May 24th...
1218: The Fifth Crusade leaves Acre, bound for Egypt. The immediate objective would be Damietta, a town in the Nile delta that guarded the main route up river to Cairo, the ultimate objective.
Frisian crusaders confront the Tower of Damietta, Egypt.
1543: Nicolaus Copernicus, aged 70 years, died in Frombork, Royal Prussia, Kingdom of Poland. He is remembered as the Renaissance mathematician and astronomer who formulated a heliocentric model of the universe which placed the Sun, rather than the Earth, at the centre.
The publication of Copernicus' book, De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres), just before his death, is considered a major event in the history of science.
It began the Copernican Revolution and contributed importantly to the rise of the ensuing Scientific Revolution.
1792: George Brydges Rodney, 1st Baron Rodney, KB, aged 74 years, died at Hanover Square, London. He is best known for his commands in the American War of Independence, particularly his victory over the French at the Battle of the Saintes in 1782. It is often claimed that he was the commander to have pioneered the tactic of "breaking the line".
Admiral Lord George Rodney, 1st Baron Rodney, (1719-1792).
Portrait by Jean-Laurent Mosnierc, painted c.1791.
1819: Her Royal Highness Princess Alexandrina Victoria of Kent is born. Just over eighteenth years later, she would replace her uncle as monarch, and become Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom.
1844: Samuel Morse sends the message "What hath God wrought" (a biblical quotation, Numbers 23:23) from the Old Supreme Court Chamber in the United States Capitol to his assistant, Alfred Vail, in Baltimore, Maryland to inaugurate the first telegraph line.
1881: One of Canada's worst marine disasters occurred on the Thames River, London, Ontario, as people celebrated Queen Victoria day, in recognition of Queen Victoria's (62nd) birthday.
The (aptly-named) 'Victoria', a small, double-decked stern-wheeler commanded by Captain Donald Rankin, was conducting holiday excursion trips between London and Springbank Park.
On a return trip to London the boat was dangerously overcrowded with more than 600 passengers. Oblivious of the danger, the crowd repeatedly shifted from side to side, resulting in flooding and a precarious rocking motion of the boat. It finally heeled over and the boiler crashed through the bulwarks, bringing the upper-deck and large awning down upon the struggling crowd. The 'Victoria' sank immediately and at least 182 people, the majority from London, lost their lives.
1882: Ninety-eight after sailing from New Zealand, the first cargo of frozen meat arrives in London aboard the refrigerated clipper '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.
The produce was found to be in excellent condition, selling at the Smithfield market over the next two weeks (with just a single carcass being condemned). The event would lead to the establishment of New Zealand as an international exporter of meat and dairy produce, and as a permanent supplier to the UK.
Photograph of the "Dunedin", loading at Port Chalmers, New Zealand, in 1882.
1939: The Fleet Air Arm reverts to Admiralty control.
1941: The German battleship 'Bismarck' and 'Prinz Eugen' are engaged in surface action by the British battlecruiser H.M.S. 'Hood' and H.M.S. 'Prince of Wales'. During the engagement H.M.S. 'Hood' is sunk with the loss of all but three of her 1,418 crewmen, and 'Prince of Wales' is damaged'
'Bismarck' is also sufficiently damaged to require her to break off her attempt to enter the North Atlantic and head for Brest on the Atlantic coast of France. Shadowing British warships subsequently lose contact with the 'Bismarck' off Greenland.
Eyewitness sketch of the explosion of H.M.S. 'Hood' by the Captain of the H.M.S. 'Prince of Wales'.
1962: A targeting mishap during reentry results in Mercury spacecraft 'Aurora 7', piloted by astronaut Scott Carpenter, splashing down several hundred miles from U.S.S. 'Intrepid' - the primary recovery vessel.
Minutes after he was located by land-based search aircraft, two helicopters from 'Intrepid', carrying NASA officials, medical experts, Navy frogmen, and photographers, were airborne and headed to the rescue. One of the choppers picked him up over an hour later and flew him to the carrier which safely returned him to the United States
A U.S. Navy Sikorsky HSS-2 'Sea King' recovers astronaut Scott Carpenter from the 'Aurora 7' capsule.
1968: 'K-27', the only Project 645 submarine, equipped with a liquid metal cooled reactor, was irreparably damaged by a reactor accident (control rod failure) on May 24th, 1968. 9 were killed in the reactor accident. After shutting down the reactor and sealing the compartment, the Soviet Navy scuttled her in shallow water (108 ft) of the Kara Sea on September 6th, 1982, contrary to the recommendation of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
2002: The Falkirk Wheel (below), a rotating boat lift in Scotland connecting the Forth and Clyde Canal with the Union Canal, is officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II as part of her Golden Jubilee celebrations.
The structure, which was built as part of a scheme to regenerate central Scotland's canals, is located sits near the Rough Castle Fort, near the village of Tamfourhil, and the nearby town of Falkirk. The site also includes a visitors' centre containing a shop, café, and exhibition centre.
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