ON THIS DAY, MAY 9

1671 In London, Thomas Blood, an Irish adventurer better known as ‘Captain Blood’, is captured trying to steal the Crown Jewels from the Tower of London. King Charles II was so impressed with Blood’s audacity that, far from punishing him, he restored his estates in Ireland and made him a member of his court with an annual pension.

1865 US President Andrew Johnson issues a proclamation declaring armed resistance in the South at an end; it is the commonly accepted end date for the American Civil War.

1926 The first flight over the North Pole is claimed by Richard Byrd and co-pilot Floyd Bennett. However, the discovery of Byrd’s diary suggests they may have turned back 280km short due to an oil leak.

1927 Canberra replaces Melbourne as the capital of Australia.

1941 The German submarine U-110 is captured by the Royal Navy. On board is the latest Enigma machine which Allied cryptographers later use to decode German messages.

1945 The European phase of World War II officially ends at one minute past midnight. The day is celebrated annually as Victory Day in Russia, a national holiday commemorating the 20 million Russians who died during ‘The Great Patriotic War’.

1962 A laser beam is bounced off the moon for the first time.

1966 Anti-apartheid lawyer Abram (Bram) Fischer, and holder of the Lenin Peace Prize, is sentenced to life imprisonment on a charge of conspiracy to commit sabotage. He dies in 1975.

1980 A Liberian freighter rams a bridge in Florida’s Tampa Bay, collapsing a 426m part of the span. Six cars and a Greyhound bus plunge 45 metres into the water. 1994 Nelson Mandela is elected unopposed as first black president of South Africa.

2001 In Ghana, 129 football fans die in the Accra Sports Stadium disaster. The deaths are caused by a stampede that followed a controversial decision by the referee.

2019 French adventurer Jean-Jacques Savin (72) successfully crosses the Atlantic Ocean in a barrel, arriving in Martinique. | THE HISTORIAN