100 Years Ago Today

[Jimbuna]

28th June 1923

Firearms inventor John Browning filed his patent application for his Browning Hi-Power semi-automatic pistol, with the name "high power" being a reference to its larger capacity, an unprecedented 13-round magazine. Browning would die in 1926 before the granting of the patent.


Ship Losses:

Sumatra (Australia) The cargo ship foundered off Port Maquarie, New South Wales with the loss of all 45 people on board.

[Jimbuna]

29th June 1923

French Prime Minister Raymond Poincaré made a speech in the French Senate indirectly responding to the pope's letter by explaining that "France does not wish to confiscate the Ruhr. We will keep it, however, until Germany has paid her debt."


Ship Losses:

Minnie de Larrinaga (United Kingdom) The cargo ship ran aground at Saint-Louis-du-Rhône, Bouches du Rhône, France. She was refloated on 2 July.

[Jimbuna]

30th June 1923

A time bomb exploded on a Belgian troop train just as the cars were crossing over the Hochfeld railway bridge in the occupied Ruhr region of Germany. Eight Belgian soldiers were killed, along with two German civilians. Another 43 were injured.


Ship Losses:

O. A. Knudsen (Norway) The cargo ship ran aground at Gull Island, Newfoundland and was abandoned by her crew. She had sun by 5 July and was a total loss.

[Jimbuna]

1st July 1923

V.I. Lenin in Gorki. After the third stroke, from March 1923 on, he was barely able to make himself understood.


Ship Losses:

Reichenfels (Germany) The cargo ship struck rocks off Viipuri, Finland and was beached.

[Jimbuna]

2nd July 1923

Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. speaks at naval magazine.


Ship Losses:

Advance (United States) The cargo ship ran aground on Shut-in Island, Nova Scotia, Canada. She broke in two and was a total loss.

[Jimbuna]

3rd July 1923

Ship Losses:

Newtown (United Kingdom) The cargo ship was driven ashore at Lockeport, Nova Scotia, Canada. She was refloated on 14 July.

[Jimbuna]

4th July 1923

Ship Losses:

Claudegallus (France) The cargo ship ran aground bear Mostaganem, Algeria. Her crew were rescued. She was refloated later that day and taken to Mostaganem for examination.
Hilarius (United Kingdom) The cargo ship came ashore at Port Hastings, Nova Scotia, Canada. She was refloated on 8 July.

[Jimbuna]

5th July 1923

U.S. President Warren G. Harding and his entourage left Tacoma, Washington on the U.S. Navy transport USS "Henderson" headed for Alaska.


Ship Losses:

Liège (Belgium) The cargo ship ran aground at Buenos Aires, Argentina. She was refloated on 11 July.

[Jimbuna]

6th July 1923

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), whose formation was agreed on 22 Dec. 1922, came into existence. The Soviet Constitution was adopted by the Central Executive Committee. The first coat of arms of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was adopted.


Ship Losses:

Standard (United States) The 15-gross register ton, 45.8-foot (14.0 m) fishing vessel sank suddenly between Point Vallenor (55°25′35″N 131°51′00″W) and Guard Island in Southeast Alaska. The only person on board survived.

[Jimbuna]

7th July 1923

Ship Losses:

Butio (Portugal) The cargo ship was severely damaged by fire at Port da Cruz, Madeira.

Caesarea (United Kingdom) On departing St Helier harbour, the passenger ferry struck the Pignonet Rock, off Moilmont Point, Jersey Channel islands and was holed. Her captain decided to return to port, but she later struck the Oyster Rock and was beached at St Helier. All 370 passengers were rescued. She was refloated on 20 July and taken to England for repairs. She was later refloated and towed to Southampton, Hampshire, where she arrived on 4 August.

[Jimbuna]

8th July 1923

President Warren G. Harding arrives at Metlakatla, Alaska, becoming the first president to visit the future U.S. state.


Ship Losses:

Coquimbo (Chile) The cargo ship was driven ashore at Valparaíso and sank.

[Jimbuna]

9th July 1923

Two women passengers boxing aboard Cunard liner 'Berengaria' watched by fellow passengers and an officer.


Ship Losses:

Alert (United States) The four-masted schooner was wrecked at Suva, Fiji.

[Jimbuna]

10th July 1923

Luigi Sturzo resigned as leader of the Italian People's Party (Partito Popolare Italiano). This put an end to the party's role in opposition to fascism, which Sturzo advocated. Prime Minister and Duce Benito Mussolini was said to have urged the Vatican to persuade Sturzo to resign.

Marguerite Alibert, a French socialite who had had an affair with the Prince of Wales during World War One, shot and killed her Egyptian husband of six months, Ali Kamel Fahmy Bey, during an argument at their suite in London's Savoy Hotel.


Ship Losses:

Devonier (Belgium) The cargo ship was stranded in the River Plate at Maldonado Point by an exceptionally high tide following a hurricane. The wreck was still in situ in 1953.
General Allenby (United Kingdom) The schooner was driven ashore at Povoa, Portugal and was wrecked. Her crew were rescued.
Montferland (Netherlands) The cargo ship was driven ashore in the River Plate in a hurricane. She was refloated on 22 November.
Rugia (Germany) The ocean liner was driven ashore in the River Plate at Montevideo, Uruguay in a hurricane. Nine hundred passengers were taken off. She was refloated on 29 December.

[Jimbuna]

11th July 1923

The 13-month Paraguayan Civil War ends as former President Manuel Gondra Mereira marches into the capital at Asunción with supporters and defeats the remaining supporters of Eduardo Schaerer.


Ship Losses:

Tuscany (United Kingdom) The cargo ship sank in the River Plate at Montevideo during a hurricane.

[Jimbuna]

12th July 1923

In the British House of Commons, Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin demanded the end of the occupation of the Ruhr because the Allies had received fewer reparations than before the occupation and it was also driving Germany into economic chaos.


"France Defiant on War Debt. Crisis At Hand As London Plan is Made Known."


Ship Losses:

Assistance (United Kingdom) The tug was rammed and sunk in the Bristol Channel by Legarto ( United Kingdom) with the loss of four crew.