Category: Note

On April 27, 1865, the worst maritime disaster in U.S. history occurred when the overloaded steamship SS Sultana exploded on the Mississippi River, killing some 1,800 people, many of whom were former Union POWs returning home from the Civil War. — On this day in 1789, the crew of the British ship Bounty mutinied, setting Captain William Bligh and 18 sailors adrift in a launch in the South Pacific. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 112 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: The photovoltaic power specialists at …

On April 26, 1785, John James Audubon, an American ornithologist who became well known for his drawings and paintings of North American birds, was born in Les Cayes, Saint-Domingue, West Indies (now Haiti). — On April 26, 1986, one of the world’s worst nuclear accidents occurred at the Chernobyl plant in the Soviet Union. An explosion and fire in the No. 4 reactor sent radioactivity into the atmosphere; at least 31 Soviets died immediately. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 112 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: …

On April 125, 1959, in one of the largest civil engineering feats ever undertaken, the St. Lawrence Seaway officially opened, linking the Atlantic Ocean with the Great Lakes. — Today is the birthday of physicist, inventor, and entrepreneur Guglielmo Marconi (1874–1937). He was known for his pioneering work on long-distance radio transmission as well as for the development of Marconi’s Law and a radio telegraph system. He is often considered the inventor of radio. — Going, going… We are now down to just 15 of the waterproof 2005-2023 SurvivalBlog Archive USB sticks. I’ve reduced the price on those remaining sticks …

On April 24, 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope was launched into Earth orbit. Unhindered by the impurities and distortions of Earth’s atmosphere, the 2.4 meter (7.9 feet) aperture telescope has delivered some of the most spectacular images of the far reaches of the Universe. April 24th is the birthday of Carolyn Cole (born 1961), a Pulitzer Prize-winning staff photographer for the Los Angeles Times. This is also the day that the Armenian Genocide began, in 1915. Ottoman (Turk) Muslims slaughtered 1.5 million of their Christian neighbors, intellectuals, and community leaders. The Ottoman government proceeded with multiple phases to round up …

On April 23, 1936, singer-songwriter Roy Orbison, known for his soaring voice and for his carefully crafted ballads of loneliness and heartache, was born in Vernon, Texas. — The oldest US public institution, Boston Latin School, was founded on April 23, 1635. — “Shane”, directed by George Stevens and based on the 1949 novel by Jack Schaefer, starring Alan Ladd and Jean Arthur premiered on April 23, 1949. — There are several interesting new retreat property listings over at SurvivalRealty.com. These include: Your Own Private Idaho – Clark Fork. 221 Off-Grid Acres in Western North Carolina. Engineered Lakefront Homestead – …

On April 22, 1889, the Oklahoma land rush began. Today is the birthday of actor Eddie Albert (born Edward Albert Heimberger April 22, 1906.) He died May 26, 2005, at age 99.) For his actions in the battle of Tarawa, he was awarded the Bronze Star with “V” device. Today is the birthday of the late Charles Rankin Bond, Jr., who was born in Dallas on April 22, 1915. (Died, 2009.) He was one of the last of the AVG Flying Tiger pilots. — Going,  going… We are now down to just 30 of the waterproof 2005-2023 SurvivalBlog Archive USB …

On April 21, 1918, Manfred, Freiherr (Baron) von Richthofen, Germany’s top flying ace in World War I, was shot down and killed during a battle near Amiens, France. April 21st, 1828, Noah Webster published the first American dictionary. April 21st is Aggie Muster Day, for all Texas A&M graduates. Aggie Muster celebrations/meetings are held as far away as Japan, Germany, and Afghanistan. April 21st was selected as the day to celebrate Muster since that is the anniversary of the Battle of San Jacinto, where Santa Anna’s army was defeated by the Texian Army led by Sam Houston. — Today’s feature …

