1787 ~ Captain Arthur Phillip left Portsmouth, England with eleven ships of convicts to establish a penal colony in Australia.

1842 ~ Birthday of Sir Arthur Sullivan of Gilbert & Sullivan, Composer.

1861 ~ Queen Victoria issued a "proclamation of neutrality" which recognized the breakaway Confederate states as having belligerent rights.

1865 ~ More than a month after the surrender of the Northern Army of Virginia by General Lee, the last land battle of the Civil War ended with a Confederate victory in Texas at the Battle of Palmito Ranch.

1888 ~ Brazil abolished slavery.

1912 ~ The Royal Flying Corps (now the Royal Air Force) was established in the U.K.

1937 ~ Birthday of Roger Zelazny, Science Fiction author.

1940 ~ Winston Churchill made his "blood, tears, toil and sweat" speech to the House of Commons.

1981 ~ Mehmet Ali Agca attempted to assassinate Pope John Paul II at St. Peter's Square in Rome.

1995 ~ Alison Hargreaves became the first woman to climb Everest without oxygen or the help of sherpas.


Tomorrow, jseal will return to posting Strange Days.