28th...

1613: 400 years ago, Galileo Galilei's makes notes & drawings which confirm his observation of the (still to be discovered) planet, now known as 'Neptune'. Neptune was eventually 're-discovered by Urbain Le Verrier, John Couch Adams, and Johann Galle, in September 1846.

One of Galileo's drawings

1624: Sir Thomas Warner lands on St. Kitts on January 28, 1624, and establishes the colony of Saint Christopher, the first British colony in the Caribbean.

1820: A Russian expedition led by Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen and Mikhail Petrovich Lazarev discover the Antarctic continent.

1870: The 'City of Boston', a British iron-hulled single-screw passenger steamship of the Inman Line, was seen for the last time as she sailed from Halifax, Nova Scotia bound for Liverpool, England. She had 191 people on board: 55 cabin passengers, 52 steerage passengers and a crew of 84. She never reached her destination and no trace of her was ever found.

1915:  U.S. President Woodrow Wilson signed the "Act to Create the Coast Guard," merging the Life-Saving Service with the Revenue Cutter Service to create the United States Coast Guard.

1915: In the South Atlantic, off the coast of Brazil, the William P. Frye, an American steel 4-masted bark, loaded with wheat for Britain, was stopped by the German aux. cruiser Prinz Eitel Friedrich and ordered to jettison her cargo as contraband. When the German Captain thought the unloading was taking too long, he ordered the freighter to be sunk instead, and William P. Frye became the first American casualty of WWI.

1960: The US Navy demonstrates a reliable method of wireless communication using the Moon as a natural satellite - a technique known as EME (Earth-Moon-Earth) when a picture of the USS Hancock (CV-19), with ship officers and crew spelling out "Moon Relay", was transmitted from Honolulu, Hawaii, via the Moon, to Washington, D.C.
 

Facsimilie image of USS Hancock and her crew spelling 'Moon Relay'

1967: Donald Campbell was posthumously awarded the Queen's Commendation for Brave Conduct For courage and determination in attacking the world water speed record.

1980: The USCGC Blackthorn (WLB-391) collides with the tanker 'Capricorn' as they pass too closely in the shipping channel at Tampa Bay, Florida. As a result, Capricorn's anchor got caught in Blackthorn's shell plating, rapidly dragging the Blackthorn astern before capsizing her. Subsequently, the Capricorn  ran aground and the Blackthorn sank in the channel. Tragically, twenty-three of the 50 Blackthorn crew members were lost. To date, this remains the worst peacetime loss of life in US Coast Guard history.

[ardarossan]

January 28th...

1596: Sir Francis Drake, Vice Admiral, died off Puerto Bello, Panama (1540 - 28th January 1596). Born in Tavistock, Devon, circa, 1540, Francis Drake was an English Sea-captain, Privateer, Navigator, Slaver, Mayor and Politician of the Elizabethan era.

Sir Francis Drake, ca. 1585.

His exploits were legendary, making him a hero to the English but a pirate to the Spaniards to whom he was known as El Draque. King Philip II was said to have offered a reward of 20,000 ducats, for his life.

He carried out the second circumnavigation of the world, from 1577 to 1580, and Elizabeth I of England awarded him a knighthood in 1581.
He was also second-in-command of the English fleet against the Spanish Armada in 1588.
Sir Francis Drake eventually died of dysentery aboard his flagship, Defiance, after rising from his sickbed intending to don his armour 'so that he would die as a soldier'. He was buried at sea off Puerto Bello, Panama.

[ardarossan]

January 28th...

1547: Henry VIII, died at the Palace of Whitehall, London, aged 55 (28 June 1491 - 28 January 1547).
As King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France and is traditionally cited as one of the founders of the Royal Navy.

James Basire's print of a 16th century painting of Henry VIII's embarkation at Dover, 1520.
Painting is in the Royal Collection

Technologically, Henry invested in large cannon for his warships, an idea that had taken hold in other countries, to replace the smaller serpentines in use. He also flirted with designing ships personally - although his contribution to larger vessels, if any, is not known, it is believed that he influenced the design of rowbarges and similar galleys.

Henry was responsible for the creation of a permanent navy, with the supporting anchorages and dockyards. Tactically, Henry's reign saw the Navy move away from boarding tactics to employ gunnery instead. The Navy was enlarged up to fifty ships (the Mary Rose was one of them), and Henry was responsible for the establishment of the "council for marine causes" to specifically oversee all the maintenance and operation of the Navy, becoming the basis for the later Admiralty.