On April 20, 1902, Pierre and Marie Curie isolated the radioactive compound radium chloride. On April 20th, 2010, an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil platform, leased by BP, killed 11 workers and began spewing an estimated 200 million gallons of crude into the Gulf of Mexico for nearly three months, creating the worst known offshore oil spill. April 20th is also the day that we remember the victims of the Columbine High School tragedy, where two students stormed into a suburban high school in Littleton, Colorado in 1999, at lunchtime with guns and explosives, killing 13 and wounding dozens …

Today, April 19th, is a genuine Red Letter Day. April 19th is the original Patriot Day which marks the multiple anniversary of the battles of Lexington and Concord, known as “The Shot Heard ‘Round the World”. Today also marks the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising against the Nazis in 1943, the BATF’s costly raid on the Branch Davidian Church in Waco, the gun turret explosion on the USS Iowa in 1989, the capture of the Boston Marathon bomber in 2013, and very sadly also the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. April 19th is also the birthday of novelist Ralph …

On April 18, 1775, British troops marched out of Boston on a mission to confiscate the American arsenal at Concord and to capture Patriot leaders Samuel Adams and John Hancock, known to be hiding at Lexington. As the British departed, Boston Patriots Paul Revere (pictured) and William Dawes set out on horseback from the city to warn Adams and Hancock and rouse the Minutemen. The Doolittle Tokyo Raid was launched on April 18, 1942. April 18th is the birthday of pastor and former Washington Representative Matt Shea. (Born 1974). On April 18th, 1906, the San Francisco earthquake struck northern California, …

On April 17, 1970, the Apollo 13 command module—carrying James A. Lovell, Jr., Fred W. Haise, Jr., and John L. Swigert, Jr.—entered Earth‘s atmosphere and splashed down, ending one of the most tense chapters in space history; four days earlier an oxygen tank had exploded, threatening the lives of the three astronauts. — On April 17, 1961, about 1,500 CIA-trained Cuban exiles launched the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in a failed attempt to overthrow the government of Fidel Castro. Due to the Cuba/Soviet intelligence network as well as loose talk by members of the brigade, which was …

April 16, 1746: Battle of Culloden, the last battle on British soil: Royalist troops under the Duke of Cumberland defeat the Jacobite army of Charles Edward Stuart. The Jacobite Rising — which began a year before — was an attempt by Charles Edward Stuart to regain the British throne for his father, James Francis Edward Stuart. April 16th is the birthday of two notable novelists– the late J. Neil Schulman (pictured) and Samuel Youd. Agorist-Libertarian activist J. Neil Schulman (born April 16, 1953, died 2019) was best known as author of the novel Alongside Night. The late Samuel Youd (born …

On April 15, 1989, a small group of students initiated a pro-democracy protest on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The death of reformer Hu Yaobang triggered the demonstrations, which grew in size and were brutally dispersed in the Tiananmen Square Massacre on June 4. April 15th is traditionally Tax Day, but I prefer to remember it as Roy Clark‘s birthday. He was born April 15, 1933. April 15th, 1912, is the anniversary of the sinking of the “unsinkable” Titanic. 1,517 people lost their lives on the maiden voyage. As research into the incident has progressed over the last 100 years, it …

On April 14, 1902, James Cash Penney opened his first store, The Golden Rule Store, in Kemmerer, Wyoming. His enterprise eventually grew into a large chain of J.C. Penney stores. — On this day in 1865, just after the effective end of the American Civil War, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth while attending a production at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C., and died the next morning. — On April 14, 1828 Noah Webster published An American Dictionary of the English Language; based on the principle that word usage should evolve from the spoken language, the …

On April 13, 1943, the Thomas Jefferson Memorial was dedicated in East Potomac Park on the south bank of the Tidal Basin in Washington, D.C..  Jefferson was born April 13, 1743. (He died on July 4, 1826 just a few hours before the death of John Adams. How patriotic of both of them to pass away on the Fourth of July.) — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 112 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: The photovoltaic power specialists at Quantum Harvest LLC  are providing a store-wide 10% …