Canadian troop ship torpedoed and sunk
In 1603, French explorer Samuel de Champlain made his first voyage to New France as a member of a fur-trading expedition. The expedition explored the St. Lawrence River as far as the rapids at Lachine. In 1604, Champlain returned with the Sieur de Monts, who had a monopoly of trade in the region, to found a colony in what is now Port Royal, N.S.
In 1862, a Canadian commission recommended the conscription of 50,000 men in case of war with the United States, which was in the midst of the Civil War.
In 1869, the Cincinnati Red Stockings, the first professional baseball team, was organized.
In 1871, the Manitoba legislature opened its first session.
In 1892, the first escalator – the Reno Inclined Elevator – was patented by Jesse W. Reno of New York.
In 1906, the Alberta government opened its first session. It was held at the Thistle skating rink in Edmonton.
In 1913, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson held the first White House news conference.
In 1917, Czar Nicholas II of Russia abdicated after a four-day revolt by the armed forces. He and his family were murdered by the Bolsheviks the following year.
In 1943, Canadian Pacific’s Empress of Canada, retooled as a troop ship, was sunk off the coast of West Africa after being torpedoed by the Italian submarine Leonardo da Vinci. Of the 1,800 people aboard, 400 were Italian prisoners of war and 200 Poles who had been released by the Soviet Union after Germany invaded. There were 392 fatalities: 340 passengers, including a majority of the Italian prisoners, 44 crew and eight gunners.
In 1945, after three weeks of fierce fighting, the United States took control of the Japanese island of Iwo Jima, although sporadic fighting continued. The battle for Iwo Jima was one of the deadliest of the war, resulting in the deaths of about 20,000 Japanese and 6,800 Americans.
In 1961, Prime Minister Hendrick Verwoerd led South Africa out of the Commonwealth, announcing it would become a republic on May 31st.
In 1962, Donald Jackson, of Oshawa, Ont., won the world men’s figure skating championship in Prague. During his free skate, Jackson landed the first triple lutz jump in competition.
In 1973, aboriginals in Alberta won a settlement of nearly $200,000 in so-called “ammunition money” because an 1877 treaty stipulated they should have been paid $2,000 annually.