The Battle of Lissa was a naval action fought between a British frigate
squadron and a substantially larger squadron of French and Venetian
frigates and smaller ships on 13 March 1811 during the Adriatic
campaign of the Napoleonic Wars. The engagement was fought in the
Adriatic Sea for possession of the strategically important island of
Lissa (later renamed Vis), from which the British squadron had been
disrupting French shipping in the Adriatic. The French needed to
control the Adriatic to supply a growing army in the Illyrian
Provinces, and consequently despatched an invasion force in March 1811
consisting of six frigates, numerous smaller craft and a battalion of
Italian soldiers. The French invasion force under Bernard Dubourdieu
was met by Captain William Hoste and his four ships based on the
island. In the subsequent battle Hoste sank the French flagship,
captured two others and scattered the remainder of the Franco-Venetian
squadron. The battle has been hailed as an important British victory,
due to both the disparity between the forces and the signal raised by
Hoste, a former subordinate of Horatio Nelson. Hoste had raised the
message "Remember Nelson" as the French bore down and had then
manoeuvred to drive Dubourdieu's flagship ashore and scatter his
squadron in what has been described as "one of the most brilliant naval
achievements of the war".
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Lissa_%281811%29>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1448:
Ottoman wars in Europe: The Hungarian army led by John Hunyadi engaged
an Ottoman army led by Sultan Murad II.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Kosovo_%281448%29>
1604:
Kepler's Star: German astronomer Johannes Kepler observed an
exceptionally bright star which had suddenly appeared in the
constellation Ophiuchus.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SN_1604>
1860:
The Open Championship, the oldest of the four major championships in
men's golf, was first played at Prestwick Golf Club in Prestwick, South
Ayrshire, Scotland.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Open_Championship>
1961:
In Paris, the French police under the Prefect of Police Maurice Papon
attacked a peaceful but illegal demonstration of some 30,000 who were
protesting the Algerian War, killing anywhere between 40 and 200
people.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_massacre_of_1961>
1964:
Prime Minister of Australia Robert Menzies opened the artificial Lake
Burley Griffin in the middle of the capital Canberra.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Burley_Griffin>
1989:
A 6.9 Mw earthquake struck California's San Francisco Bay Area, killing
63 people, injuring 3,757, leaving at least 8,000 homeless, and forcing
the postponement of Game 3 of Major League Baseball's World Series.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_Loma_Prieta_earthquake>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
tranquil (adj):
1. Free from emotional or mental disturbance.
2. Calm; without motion or sound
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tranquil>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
An era can be said to end when its basic illusions are exhausted.
--Arthur Miller
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Arthur_Miller>