submarine off North Stradbroke Island, Queensland, Australia, on 14 May
1943, killing the majority of those on board. She had been launched in
1924 as a combination passenger liner/freighter, operating between
Western Australia and Singapore. Following her early-1943 conversion to
a hospital ship, Centaur served as a medical transport between New
Guinea and Australia. Before dawn on 14 May 1943, while on her second
voyage, Centaur was torpedoed. Of the 332 medical personnel and civilian
crew aboard, 268 died, including 11 of the 12 nurses. The 64 survivors
were not discovered until 36 hours later. The incident resulted in
public outrage, as attacking a hospital ship was considered a war crime
under the 1907 Hague Convention. Despite this, it was not until the
1970s that the identity of the attacking submarine, I-177, became
public. The reason for the attack is unknown, although there are claims
that the ship may have been in breach of the international conventions
that should have protected her. The wreck was found in 2009, although
the incorrect identification of another wreck as Centaur stood from 1995
to 2003.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AHS_Centaur>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1264:
Second Barons' War: King Henry III was defeated at the Battle
of Lewes and forced to sign the Mise of Lewes, making Simon de Montfort
the de facto ruler of England.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mise_of_Lewes>
1607:
An expedition led by Edward Maria Wingfield, Christopher
Newport, and John Smith established Jamestown, Virginia, the first
permanent English settlement in North America.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamestown,_Virginia>
1796:
English physician Edward Jenner began testing cowpox as a
vaccine against smallpox.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Jenner>
1913:
The New York State Legislature accepted the charter for the
Rockefeller Foundation, which at one point was the world's wealthiest
charitable foundation.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockefeller_Foundation>
1948:
David Ben-Gurion publicly read the Israeli Declaration of
Independence at the present-day Independence Hall in Tel Aviv,
officially establishing a new Jewish state in parts of the former
British Mandate of Palestine.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_Declaration_of_Independence>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
sumptuous:
Magnificent, splendid, extremely good.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sumptuous>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Remember, a Jedi's strength flows from the Force. But beware:
Anger, fear, aggression — the dark side, are they. Once you start down
the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny.
--Star Wars Episode VI : Return of the Jedi
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Star_Wars_Episode_VI:_Return_of_the_Jedi>
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