Mary Celeste was an American merchantbrigantine. On December 4, 1872, en route to Genoa from New York, the ship was discovered abandoned and deserted off the Azores Islands in a disheveled but seaworthy condition, with no obvious signs of sudden catastrophe. The final entry in the log, dated ten days previously, was a routine statement of the ship's position. There were ample provisions on board, and the cargo was intact. None of those who had been on board were seen or heard from again. At the subsequent salvage hearings in Gibraltar the court's officers found no evidence of conspiracy or foul play. Over time the story has been distorted by false detail and fanciful explanations, including attacks by giant squid and paranormal intervention. The mystery has been recounted and dramatized in documentaries, novels, plays and films, and the name of the ship has become synonymous with unexplained desertion. After the Gibraltar hearings, Mary Celeste continued in service under new owners until, in 1885, the ship was wrecked off the coast of Haiti in an attempted insurance fraud. (Full article...)
... that A New System of Domestic Cookery(frontispiece pictured) has been called "a publishing sensation" and "the most famous cookery book of its time"?
... that in the armies of Mycenaean Greece, chariots were initially used as fighting vehicles, but by the 13th century BC their role was probably limited to battlefield transport?
1979 – Bruce George Peter Lee set fire to a family home in Hull, England; after his arrest he revealed that he had started nine other fatal fires in the area.
The 1992 Atlantic hurricane season produced six named tropical cyclones, a below-average number. The season officially started on June 1 and finished on November 30; however, Subtropical Storm One formed outside the official timeline on April 21. It was the first recorded subtropical cyclone to form in April since such recordings began in 1968. During the year, three tropical depressions, one subtropical storm, two tropical storms, and four hurricanes formed. It produced seven storms, less than the average of ten usually formed throughout an Atlantic hurricane season. The first cyclone to form inside the official season was Tropical Depression One, which formed on June 25. Of the four hurricanes, Hurricane Andrew(satellite image pictured) was the most intense, reaching Category 5 status. When Andrew struck Florida and Louisiana in August, it became the second-costliest hurricane to hit the United States. Damages were estimated to be about $26.5 billion and 68 people were killed. (Full list...)
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