ON THIS DAY OCTOBER 9
1000 Leif Ericson, a Norse explorer from Iceland, discovers “Vinland”. He and his men are the first known Europeans to reach mainland North America, pre-dating the likes of Amerigo Vespucci and Christopher Columbus – who only discovered the outlying islands – by about 500 years.
1799 Laden with an immense fortune in silver and gold bullion, the British Navy frigate HMS Lutine founders in a storm off the West Frisian Islands in the North Sea with the loss of all hands, bar one. Although most of the Lutine’s cargo, worth about £1 million, or £100m in today’s terms, stubbornly remains beneath the waves, some items and artefacts were recovered. One of these was the ship’s bell, which was taken to London and installed in the vast underwriting room at Lloyd’s, where it remains to this day. Traditionally, the bell was struck when a ship became overdue – once for the vessel’s loss and twice for her recovery. Thus all brokers and underwriters would know at the same time the fate of an insured ship and the cargo. Not surprisingly, the bell developed a crack from constant use and has been supplanted by modern technology. 1876 The first two-way telephone conversation takes place.
1899 The first British troops reach Durban, to take part in the Second Anglo-Boer War.
1940 John Lennon born in Liverpool. He was a member of The Beatles, an influential rock group that captivated audiences around the world. He was murdered in New York City on December 8, 1980.
1941 US President Franklin Roosevelt approves an atomic programme – which leads to the Manhattan project and first atom bomb. 1963 The Vajont Dam disaster occurs as a landslide creates a 50-million cubic metre wave that kills 2 000 people in northern Italy. 2012 Activist and future Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai is shot three times by a Taliban gunman in Pakistan as she tries to board a bus to go to school.
2019 Nearly 1 million people in northern California have their power cut by Pacific Gas and Electric to prevent wildfires amid high winds. | THE HISTORIAN