To guard against invasion he also strengthened existing coastal defence fortresses such as Dover Castle and, at Dover, Moat Bulwark and Archcliffe Fort, which he personally visited for a few months to supervise. He built a chain of new 'castles' along Britain's southern and eastern coasts from East Anglia to Cornwall, known as Henry VIII's Device Forts.

[Capt Podge]

Monday, 29th January 1940   Enemy aircraft activity at sea. 'SS Stanburn' (2,881t) was sunk SE of Flamborough Head, struck by three bombs from a German Stuka dive bomber which came suddenly out of cloud cover. Captain Lewis and twenty-five of her crew were killed in the attack, there were only three survivors.
 
 Wednesday, 29th January 1941   'SS Pandion' (1,944t) cargo ship, Tyne to Portugal was damaged by Focke-Wulf Condor aircraft, W of Malin Head. On the 30th January she ran aground in Lough Swilly and broke in two.
 
 
 
Regards,
 
Ray.
 

[ardarossan]

January 29th...

1801: Horatia Nelson is born on this day, daughter of Nelson and Emma Hamilton. (d.1881)
 
1856: Queen Victoria institutes the Victoria Cross, the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy", to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories.
The original specification for the award stated that the ribbon should be red for army recipients and blue for naval recipients. However the blue ribbon was abolished soon after the formation of the Royal Air Force on 1 April 1918. 

An Early Victoria Cross (Navy)

1911: Glenn Curtiss' student, Lt. Theodore 'Spuds' Ellyson, becomes the first Naval Aviator when the throttle-restrictor fails on his Curtiss "Grass-Cutter" (a ground-aircraft used for the primary training of aviators), and he accidentally takes off.

1941: During the night 25 RAF Wellington bombers attacked battleship Tirpitz to little effect.

1943: The first day of the Battle of Rennell Island, U.S. cruiser Chicago is torpedoed and heavily damaged by Japanese bombers.
 
1944: United States Navy Iowa-class battleship, USS 'Missouri' (BB-63), was launched.
Missouri was the last battleship built by the United States and was the site of the surrender of the Empire of Japan, thus bringing an end to the Second World War.
 

USS 'Missouri' (BB-63) fires her guns against enemy positions during the Korean War.

[surfs up]

The 30th of January 1790 AD To South Shields shipbuilder Henry Greathead goes the honour of building the first successful purpose-built lifeboat, though his claim is not uncontested. In the 1770s one Lionel Lukin had designed a craft with similar use in mind; and Greathead’s own boat very probably owed much to the copper boat design of William Wouldhave, also from South Shields, who indeed shared the prize money offered by Newcastle interests spurred to seek such a vessel by the tragedy of a wreck in the Tyne. Wouldhave got one guinea, but Greathead went on to be awarded Ł1200 by Parliament and various smaller sums by Trinity House, Lloyds and others.
Henry Greathead had been a sailor, and suffered shipwreck himself, so the project must have been close to his heart. He may, however, not actually have designed the boat trialled on the Tyne on January 30 1790: a wooden construction, clinker-built on substantial frames, with two curved ends out of the water to help buoyancy should she be filled with water; much cork was used in the craft too – inside again for buoyancy; outside for the same reason and as a fender. With 10 short oars for ease of use in storms, and steered by an easily moved oar at the stern, she could carry 20 in total, and was as easy to row backwards as forwards. Greathead built more than 30 of the craft in his remaining career, and for that at least deserves celebration.

[ardarossan]

January 30th...

1773: Although he failed to see Antarctica, James Cook sails further south than anyone had  gone before when he reaches a latitude of 71° 10', before being driven back by the ice.

1820: Edward Bransfield aboard 'Williams' sights Trinity Peninsula, the northern-most point of the Antarctic mainland, and claims to have discovered Antarctica.

1826: The Menai Suspension Bridge (Welsh: Pont Grog y Borth) is opened. Designed by Thomas Telford, it was the first modern suspension bridge in the world, linking the island of Anglesey and the mainland of Wales.

The Menai Suspension Bridge

1836: Charles Darwin’s short acquaintance with Australia is concluded as HMS Beagle left Sydney Harbour and sailed for Van Diemen's Land (now called Tasmania). Astonished by the creatures he had seen (especially the duck-billed platypus), Darwin surmised there must have been a separate act of creation just for these odd creatures.

