6 September

A lot to do with ships today - then also some birthdays and a random few other historical events from all over the world

In 1522 One of the five ships that set out in Ferdinand Magellan's trip around the world made it back to Spain. Only 15 of the original 265 men that set out survived. Magellan himself had been killed by local inhabitants of the Philippines.

In 1907, the luxury liner Lusitania left London for New York on her maiden voyage.




The photograph left shows RMS Windsor Castle departing Cape Town for the last time on 6 September 1977. On the horizon left can be seen the SAN type 12 frigate SAS President Pretorius, waiting to intercept Windsor Castle. Out in the bay a shot was fired across the bow of Windsor Castle and she hove to, then a ‘boarding party’ from PP presented a commemorative plaque to the Captain of Windsor Castle and she was ‘allowed’ to continue her voyage. A fitting tribute to the end of an era.  (This information thanks to my friend Graham Sonnenberg's friend Tony Jones.  They count among those who dig up wonderful bits of information about Cape Town and its history.)


In 1901, the US President William McKinley was shot and  killed in Buffalo, New York by anarchist Leon Czolgosz. 

In 1966, there was another assassination: South Africa's  Prime Minister Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd, regarded  by many as the father of apartheid, was stabbed to death on 6 September in House of Assembly, in Cape Town, by a parliamentary messenger, Dimitrios Tsafendas.  Five years earlier, on 9 April 1961 there had been another attempt on his life when, at the Rand Easter Show, in Johannesburg, he had been shot twice in the face by David Beresford Pratt.

The date is also important in South African history for another reason: on this day in 1939, South Africa declared war on Germany under its new government led by Genl Jan Smuts (leader of the United Party). The previous day, Prime Minister JBM Hertzog resigned after his motion to remain neutral in the war was defeated by 80 votes to 67 (he reconciled with Daniel F Malan (Herenigde Nasionale Party) to become leader of the opposition.  

Two years later, in Germany on 6 September 1941, the head of the Secret Police in Germany ordered all Jews over 6 years old to wear a yellow star of David on their coats together with the word Jude (Jew).  Their movements without police permission were also curtailed.

Still in the 1940s, Queen Juliana of the Netherlands was inaugurated in Amsterdam on 6 September 1948.  Four years later (1952), across the channel, there was the Farnborough

27 August

Nihil novi sub sole. On 27 August 1986, South African police opened fire with tear gas on 500 people who had marched to the council offices in Soweto, in protest against evictions following an 11 week rent boycot.  Twelve people died as a result and more than 60 were wounded.

A different kind of "fire": in 1941, Reza Shah of Iran was forced to abdicate after the invasion of Iran by Britain and Russia, who suspected him of Nazi sympathies.  A month later he was succeeded by his son Mohammad Reza. Reza Shah died in exile in Johannesburg in 1944. 

And yet another fire-related story: 1892 the Metropolitan Opera House in New York (the "Old Met") was destroyed by fire. It was rebuilt along its original lines until it was closed in 1966 and replaced by the current Met at Lincoln Centre.  Despite efforts to save the old building, it was demolished in 1967 to make place for a 40-storey office building. 

The most fiery of all was the final large explosion of Krakatoa (see yesterday) that took place on 27 August 1883.

And now for something cooler: the first, 197-page, edition of the Guinness Book of World Records was bound on 27 August 1955 and went to the top of the British best-seller lists by the end of that year.  It has remained a favourite item under Christmas trees ever since.