Wikipedia:Today's featured article/November 2019

Today's featured article archive

November 1

Alex O'Loughlin

"No Such Thing as Vampires" is the pilot episode of the American paranormal romance television drama Moonlight. Premiering on CBS on September 28, 2007, it was written by series creators and executive producers Trevor Munson and Ron Koslow and directed by executive producer Rod Holcomb. The pilot introduces Mick St. John (Alex O'Loughlin, pictured), a private investigator and a vampire, along with his love interest Beth Turner (Sophia Myles), his mentor Josef Kostan (Jason Dohring), and his ex-wife Coraline Duvall (Shannyn Sossamon). Originally titled Twilight, the project was renamed and recast when picked up by CBS for the 2007–2008 American television season. Although received poorly by critics, the pilot managed to finish first for its night among total viewers and adults 18–49. Many critics faulted the acting and writing, but some thought that the series showed promise, and Dohring's performance was praised. (Full article...)

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November 2

McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet fighter aircraft have flown in Australian service since 1984. In 1981, 75 "A" and "B" variants of the F/A-18 were purchased for the Royal Australian Air Force to replace Dassault Mirage III fighters. Hornets were part of the Australian contribution to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, flying patrols and close air support sorties to assist coalition ground forces. They provided security for the American air base at Diego Garcia in late 2001 and early 2002, in addition to their domestic protection duties. Between 2015 and 2017 Hornets were deployed to the Middle East and struck Islamic State targets as part of Operation Okra. Hornets are now at risk of being outclassed by other fighters and air-defence systems, and will leave Australian service entirely in the early 2020s. Four Hornets have been destroyed in flying accidents, two were transferred to Canada in 2019 and several others have been retired. (Full article...)

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November 3

Vidhu Vinod Chopra

Parinda (Bird) is an Indian crime drama film produced and directed by Vidhu Vinod Chopra (pictured), and released on 3 November 1989. In the film, Kishan (Jackie Shroff), who works for the underworld don Anna Seth (Nana Patekar), faces off against his brother Karan (Anil Kapoor) in gang warfare after Karan decides to avenge his friend's death. The script was co-written by Chopra, Shiv Kumar Subramaniam and Imtiyaz Husain. R. D. Burman composed the music and Khurshid Hallauri wrote the lyrics. Parinda received critical acclaim when released, and is considered by several critics and scholars to be the turning point in the introduction of realism in Hindi cinema. It won two National Film Awards and five Filmfare Awards, and was India's official selection for the 1990 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, although it was not nominated. In 2015, Chopra remade Parinda as a Hollywood film titled Broken Horses starring Vincent D'Onofrio, Anton Yelchin and Chris Marquette. (Full article...)

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November 4

Fossil tooth

Cretoxyrhina is an extinct genus of the order Lamniformes of mackerel sharks. Living in subtropical and temperate oceans worldwide about 107 to 73 million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous, Cretoxyrhina was one of the largest sharks of its time, 8 meters (26 ft) in length, and also among the fastest, with estimated burst speeds of up to 70 km/h (43 mph). It was an apex predator, preying on sharks and other large fish, mosasaurs, plesiosaurs, pterosaurs, and occasionally dinosaurs. Thanks to numerous discoveries of exceptionally well-preserved skeletons during the 19th and 20th centuries, the type species, C. mantelli, is one of the best-understood extinct sharks. These fossils show that it may have had a lifespan of up to forty years and a general build similar to the modern great white shark, but with facial and optical features similar to those of thresher sharks and crocodile sharks. Its ability to function in cold water was probably enhanced by regional endothermy. (Full article...)

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November 5

Guy Fawkes (1570–1606) was one of a group of English Catholics who planned the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, the failure of which is commemorated in Britain every 5 November as Guy Fawkes Night. He converted to Catholicism and fought for Spain in the Eighty Years' War against Protestant Dutch reformers in the Low Countries. In Spain he sought support for a Catholic rebellion in England, but the court of Philip III was unwilling to help him. He later met Thomas Wintour, returned to England, and was introduced to Robert Catesby, who planned to assassinate King James I and restore a Catholic monarch to the throne. The plotters leased an undercroft beneath the House of Lords in Westminster Palace, and Fawkes was placed in charge of the gunpowder that they stockpiled there. The authorities found Fawkes guarding the explosives. He was arrested and died after falling from the scaffold where he was to be hanged. (This article is part of a featured topic: Gunpowder Plot.)

