TODAY IN HISTORY

In 1969, “Abbey Road,” the last album recorded by The Beatles as a group, was released. The LP, which marked a return to a simpler style, became the group’s best-selling album. It included “Something,” which would be George Harrison’s only No. 1 single as a member of The Beatles. It’s perhaps best remembered for its now-iconic cover.

In 1977, British entrepreneur Freddie Laker began his cut-rate “Skytrain” service from London to New York. Laker was later knighted, but the carrier went out of business in 1982.

In 1983, “Australia II” defeated “Liberty” to win yachting’s America’s Cup off Newport, R.I. It was the first loss for the U.S. in 25 challenges dating back to 1851.

In 1990, the Oka crisis ended when Mohawk Warriors laid down their weapons after a 78-day standoff with Quebec police and Canadian soldiers. The standoff began July 11 when police raided a barricade set up to protest the expansion of a golf course on land claimed by the Mohawks. It ended, as it began, with violence. Unarmed Mohawks and Warriors got into wild scuffles with police and soldiers. By the end, army officials had taken 34 men, 16 women and six children into custody. One police officer was killed.

In 1991, four men and four women began a twoyear stay inside a sealed-off structure in Oracle, Ariz., called “Biosphere 2.” (They emerged from Biosphere on this date in 1993.)

In 1992, a military transport plane with 163 army officers and crew crashed soon after takeoff from Lagos, Nigeria, killing all aboard.

In 1997, all 234 people aboard an Indonesian Airbus were killed when it crashed near Medan in an area of Sumatra that had been shrouded in smoke from hundreds of forest fires.

In 2000, the Greek ferry “Express Samina,” with more than 500 people onboard, sank in the stormy Aegean Sea on a rocky islet shortly before reaching the island of Paros, Greece. At least 79 people, including two Canadians, died.