Benjamin Morrell (1795–1839) was an American sealing captain and
explorer who between 1823 and 1831 made a series of voyages, mainly to
the Southern Ocean and the Pacific Islands. Morrell's reputation among
his peers was for untruth and fantasy. Claims in his partly
ghost-written memoir, A Narrative of Four Voyages, especially those
relating to his Antarctic experiences, have been disputed by
geographers and historians. After running away to sea at the age of 16
and being twice captured and imprisoned by the British during the War
of 1812, Morrell sailed before the mast for several years and
subsequently became captain of the sealer Wasp. In 1823 he took Wasp
for an extended voyage into sub-Antarctic waters, and it was from this
first of four voyages that much of the controversy surrounding his
reputation developed. Many of his claims—the first landing on Bouvet
Island, a Weddell Sea penetration to 70°S, an extremely rapid passage
of 3,500 miles (5,600 km) at improbably high latitudes, and the
discovery of a coastline he named New South Greenland—have been doubted
or proved false. His subsequent three voyages, in other ships, were
less contentious, although his descriptions of various incidents have
been dismissed as fanciful or absurd. He is believed to have died in
1839 of a fever contracted in Portuguese East Africa.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Morrell>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
636:
Rashidun Caliphate forces led by Khalid ibn al-Walid took control of
Syria and Palestine in the Battle of Yarmouk, marking the first great
wave of Muslim conquests after the death of Muhammad.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Yarmouk>
1794:
American troops defeated the Western Confederacy, a Native American
alliance, at the Battle of Fallen Timbers, the decisive battle of the
Northwest Indian War.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fallen_Timbers>
1882:
Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture was first
performed at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1812_Overture>
1977:
NASA's Voyager 2 lifted off from Cape Canaveral in Florida, on a
mission to explore the outer planets of the Solar System.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_2>
1989:
The final stage of the O-Bahn Busway in Adelaide, South Australia, was
completed, becoming the world's longest and fastest guided busway with
buses travelling a total of 12 km (7.5 mi) at maximum speeds up to
100 km/h (62 mph).
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O-Bahn_Busway>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
buxom (adj):
1. (of a woman) Having a full, voluptuous figure, now especially
possessing large breasts.
2. (archaic) Cheerful, healthy and lively, happy
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/buxom>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Science traditionally takes the reductionist approach, saying that the
collective properties of molecules, or the fundamental units of
whatever system you're talking about, are enough to account for all of
the system's activity. But this standard approach leaves out one very
important additional factor, and that's the spacing and timing of
activity — its pattern or form.
--Roger Wolcott Sperry
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Roger_Wolcott_Sperry>
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