USS Princess Matoika was a transport ship for the United States Navy during World War I. Before the war, she was a Barbarossa-class ocean liner for the Hamburg America Line and North German Lloyd. Interned with the outbreak of World War I, she was seized by the U.S. in 1917 and carried more than 50,000 U.S. troops between 1918 to 1919. As a U.S. Army transport ship, in July 1920, she was a last-minute substitute to carry much of the U.S. team to the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp. From the perspective of the team, the trip was disastrous; athletes published their grievances in an action known today as the mutiny of the Matoika. In civilian service, she was SS Princess Matoika until 1922, SS President Arthur until 1927, and SS City of Honolulu until she was scrapped in 1933. On her maiden voyage in 1924 as President Arthur of the Jewish-owned American Palestine Line, she reportedly became the first ocean liner to fly the Zionist flag at sea and the first ocean liner to have female officers.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Princess_Matoika

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1836:

At least 425 Texian prisoners of war were executed in the Goliad massacre, under orders from Mexican president Antonio López de Santa Anna. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goliad_massacre

1941:

World War II: A group of Serbian-nationalist officers of the Royal Yugoslav Air Force carried out a coup d'état after Yugoslavia joined the Axis powers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yugoslav_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat

2009:

A failure of the dam holding Situ Gintung, an artificial lake in Tangerang, Indonesia, caused floods that killed at least 100 people. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Situ_Gintung

2015:

Himeji Castle, the largest and most visited Japanese castle, re-opened after five years of restoration work. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Himeji_Castle

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

bestow: 1. To apply or make use of (someone or something); to employ, to use. 2. (specifically, obsolete) To apply (money) for some purpose; to expend, to spend. 3. To impart (something) gratuitously; to present (something) to someone or something, especially as a gift or an honour; to confer, to give. 4. (archaic) 5. To place or put (someone or something) somewhere or in a certain situation; to dispose of. 6. To deposit (something) for safekeeping; to lay up (something) in store; to stow. 7. (also reflexive) To provide (someone or oneself) with accommodation; to find quarters for (someone or oneself); to lodge, to quarter. 8. (obsolete) 9. (reflexive) To behave or conduct (oneself); to acquit. 10. (also reflexive) To give (someone or oneself) in marriage. 11. (obsolete, rare) An act of presenting a thing to someone or something, especially as a gift or an honour; a bestowal. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bestow

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Every age has its peculiar folly; some scheme, project, or phantasy into which it plunges, spurred on either by the love of gain, the necessity of excitement, or the mere force of imitation. Failing in these, it has some madness, to which it is goaded by political or religious causes, or both combined.   --Charles Mackay https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Charles_Mackay