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November 6

The relationships between digital media use and mental health have been investigated since the mid-1990s, but the delineation between beneficial and pathological use of digital media has not been established, and there are no widely accepted diagnostic criteria. Some experts consider overuse a manifestation of underlying psychiatric disorders, but moderate digital media use has been found beneficial to mental health. Digital addictions and dependencies have also been widely studied. The links between digital media use and mental health outcomes appear to depend on the individuals and the platforms they use. The eleventh revision of the International Classification of Diseases includes a gaming disorder diagnosis (commonly known as video game addiction), but neither it nor the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition includes diagnoses for problematic internet use or problematic social media use. (Full article...)

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November 7

Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan,
depicted on a gold dinar

The Second Fitna was a civil war in the Islamic community that began with the death of Mu'awiya I in 680. The first Umayyad caliph, he had become the sole ruler of the caliphate at the end of the First Fitna in 661, when Ali was assassinated and Ali's successor abdicated. After Mu'awiya's death one of Ali's sons, Husayn ibn Ali, was invited to overthrow the Umayyads but was killed with his small company at the Battle of Karbala. His supporters continued the fight but were crushed by the Umayyads at the Battle of Ayn al-Warda in 685. A second challenge by Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr was initially successful, as most provinces recognized him as caliph. Under the leadership of Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan (depiction shown), the Umayyads reasserted control over the caliphate after defeating Ibn al-Zubayr's forces at the Battle of Maskin and killing him in the Siege of Mecca in 692. The events of the Second Fitna intensified sectarian tendencies in Islam, leading to what would become the Sunni and Shi'a sects. (Full article...)

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November 8

The letter-winged kite (Elanus scriptus) is a small, rare bird of prey that is found only in Australia. Measuring around 35 cm (14 in) in length with a wingspan of 84–100 cm (33–39 in), the adult has predominantly pale grey and white plumage and prominent black rings around its red eyes. It gains its name from a distinctive black "M" or "W" shape on the underwing, seen when in flight. This marking distinguishes it from the otherwise similar black-shouldered kite. The species begins breeding rapidly in response to rodent outbreaks, with pairs nesting in loose colonies of up to 50 birds each. Three to four eggs are laid and incubated for around 30 days, though the eggs may be abandoned if the food source disappears. Chicks are fledged within five weeks of hatching. Roosting in well-foliaged trees during the day, the letter-winged kite hunts for rodents mostly at night, hovering in midair above grasslands and fields. (Full article...)

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November 9

Fort Somba Opu

The early history of the kingdoms of Gowa and Talloq can be traced back to 1300, when the Makassar kingdom of Gowa emerged as an agrarian chiefdom in the Indonesian peninsula of South Sulawesi. Talloq was founded two centuries later when a prince from Gowa fled to the coast after his defeat in a succession dispute. The coastal location of the new polity allowed it to exploit maritime trade to a greater degree than Gowa. The growth of early Gowa was supported by a rapid increase in wet rice cultivation. Verdant forests were cleared to make way for rice paddies. The population may have increased tenfold between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries. Gowa and Talloq became close allies in the sixteenth century and dominated most of the peninsula, following wide-ranging administrative and military reforms. Around 1600 the twin kingdoms converted to Islam, defeated their rivals and became the most important powers in eastern Indonesia, with Fort Somba Opu (pictured) as one of their centers. (Full article...)

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November 10

Mary Bell at a council meeting of the Women's Air Training Corps, 1941

Mary Bell (3 December 1903 – 6 February 1979), nicknamed "Paddy", was an Australian aviator and founding leader of the Women's Air Training Corps, a volunteer organisation that provided support to the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) during World War II. She later helped establish the Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF), the first and largest women's wartime service in the country, which grew to more than 18,000 members by 1944. Born Mary Fernandes in Launceston, Tasmania, she married John Bell, an RAAF officer, in 1923 and obtained a pilot's licence in 1927. Given temporary command of the WAAAF on its formation in 1941, she was passed over as its inaugural director in favour of corporate executive Clare Stevenson. Bell refused the post of deputy director and resigned, but later rejoined and served until the final months of the war. She and her husband became farmers after leaving the military. (Full article...)

