The naval Battle of Drepana took place in 249 BC during the First Punic
War near the city of Drepana (modern Trapani) in western Sicily, between
a Carthaginian fleet under Adherbal and a Roman fleet commanded by
Publius Claudius Pulcher. Pulcher was blockading the Carthaginian
stronghold of Lilybaeum (modern Marsala) when he decided to attack their
fleet, which was nearby in the harbour of Drepana. The Roman fleet
sailed by night to carry out a surprise attack but became scattered in
the dark. Adherbal was able to lead his fleet out to sea before it could
be trapped in harbour; having gained sea room in which to manoeuvre he
then counter-attacked. The Romans were pinned against the shore, and
after a day of fighting were heavily defeated by the more manoeuvrable
Carthaginian ships with their better-trained crews. After this,
Carthage's greatest naval victory of the war, they took the offensive
and all but swept the Romans from the sea. (Full article...).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Drepana>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1815:
Napoleon escaped from the Italian island of Elba (depicted), to
which he had been exiled after the signing of the Treaty of
Fontainebleau.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon>
1917:
The Original Dixieland Jass Band recorded "Livery Stable
Blues", the first jazz single ever released.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Livery_Stable_Blues>
1935:
With the aid of a radio station in Daventry, England, and two
receiving antennae, Scottish engineer and inventor Robert Watson-Watt
first demonstrated the use of radar.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Watson-Watt>
2012:
African-American teenager Trayvon Martin was killed by
neighborhood-watch coordinator George Zimmerman in Sanford, Florida,
prompting a nationwide controversy.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Trayvon_Martin>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
haul:
1. (transitive) To transport by drawing or pulling, as with horses or
oxen, or a motor vehicle.
2. (transitive) To draw or pull something heavy.
3. (transitive) To carry or transport something, with a connotation that
the item is heavy or otherwise difficult to move.
4. (transitive, figuratively) To drag, to pull, to tug.
5. (transitive, figuratively) Followed by up: to summon to be
disciplined or held answerable for something.
6. (intransitive) To pull apart, as oxen sometimes do when yoked.
7. (transitive, intransitive, nautical) To steer (a vessel) closer to
the wind.
8. (intransitive, nautical) Of the wind: to shift fore (more towards the
bow).
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/haul>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
We are seeing Russian military operations inside the sovereign
territory of Ukraine on a scale that Europe has not seen in decades.
Day after day, I have been clear that such unilateral measures conflict
directly with the United Nations Charter. … I repeat my appeal from
last night to President Putin: Stop the military operation. Bring the
troops back to Russia. We know the toll of war. With deaths rising, we
are seeing images of fear, anguish and terror in every corner of
Ukraine. People – everyday innocent people – always pay the highest
price.
--António Guterres
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ant%C3%B3nio_Guterres>