Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
February 16, 1979 In the Great Lakes region, a lake freighter (also known as a laker) made her first voyage. This was the first voyage of that type of vessel in mid-winter, and it took place on the mostly ice-covered waters of both Lake Michigan and Lake Superior. This lake freighter was constructed by Bay... Continue Reading →
As World War II continued to rage in the European Theater, the first and largest contingent of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion completed an eventful transatlantic voyage when the ship transporting them arrived in Glasgow, Scotland, on February 12, 1945. The 6888th -- nicknamed the “Six Triple Eight” -- was one of the small number... Continue Reading →
February 14, 1920 In the Republic of Colombia, the first flight at an airport serving the city of Cartagena took place. The pilot for this flight was Jourdanet Jacques René Bazin, who flew a plane named Cartagena in the skies above that Caribbean port city. There were two passengers aboard the plane for this pioneering... Continue Reading →
February 13, 1901 In the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW), a timber truss bridge crossing Paterson River at the township of Hinton was officially opened. Hinton Bridge was designed by Irish-born Ernest de Burgh (1863-1929), the NSW Public Works Department’s assistant engineer for bridges. This road bridge replaced a steam ferry service in... Continue Reading →
February 10, 1955 The day after the Rome Metro was formally opened in Italy’s capital city, Colosseo (Colosseum) station became one of the five stations on Line B of that rapid transit system to begin operations. Colosseo station is located in the Monti rione (administrative division) in the central part of Rome. As its name... Continue Reading →
February 9, 1809 The South Stack Lighthouse in the Irish Sea first went into service. This navigational aid is located on a stack, a geological landform consisting of steep columns of rock in the sea. South Stack is near the Welsh island of Anglesey, which is off the northwestern mainland coast of Wales. The... Continue Reading →
On June 6, 1980, U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander Brenda E. Robinson earned her Wings of Gold at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi in Texas. This made her the first black woman to become a U.S. naval aviator. The following year, Robinson made history again when she became the first black woman certified for C-1A carrier... Continue Reading →
February 7, 1996 British Airways (BA) supersonic airliner Concorde G-BOAD took only two hours, 52 minutes, and 59 seconds to fly between the United States and England. “British Concorde Sets Atlantic Speed Mark,” announced a headline in the Tampa Bay Times a couple of days later. This trip continues to hold the record as the... Continue Reading →
February 6, 2006 A luxury sailing yacht built by the Italian company Perini Navi in Turkey was launched. This yacht is known as the Maltese Falcon, the title of a classic 1930 detective novel written by Dashiell Hammett. The eponymous bird figuring prominently in that novel and four film adaptations of it (including a 1941 version... Continue Reading →
February 3, 1862 The first railway line in New Zealand was opened with considerable fanfare. (At the time, New Zealand was a British colony; it gained semi-independent status as a dominion of the British Empire in 1907 and achieved full autonomy in 1947.) Horse-drawn train cars were used for this 13.4-mile (21.5-kilometer)-long privately owned and... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 