The Action of 13 January 1797 was a small naval battle fought between a French ship of the line and two British frigates off the coast of Brittany during the French Revolutionary Wars. The action is notable for its outcome: the frigates successfully outmanoeuvred the much larger French vessel and drove it on shore in heavy seas, resulting in the death of over 900 of the 1,300 persons aboard. One of the British frigates was also lost in the engagement, running onto a sandbank after failing to escape a lee shore. The French ship Droits de l'Homme had been part of the Expédition d'Irlande, a disastrous attempt by a French expeditionary force to invade Ireland. During the operation, the French fleet was beset by poor co-ordination and extremely violent weather, eventually being compelled to return to France without landing a single soldier ashore. Two British frigates, HMS Indefatigable and HMS Amazon, had been ordered to patrol the seas off Ushant in an attempt to intercept the returning French force and sighted Droits de l'Homme on the afternoon of 13 January. The damage the more nimble British vessels inflicted on the French ship was so severe that as the winds increased, the French crew lost control and Droits de l'Homme was swept onto a sandbar and destroyed.

Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_of_13_January_1797

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1819:

British official Stamford Raffles signed a treaty with Sultan Hussein Shah of Johor, establishing Singapore as a new trading post for the British East India Company. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Founding_of_modern_Singapore

1840:

The British and the Māori signed the Treaty of Waitangi, considered as the founding document of New Zealand. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Waitangi

1934:

In an attempted coup d'état against the French Third Republic, far right leagues demonstrated on the Place de la Concorde in Paris. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/6_February_1934_crisis

1952:

Elizabeth II ascended to the thrones of the United Kingdom and six other British Commonwealth countries upon the death of her father, George VI. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_II_of_the_United_Kingdom

1958:

British European Airways Flight 609, carrying the Manchester United football club, a number of their fans and journalists covering the team, crashed while attempting to take off from Munich-Riem Airport in Munich, West Germany, killing eight players and 15 others. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munich_air_disaster

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

fortnight (n): A period of fourteen nights; two weeks http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fortnight

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

I do not believe in a fate that will fall on us no matter what we do. I do believe in a fate that will fall on us if we do nothing. So, with all the creative energy at our command, let us begin an era of national renewal. Let us renew our determination, our courage, and our strength. And let us renew our faith and our hope. We have every right to dream heroic dreams. Those who say that we're in a time when there are no heroes, they just don't know where to look. --Ronald Reagan http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ronald_Reagan