1862: The first American ironclad warship, the USS 'Monitor' is launched at Greenpoint, Long Island.   

1911: The destroyer USS 'Terry' (DD-25) makes the first airplane rescue at sea, saving the life of James McCurdy after engine failure aboard his Curtiss pusher biplane forces him to land at sea during an attempt to fly from Key West, Florida to Havana, Cuba.

1943: On the second day of the Battle of Rennell Island. The USS 'Chicago' (CA-29) is sunk after being hit by four more strikes from Japanese torpedoes.

1945: German cruise liner, the MV 'Wilhelm Gustloff', was sunk by Soviet submarine S-13 in the Baltic Sea while evacuating German civilians, officials and military personnel from occupied Poland, as the Red Army advanced. An estimated 9,400 people died, making it possibly the largest loss of life in a single ship sinking in history.

A model of the 'Wilhelm Gustloff' at the Laboe Naval Memorial

1959: With similarities to 'Titanic' disaster, MS 'Hans Hedtoft', said to be the safest ship afloat and "unsinkable", struck an iceberg on her maiden voyage and sank, about 35 miles south of Cape Farewell, the southernmost point of Greenland, killing all 40 crew members and 55 passengers on board at the time.
The only piece of wreckage ever recovered was a lifebelt which washed ashore some nine months later.

1975: The Monitor National Marine Sanctuary, 16 nautical miles south-southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, is the site of the wreck of the USS 'Monitor', and was established as the first United States National Marine Sanctuary on the anniversary of her launch.

[ardarossan]

Alex Thomson - Around the World in 80 Days..  ...and a few hours

2013: British yachtsman Alex Thomson finishes third in the Vendee Globe solo non-stop, around-the-world race.
Thomson, 38, from Gosport, Hampshire, crossed the finish line at Les Sables d'Olonne in France in his 60-ft boat Hugo Boss, at 7.25am to record a time of after 80 days, 19 hours and 23 minutes at sea.

As he did so, he became the fastest Briton ever to sail around the world in a monohull boat, breaking the previous record by nearly eight days.

A podium finish in the 27,000-mile circumnavigation dubbed the Marathon Of The Seas is a personal triumph for the sailor, who has never managed to finish a solo around the world voyage before and has suffered set-backs and bad luck over the years.

Thomson is now only the third Briton to claim a top-three finish in the Vendee after Ellen MacArthur was second in 2001 and Mike Golding finished third in 2004.

Alex Thomson celebrates his record-breaking third place finish.
Vendee Globe 2012/13

[Rottweiler]

And I believe he took a slower route on the last leg,to monitor another boat in the race that had damage,just in case he could help. Sportsmanship at its best.
Mick F

[Capt Podge]

Friday, 30th January 1942   The minesweeping trawler 'Loch Alsh' was mined and sank off the Humber.
 
 Saturday, 31st January 1942   'HM Drifter Unicity' (96t) while on minesweeping duties, capsized off Blyth at 55°00'50"N - 01°29'10"W.
 
 Monday, 31st January 1944   'SS Emerald' (736t) cargo ship, North-East port to Poole, was sunk by E Boats, SE of Beachy Head.
 
 
 
Regards,
 
Ray.
 
 

[Rottweiler]

 ST.IVES FIRST LIFEBOAT DISASTER AND THE SS"ALBA" WRECKS

[Rottweiler]

On this day in 1938,the 3000 ton Italian Steamer,the SS "ALBA" was hit by huge seas while rounding Lands End.She then headed for the shelter of St.Ives Bay.Just 500 yards from safety,she mistakenly took Porthmeor Beach,to be the harbour,and ran aground on what is known as the Island.Immediately the St.Ives Lifeboat,the first ever motor lifeboat to be stationed there,the "Caroline Parsons" was launched.Upon reaching the wreck,she managed to take all 24 crew off the Alba,but was herself then swamped in the huge surf,throwing all into the mountainous seas.The Lifeboat immediately self righted,with some 20 people still clinging to her.12 off the Alba crew reached the safety of the shore unaided,and all the Lifeboat crew managed to get back aboard her again.The huge crowd that had gathered on the beach waded out into the surf and formed a human chain,to bring ashore more members of the crew,and two policemen who had swam out to help with the rescue.Sadly six of the Alba's crew were drowned.
   The Lifeboat was then thrown up on the rocks and very badly damaged,the crew were all saved.A memorial to those lost was erected in Barnoon Cemetery
  Who was to know that just less than a year later,all the gallant crew of the Lifeboat that took part in this rescue,would ALL be lost in the relief Lifeboat.There can be no more Braver than these men.This is why I have always supported the RNLI, and like those in St.Ives,will always remember these Gallant men.
I am proud to own a small piece of the wreckage of the "Caroline Parsons"
Mick F

[ardarossan]

January 31st...

