Girl Pat was a small fishing trawler based at the Lincolnshire port of Grimsby that caused a media sensation in 1936 with an adventurous transatlantic voyage using a sixpenny school atlas as its main navigational aid. The escapade ended in Georgetown, British Guiana, with the arrest of the trawler's captain, George "Dod" Orsborne. On 1 April 1936, Orsborne, with a crew of four, took the vessel out on what its owners authorised as a routine North Sea fishing trip. Nothing was heard of them until mid-May, when the owners received invoices relating to repairs and reprovisioning in the Spanish port of Corcubión. Subsequent sightings placed the trawler in the Savage Islands, at Dakar in Senegal, and at Îles du Salut off the coast of French Guiana in South America. After the vessel's capture and detention on 19 June, the crew were hailed as heroes by much of the world's press. Orsborne returned to England and was tried and imprisoned for the theft of the vessel. Years later he made an uncorroborated claim that the Girl Pat voyage had been an undercover mission carried out on behalf of British Naval Intelligence.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girl_Pat_(1935_trawler)

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

750 BC:

Romulus, the legendary co-founder of Rome, held the first Roman triumph to celebrate a military victory following the Rape of the Sabine Women. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_triumph

1692:

Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne and Tituba were brought before local magistrates in Salem Village, Massachusetts, beginning the Salem witch trials. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salem_witch_trials

1896:

Ethiopia defeated Italy at the Battle of Adwa, ending the First Italo-Ethiopian War. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Adwa

1936:

Hoover Dam, on the Colorado River along the Arizona–Nevada border, was completed and turned over to the Federal government of the United States. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoover_Dam

1956:

The NATO phonetic alphabet, today the most widely used spelling alphabet, was first implemented by the International Civil Aviation Organization. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO_phonetic_alphabet

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

nocturne: 1. A work of art relating or dedicated to the night. 2. (music) A dreamlike or pensive composition, usually for the piano. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/nocturne

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Neither the sword of popes, nor the cross, nor the image of death — nothing will halt the march of truth. I wrote what I felt and that is what I preached with trusting spirit. I am convinced that after my destruction the teachings of false prophets will collapse.   --Ferenc Dávid https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ferenc_D%C3%A1vid