today in history

On this date:

In 1718, the English pirate Blackbeard was killed during a battle off the Virginia coast. Blackbeard, whose real name was thought to be Edward Teach, and his gang of pirates had terrorized sailors on the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea for two years. They ambushed ships at dusk or dawn, when the pirates’ ship was hard to see.

In 1806, “Le Canadien,” the first all-french-language newspaper in Canada, and the Royal Gazette, the first newspaper in Newfoundland, were printed.

In 1852, Canadian Frederick Gisborne laid the first submarine cable in North America across the Northumberland Strait using an insulated wire that could not be damaged by salt water. It ran from Carleton Head, P.E.I., to Cape Tormentine, N.B.

In 1890, French president Charles de Gaulle was born in Lille, France.

In 1915, Canada issued a war loan of $50 million, which was oversubscribed and later raised to $100 million.

In 1922, the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair first opened its gates in Toronto. It since has been held annually, except during the Second World War years. Considered the largest indoor agricultural show in the world, the fair also signalled the emergence of the Royal Horse Show, one of Canada’s premier international equestrian events.

In 1935, a flying boat named the “China Clipper” took off from Alameda, Calif. It carried more than 100,000 pieces of mail on the first trans-pacific airmail flight.