1805: Mungo Park, a Scottish explorer of the African continent, sets sail from Portsmouth for Gambia, having been given a captain's commission as head of the government expedition to the Niger.

1858: After three unsuccessful attempts, the SS Great Eastern (Leviathon) is finally launched in to the River Thames at Milwall, London. The giant iron ship, designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, was 692 ft long, 83 ft wide, with a draft of 20 ft unloaded and 30 ft fully laden. Her gross tonnage was 18,915 and she would displace 32,000 tons fully loaded.
 

Preparing to launch the 'Great Eastern' (Leviathon)

1895: SS 'Elbe' sinks in just 20 minutes after she was hit by the steamship 'Crathie' in a stormy, freezing North Sea. 'Elbe' was struck with such force that whole compartments were immediately flooded. The collision happened at 5.30 am as most of the passengers were still asleep. One lifeboat with 20 people in it was recovered out of 354 passengers on the ship.

SS 'Elbe'

1917: Germany announces that its U-boats will resume unrestricted submarine warfare after a two-year hiatus.

1953: A violent storm was in progress when the MV 'Princess Victoria' left her home port of Stranraer on the Scottish west coast bound for Larne, Northern Ireland. A short way into the voyage, the inadequate stern doors were forced open by high seas, and seawater flooded into  the car deck. The ferry listed badly, capsized and sank, claiming the lives of more than 130 passengers and crew. The sinking of the Princess Victoria was the deadliest maritime disaster in United Kingdom waters since World War II.

'Princess Victoria'

1961: A chimpanzee sent into space in a rocket by the United States, was recovered alive and well from where his capsule splashed-down in the Atlantic, about 420 miles from the launching site at Cape Canaveral, Florida.
 

[Capt Podge]

Thursday, 1st February 1940   'SS Creofield' (638t) tanker, Southend to Middlesbrough was sunk, believed torpedoed by U 59 off Great Yarmouth. All sixteen of her crew were lost.
 

Regards,
 
Ray.
 

[ardarossan]

February 1st...

1764: George Duff was born at Banff, Scotland. British naval officer during the American War of Independence, the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars.

1788: A patent for a steamboat was issued by the state of Georgia to Isaac Briggs and William Longstreet. The patent was the only one ever to be issued by Georgia, and first in the U.S. for a steamboat.

1811: The Bell Rock Lighthouse was lit for the first time eleven miles off the east coast of Scotland. Using twenty-four 25-inch lanterns, it began flashing its warning light atop a 100-foot white stone tower. As the oldest sea-washed lighthouse in existence, it was built by Robert Stevenson on a treacherous sandstone reef, which, except at low tides, lies submerged just beneath the waves. Further information at: http://www.bellrock.org.uk

The Bell Rock Lighthouse (© Ian Cowe).

1838: U.S. patent (No. 588) was issued for the screw propeller to John Ericsson, (1803-89), a Swedish American engineer, who later designed and built the Monitor for the Union Navy in the War of the Rebellion
 
1942: U.S. Navy conducts Marshalls-Gilberts raids, the first offensive action by the United States against Japanese forces in the Pacific Theatre.

1942: The U.S. begins it's first offensive action against Japanese forces with the Marshalls-Gilberts raids. The Marshalls-Gilberts raids were tactical airstrikes and naval artillery attacks by United States Navy aircraft carrier and other warship forces against Imperial Japanese Navy garrisons in the Marshall and Gilbert Islands.

An SBD-2 Douglas Dauntless prepares to take-off from the carrier USS 'Enterprise' (CV-6).
Marshalls-Gilberts Raids - 1st February 1942.

1965: The Hamilton River in Labrador, Canada is renamed the Churchill River in honour of Winston Churchill.

1968: Canada's three military services, the Royal Canadian Navy, the Canadian Army and the Royal Canadian Air Force, are unified into the Canadian Forces.