The last voyage of the Karluk, flagship of the Canadian Arctic
Expedition of 1913–16, ended in a disaster which led to the deaths of
almost half the ship's complement. In August 1913 the ship became
trapped by ice in the Arctic Ocean. The expedition's leader, Vilhjalmur
Stefansson, then left with a hunting party; while he was away the ship
began to drift, preventing his return. When after many weeks the ship
was crushed by ice and sunk, its captain, Robert Bartlett, led the
25 crew and expedition personnel across the sea ice to Wrangel Island,
80 miles (130 km) away. In the dangerous conditions, eight men were
lost on the march. From the island Bartlett and an Inuk companion set
out for the Siberian coast to seek help; they eventually reached Alaska,
but weather conditions delayed the organisation of a rescue. On Wrangel
Island the stranded party were short of food and troubled by internal
dissent; before their rescue in September 1914 three more of the party
had died. Some of the voyage's survivors were critical of Stefansson for
leaving the ship, although he escaped official censure. Bartlett was
hailed as a hero by the public and by his former Karluk shipmates.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_voyage_of_the_Karluk>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1146:
French abbot Bernard of Clairvaux preached a sermon to a crowd
at Vézelay, with King Louis VII in attendance, urging the necessity of
a Second Crusade.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_of_Clairvaux>
1492:
The Catholic Monarchs of Spain issued the Alhambra Decree,
ordering all Jews to convert to Christianity or be expelled from the
country.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alhambra_Decree>
1889:
The Eiffel Tower was inaugurated in Paris, becoming a global
icon of France and one of the most recognizable structures in the world.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eiffel_Tower>
1942:
Second World War: Because of a mutiny by Indian soldiers
against their British officers, Japanese troops captured Christmas
Island without any resistance.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Christmas_Island>
1995:
American singer-songwriter, Selena, known as "The Queen of
Tejano music", was murdered in Corpus Christi, Texas, by the president
of her fan club, Yolanda Saldívar.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Selena>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
wry:
1. Turned away, contorted (of the face or body).
2. Dryly humorous; sardonic or ironic.
3. Twisted, bent, crooked.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/wry>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
I tell you this, that you will have found out the truth of the
last tree and the top-most cloud before the truth about me. You will
understand the sea, and I shall be still a riddle; you shall know what
the stars are, and not know what I am. Since the beginning of the world
all men have hunted me like a wolf — kings and sages, and poets and
lawgivers, all the churches, and all the philosophies. But I have never
been caught yet, and the skies will fall in the time I turn to bay. I
have given them a good run for their money, and I will now. in The
Man Who Was Thursday by
--G. K. Chesterton
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/G._K._Chesterton>