April 22nd...
1453: The Ottoman blockading fleet's failure to overcome the chain which protected the Golden Horn, whilst allowing a small flotilla of four Christian ships from entering on 20th April, strengthened the morale of the defenders and caused embarrassment to the 21-year-old Ottoman Sultan, Mehmed II.
To circumvent the chain, Mehmmet ordered the construction of a road of greased logs across Galata on the north side of the Golden Horn, and rolled his ships across on 22nd April. An action which would seriously threaten the flow of supplies from Genovese ships from the (nominally neutral) colony of Pera, and demoralise the Byzantine defenders.
Sultan Mehmet II oversees his boats being transported overland into the Golden Horn.
Painting by Fausto Zonaro, (1854-1929)
1500: Whilst sailing in a westerly direction, en route to India with a fleet of twelve ships, Portuguese navigator Pedro Álvares Cabral became the first European to sight a new land which he initially assumed to be a large island. In reality, he had accidentally discovered what is now known as Brazil. The fleet anchored near what Cabral christened the Monte Pascoal ('Easter Mount', it being the week of Easter).
1519: (Good Friday) Hernán Cortés arrives in Mexico and establishes the first Spanish settlement on the mainland of the Americas, which he names Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz (Present day Veracruz).
'Villa Rica' (Rich Village) referring to the area’s gold, and 'Vera Cruz' (derived from the Latin Vera Crux) dedicated to the 'True Cross', because he landed on the Christian holy day of Good Friday, the day of the Crucifixion.
1529: Treaty of Saragossa divides the eastern hemisphere between Spain and Portugal along a line 297.5 leagues or 17° east of the Moluccas. The Treaty of Zaragoza, also referred to as the Capitulation of Zaragoza was a peace treaty between Spain and Portugal signed on 22nd April, by King John III and the Emperor Charles V, in the Spanish city of Zaragoza.
The treaty defined the areas of Spanish and Portuguese influence in Asia to resolve the 'Moluccas issue', when both kingdoms claimed the Moluccas islands for themselves, considering it within their exploration area established by the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494. The conflict sprung in 1520, when the expeditions of both kingdoms reached the Pacific Ocean, since there was not a set limit to the east.
1622: The Capture of Ormuz by an Anglo-Persian force ends more than a century of Portuguese control of Hormuz Island, and entirely changes the balance of power and trade through the Persian Gulf.
The English force, supplied by the English East India Company, consisted of five warships and four pinnaces. The Persian army, already besieging the Portuguese fort in Kishm, negotiated with the English to obtain their support to capture Ormuz, promising the development of silk trade in their favour. An agreement was signed, providing for the sharing of spoils and customs dues at Hormuz, the repatriations of prisoners according to their faith, and the payment by the Persians of half of the supply costs for the fleet.
The position of the city of Hormuz set on the strait at the bottom of the Arabian Gulf, 1572.
1676: The naval Battle of Augusta (also known as the Battle of Agosta) takes place during the Franco-Dutch War between a French fleet of 29 man-of-war, five frigates and eight fireships under Abraham Duquesne and a Dutch-Spanish fleet of 27 (17 Dutch, 10 Spanish) plus five fireships with Dutch Lieutenant-Admiral-General Michiel de Ruyter in command.
The battle was a short but intense affair and ended abruptly when Duquesne, after hearing that De Ruyter had been mortally wounded, retreated. Neither side lost a ship, though there were many dead and wounded, especially among the Dutch.
A naval engagement, said to be the Battle of Agosta, By Aernout Smit.
1782: Pirate Anne Bonny died today. Born in Kinsale, Ireland. Bonny's family relocated to the New World very early on in her life. Her mother died shortly after they arrived in North America, where her father eventually joined a merchant business.
Anne became famous as a female pirate operating in the Caribbean. What little is known of her life comes largely from 'A General History of the Pyrates', a 1724 book published in Britain, containing biographies of contemporary pirates.
Pyrate Anne Bonny (8th March 1702 – 22nd April 1782)
“Well behaved women seldom make history”
1838: The wooden-hulled side-wheel paddle steamer 'Sirius', chartered by the British and American Steam Navigation Company to make the first Transatlantic crossing by steamship (ahead of Brunel's 'Great Western'), arrives in New York to the acclaim of a large and enthusiastic crowd, 18 days 10 hours after her departure from Cork, Ireland.
'Srius' is also regarded as the first holder of the 'Blue Riband', although the term was not used until decades later.
Sidewheel Paddle-Steamer 'Sirius'.
1898: U.S.S. 'Nashville' (PG-7) captures a Spanish merchant ship as the U.S. Navy begins a blockade of Cuban ports during the Spanish-American war. She captured another three Spanish vessels by 26th July, and also assisted in cutting the undersea telegraph cable just off the shore of Cienfuegos, where many of her sailors and Marines were honored with Medals of Honor. 'Nashville' remained on duty off Cuba until the war's end.
Gunboat U.S.S. 'Nashville', the only ship of her class.
1902: R.M.S. 'Carpathia', built by Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson at their Newcastle upon Tyne, England shipyard, begins her sea trials between 22nd and 25th April
1930: The United Kingdom, Empire of Japan and the United States sign the London Naval Treaty regulating submarine warfare and limiting naval shipbuilding.
Ratifications would be exchanged in October 1930, and it would be registered in League of Nations Treaty Series in February 1931.
1944: Operation Reckless and Operation Persecution are initiated with Allied amphibious landings taking place at at Hollandia, in Dutch New Guinea (currently known as Jayapura, Indonesia) and Aitape, in the Australian Territory of New Guinea (later Papua, New Guinea) about 140 miles east of Hollandia, thus commencing the Western New Guinea campaign.
Operation Reckless - LVT's head for the invasion beaches at Humboldt Bay, as cruisers bombard in the background. The ship firing tracer shells is U.S.S. 'Boise' (CL-47). Just ahead of her is U.S.S. 'Phoenix' (CL-46), 22nd April 1944.
1945: After learning that Soviet forces have taken Eberswalde without a fight, Adolf Hitler admits defeat in his underground bunker and states that suicide is his only recourse. Unfortunately, this (being one of his better ideas) has come to him ten years too late...
1969: British yachtsman Sir Robin Knox-Johnston wins the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race and completes the first solo non-stop circumnavigation of the world, between 14th June 1968 and 22nd April 1969 aboard 'Suhaili', his 32ft Bermudan Ketch (44ft including bowsprit and to end of Mizzen boom).
Robin Knox-Johnston, on his boat Suhaili, as he sailed towards Falmouth at the end of the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race, 1969.
2010: The 'Deepwater Horizon' semi-submersible offshore oil rig, sinks to 5000-ft in the Gulf Of Mexico after suffering the extreme consequences of a blowout two days earlier. The well then created the largest spill in U.S. history (to date), with oil gushing from the damaged wellhead. A situation that would last until 15th July when it was temporarily sealed by a cap.
'Deepwater Horizon', listing before sinking in the Gulf of Mexico, April 22nd, 2010.
