1607 – An estimated 200 square miles along the coasts of the Bristol Channel and Severn Estuary in England are destroyed by massive flooding, resulting in an estimated 2,000 deaths. 1649 – King Charles I of England is beheaded. 1661 – Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, is ritually executed more than...
MS Hans Hedtoft was a Danish liner that struck an iceberg and sank on January 30, 1959 on her maiden voyage off the coast of Western Greenland. The only piece of wreckage ever found was a lifebelt.
757 – An Lushan, leader of a revolt against the Tang dynasty and emperor of Yan, is murdered by his own son, An Qingxu. 1790 – The first boat specializing as a lifeboat is tested on the River Tyne. 1834 – President Andrew Jackson orders first use of federal soldiers to suppress a labor dispute....
A sympathetic character despite his snarling contempt for dogs and children, William Claude Dukenfield was born January 29. 1880. Better known as W. C. Fields
1500 – Vicente Yáñez Pinzón becomes the first European to set foot on Brazil. 1531 – The Lisbon earthquake kills about thirty thousand people. 1564 – The Council of Trent establishes an official distinction between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. 1700 – The Cascadia earthquake takes place off the west coast of North America, as evidenced...
AD 41 – Roman Emperor Caligula, known for his eccentricity and sadistic despotism, is assassinated by his disgruntled Praetorian Guards. The Guard then proclaims Caligula’s uncle Claudius as Emperor 1848 – California Gold Rush: James W. Marshall finds gold at Sutter’s Mill near Sacramento. 1943 – World War II: Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill...
393 – Roman Emperor Theodosius I proclaims his eight-year-old son Honorius co-emperor. 971 – Using crossbows, Song dynasty troops soundly defeat a war elephant corps of the Southern Han at Shao. 1556 – The deadliest earthquake in history, the Shaanxi earthquake, hits Shaanxi province, China. The death toll may have been as high as 830,000....
On 23 January 1960; Trieste reached the ocean floor in the Challenger Deep (the deepest southern part of the Mariana Trench), carrying Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh.This was the first time a vessel, manned or unmanned, had reached the deepest known point of the Earth's oceans.
Onboard systems indicated a depth of 37,799 ft. The descent took 4 hours 47 minutes at a descent rate of 0.9 metres per second (3.0 ft/s).
The temperature in the cabin was 7 °C (45 °F) at the time.
While at maximum depth, the crew unexpectedly regained the ability to communicate with the support ship, USS Wandank, using a sonar/hydrophone voice communications system. At a speed of almost (1 mi/s) - about five times the speed of sound in air - it took about seven seconds for a voice message to travel from the craft to the support ship and another seven seconds for answers to return.
While at the bottom, Piccard and Walsh observed a number of small sole and flounder. Their claim the fish were swimming would prove at least some vertebrate life can withstand the extreme pressure at the oceans' deepest point. They noted that the floor of the Challenger Deep consisted of "diatomaceous ooze". The ascent took 3 hours and 15 minutes.(Wikipedia)
1419 – Hundred Years’ War: Rouen surrenders to Henry V of England, completing his reconquest of Normandy. 1818 – French physicist Augustin Fresnel submits a “supplement” which establishes the current understanding of polarized light. 1861 – American Civil War: Georgia joins South Carolina, Florida, Mississippi, and Alabama in declaring secession from the United States. 1883...
In 1978 the last VW Beetle rolled off the assembly line in Germany.When Beetle No. 15,007,034 was produced, Beetle production surpassed that of the previous record holder, the Ford Model T.
