TODAY IN HISTORY

In 1986, explorers from an oceanographic institute in Massachusetts used a small submarine to reach the site of the wreck of the Titanic. They launched a robot camera that gave them a view of the interior. The luxury cruise ship, which sank on its maiden voyage in 1912, had been discovered off Newfoundland in September 1985.

Also on this date:

In 1099, the Muslim citizens of Jerusalem surrendered their city to the armies of the First Crusade. The Crusaders then proceeded, through misguided religious zeal, to massacre thousands of unarmed men, women and children.

In 1606, Dutch painter Rembrandt was born in Leiden, Netherlands.

In 1743, in Dublin, after twice being prepared for burial and then revived, a Mrs. Kirkeen was nailed into her coffin on her husband’s order.

In 1779, Clement Moore, American Episcopal educator, was born. His fame endures today, not as a theologian, but as the author of a completely mythical poem: “’Twas the Night Before Christmas.”

In 1789, King Louis XVI of France was told his authority had collapsed with the fall of the Bastille prison the previous day.

In 1882, Thomas Moore founded a corps of the Salvation Army in Toronto, the first in Canada.

In 1883, Charles Sherwood Stratton died. The performer with the P.T. Barnum circus, who was billed as General Tom Thumb, was only 40 inches tall.

In 1904, Russian playwright Anton Chekhov died of tuberculosis at 44.

In 2007, British adventurer and swimmer Lewis Gordon Pugh, 37, became the first person to swim in the icy waters of the North Pole to raise awareness about how global warming is affecting the polar ice cap. He took 18 minutes and 50 seconds to swim one kilometre in the -1.8 C water — the coldest water ever swum in.