November 20th, 2008

Today in History

1993:
Savings and Loan scandal: The United States Senate Ethics Committee issues a stern censure of California senator Alan Cranston for his "dealings" with savings-and-loan executive Charles Keating.

1992:
In England, a fire breaks out in the Private Chapel room of Windsor Castle, rages for 15 hours, and seriously damages the northwest side of the building (an investigation found that the fire was ignited after a spotlight came into contact with a curtain over an extended period).

1968:
Vietnam War: Eleven men comprising a Long Range Patrol team from F Company, 58th Infantry, 101st_Airborne are surrounded and nearly wiped out by North_Vietnamese_Army regulars from the 4th and 5th Regiment. The seven wounded survivors and their fallen brothers are rescued after several hours by an impromptu force made of other men from their unit.

1820:
An 80-ton sperm whale attacks the Essex (a whaling ship from Nantucket, Massachusetts) 2,000 miles from the western coast of South America (Herman Melville's 1851 novel Moby-Dick was in part inspired by this story).

1700:
King Charles XII of Sweden defeats the army of Tsar Peter the Great at Narva.