The sinking of the RMS Titanic in the early morning of 15 April 1912,
four days into the ship's maiden voyage from Southampton to New York
City, was one of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters in history,
killing more than 1,500 people. The largest passenger liner in service
at the time, Titanic had an estimated 2,224 people on board when she
struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic. The ship had received six
warnings of sea ice but was travelling at near maximum speed when the
lookouts sighted the iceberg. Unable to turn quickly enough, the ship
suffered a glancing blow that buckled the starboard (right) side and
opened five of sixteen compartments to the sea. The disaster caused
widespread outrage over the lack of lifeboats, lax regulations, and the
unequal treatment of the three passenger classes during the evacuation.
Inquiries recommended sweeping changes to maritime regulations, leading
to the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (1914),
which continues to govern maritime safety.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinking_of_the_RMS_Titanic>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1638:
A rebellion by Catholic Japanese peasants in Shimabara over
increased taxes was put down by the Tokugawa shogunate, resulting in
greater enforcement of the policy of national seclusion.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shimabara_Rebellion>
1738:
Serse (audio featured), an opera by Baroque composer George
Frideric Handel loosely based on Xerxes I of Persia, premiered in
London.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serse>
1936:
A group of Arabs in British Mandatory Palestine killed two Jews
at a roadblock, an act widely viewed as the beginning of the violence
within the Arab revolt.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1936_Tulkarm_shooting>
1958:
On Walter O'Malley's initiative, the Los Angeles Dodgers and
San Francisco Giants played in the first Major League Baseball game on
the U.S. West Coast.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_O%27Malley>
1995:
At a GATT ministerial meeting in Marrakesh, Morocco,
representatives of 124 countries and the European Communities signed an
agreement to establish the World Trade Organization.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Trade_Organization>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
Leonardeschi:
A group of artists who worked in the studio of, or under the influence
of, Leonardo da Vinci.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Leonardeschi>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
He who thinks little, errs much.
--Leonardo da Vinci
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Leonardo_da_Vinci>
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