Browsing: June

A Brief History On June 22, 1813, an intrepid Canadian woman, Laura Secord, made a harrowing 20 mile trek through American occupied territory in Ontario, Canada, to warn British troops of an impending American attack. Digging Deeper Secord was 38 years old at the time of her heroics, and her efforts led British and Mohawk forces to defeat the American surprise attack.  For her service, Canada has honored her as a war hero and used her example in the cause of women’s suffrage in Canada.  With schools named after her, commemorative plaques, and her route dedicated as the Laura Secord…

A Brief History On June 21, 1734, a 29 year old African woman was executed for setting her slave master’s house on fire which spread through Montreal in New France, what is now Canada. Digging Deeper Born a slave in Madeira around 1705 and named Marie-Joseph Angélique by a Flemish man that bought her and sold her to a Frenchman in Montreal around 1725, Marie was not submissive and tried to escape with a White indentured servant she had taken as a lover in 1733. The White servant was jailed, and Marie was returned to domestic duties, although her sale…

A Brief History On June 19, 2005, the United States Grand Prix in Indianapolis, Indiana, suffered a mass exodus when 14 cars running on Michelin tires withdrew from the race due to tire failures by the French tire giant.  Only six cars remained to race on Bridgestone tires. Digging Deeper Michelin and Bridgestone combine with Goodyear to make up more than half of all tire sales in the world each year.  Each tire company pours millions of dollars into research to make their tires with the best wet and dry traction, best heat resistance, best gas mileage, least noise, longest…

A Brief History On June 18, 2023, the deep-sea submarine Titan imploded 3,500 meters beneath the surface of the Atlantic, killing the crewman and the four tourists aboard.  The Titan was a commercial sub designed to take tourists to visit the resting place of the RMS Titanic, which sank in 1912 Digging Deeper If you think ticket prices at Disney World are expensive, try the regular price of a seat in the Titan at $250,000, or the discount price of $150,000! Regardless of price, sometimes tourism goes bad, such as when a tourist airliner or helicopter crashes, a cruise ship…

A Brief History On June 17, 1940, the British passenger liner converted to wartime duty, the RMS Lancastria, was sunk off the coast of France by German Junkers Ju 88 bombers as she headed to England with military and civilian evacuees from mainland Europe.  The death toll was massive, with 3,000 to 7,000 dead.  Incredibly, 2,477 people survived the sinking, one of the largest number of survivors from any shipwreck ever. Digging Deeper Stories of ships sinking usually focus on the number of lives lost, but seldom are the number of survivors celebrated.  Some instances of huge numbers of people…