March 17th...
1776: After George Washington and Henry Knox placed artillery in positions at Dorchester Heights, overlooking Boston, Massachusetts, options became extremely limited for the besieged British forces garrisoned within the city.
On March 17th, favourable winds provided an opportunity for the British to withdraw by sea. The troops, who were authorised to burn the town if there were any disturbances while they were marching to their ships, began to move out at 04:00hrs. By 09:00hrs, all ships were underway, effectively ending the 11-month siege.
The fleet departing from Boston included 120 ships, with more than 11,000 people aboard. Of those, 9,906 were British troops, 667 were women, and 553 were children.
1880: (Captain) Lawrence Edward Grace Oates was born in Putney, London, England in 1880, the son of William and Caroline Oates. He had one sister, named Lillian a year older than himself. His uncle was the naturalist and African explorer Frank Oates.
Lawrence would go on to see military service during the Second Boer War in the 6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons and be recommended for the Victoria Cross. After serving in Ireland, Egypt, and India, he would apply to join Robert Falcon Scott's 'Terra Nova' expedition to the South Pole
1891: Arriving at Gibraltar in rough weather, Captain John McKeague presumed to steer the SS 'Utopia', a transatlantic passenger steamship, towards its "usual" anchorage in the inner harbour, only to discover that it was already occupied by two battleships, H.M.S. 'Anson' and H.M.S. 'Rodney'.
Steering across the bows of 'Anson', he ran onto the ironclad's ram, ripping open a five metre wide hole below the waterline of his vessel. 'Utopia's' holds flooded quickly and she sank in less than twenty minutes.
Out of 880 passengers and crewmembers of Utopia, 562 were dead or missing, plus two sailors from H.M.S. 'Immortalité' who drowned when their boat drifted on the rocks whilst attempting to rescue survivors.
The sinking of 'Utopia' was blamed on "grave error of judgment" of Captain John McKeague. He survived the accident.
The sinking of 'Utopia' in the Bay of Gibraltar. A sketch by a witness, Ms. Georgina Smith.
1907: The biggest rescue in the RNLI's history occurs when the 12,000 tonne liner SS 'Suevic hit the Maenheere Reef near Lizard Point in Cornwall.
(Quote: heritorasphodel, 04:22:33, 17/032013.) "Near the Lizard, Cornwall, the 12,000-ton White Star liner Suevic runs aground on the Maenheere reef. Homeward bound from Australia, there are 526 persons aboard. During the rescue operation, lifeboats from the Lizard, Cadgwith, Coverack and Porthleven. Children aboard the Suevic were carried down rope ladders and then dropped into the lifeboats.
In total, Cadgwith's Minnie Moon saved 227; The Lizard's Sir George Back 167; Coverack's Constance Melanie 44; and Porthleven's John Francis White 18, a total of 456..." Six silver RNLI medals were later awarded, two to Suevic crew members.
In 2007, the centenary of the biggest rescue in the Royal National Lifeboat Institution's history was marked with the presention of a special certificate to The Lizard lifeboat station.
A postcard image of the White Star liner SS 'Suevic' aground at Lizard Point, 17th March 1907.
1966: In the Mediterranean Sea, off the south coast of Spain, near the small fishing village of Palomares, Deep Submergence Vehicle (DSV) 'Alvin' locates a 1.45 megaton hydrogen bomb, in an uncharted area of the Rio Almanzora canyon on a 70-degree slope at a depth of 2,550 feet. Unfortunately, the bomb was dropped and temporarily lost when the U.S. Navy attempted to bring it to the surface.
Deep Submergence Vehicle (DSV) 'Alvin'
1984: The 130th Cambridge and Oxford Boat Race was postponed less than an hour before it was due to start, after the Cambridge boat ran headlong into a large moored barge used by umpires in the middle of the river, shattering the bow section of the vessel.
The next day the Boat Race went ahead with Oxford crossing the winning line first. They set a new personal best time by completing the race in 16 minutes and 45 seconds, 13 seconds inside their previous record of 1976.