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November 11

Northampton War Memorial is a First World War memorial on Wood Hill in the centre of Northampton, the county town of Northamptonshire, in central England. Designed by architect Sir Edwin Lutyens and unveiled on 11 November 1926, it stands in a small garden in what was once part of the churchyard of All Saints' Church. It is one of the more elaborate town memorials in England, with a pair of obelisks, characteristic of the Lutyens war memorials, and a Stone of Remembrance, which he designed for the Imperial War Graves Commission. Stone flags appear as if draped on the obelisks; this feature is shared by several of his memorials, but was rejected for his Cenotaph in London. Today the Northampton War Memorial is a Grade I listed building; it was upgraded from Grade II in 2015 when the Lutyens war memorials were declared a "national collection" and all were granted listed building status or had their listing renewed. (Full article...)

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November 12

A painting of Tirpitz's wreck
in June 1945

Operation Catechism was a British air raid of World War II that resulted in the destruction of the German battleship Tirpitz (depiction shown). On 12 November 1944, 29 Royal Air Force heavy bombers targeted the battleship at an anchorage near the Norwegian city of Tromsø. The ship capsized after being struck by at least two bombs and damaged by the explosions of others, killing between 940 and 1,204 members of the crew. Rescuers picked up hundreds of her crew from the water, but few of those trapped within the hull were saved. The British bombers were unmolested by a unit of German fighter aircraft stationed near Tromsø, and only one was significantly damaged by anti-aircraft artillery. The attack marked the end of a long-running series of air and naval operations against Tirpitz. The battleship's destruction was celebrated in Allied countries, as well as by Norwegian civilians, and is commemorated by several memorials and displays in museums. (Full article...)

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November 13

Granite statue of Atlanersa

Atlanersa was a Kushite ruler of the Napatan kingdom of Nubia in modern-day Sudan, reigning for about a decade in the mid-7th-century BC. He was the successor of Tantamani, the last ruler of the 25th Dynasty of Egypt, and possibly a son of Taharqa. Atlanersa's reign immediately followed the collapse of Nubian control over Egypt, which witnessed the conquest by the Assyrians and then the beginning of the Late Period under Psamtik I. The same period also saw the progressive cultural integration of Egyptian beliefs into the Kushite civilization. Atlanersa built a pyramid in the necropolis of Nuri, which produced many small artefacts now on display in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Atlanersa's most prominent construction is his temple to the syncretic god Osiris-Dedwen in Jebel Barkal, which he was able to finish and partially decorate. The temple entrance was to be flanked with two colossal statues of the king, one of which was completed and set in place and is now in the National Museum of Sudan. (Full article...)

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November 14

Bernard Hinault (born 14 November 1954) is a former professional cyclist from France. With 147 professional victories, he is often named among the greatest cyclists of all time. Hinault started cycling as an amateur in his native Brittany before turning professional in 1975. His successes in the Grand Tours include five victories at the Tour de France, three at the Giro d'Italia and two at the Vuelta a España. He was also successful in one-day races, winning, among others, the 1980 Liège–Bastogne–Liège (run on snow-covered roads), the 1981 Paris–Roubaix and the World Road Race title in 1980. His principal rivals included Joop Zoetemelk, as well as former teammates Laurent Fignon and Greg LeMond, with whom he battled during the Tours in 1985 and 1986, before retiring at the end of that year. He remains the most recent French winner of the Tour de France. Throughout his career, Hinault was known by the nickname le blaireau, or "badger", for his aggressive racing. (Full article...)

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November 15

No. 33 Squadron Boeing 707
refuelling a US Navy F/A-18 Hornet

No. 33 Squadron is a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) strategic transport and air-to-air refuelling squadron. It operates Airbus KC-30A Multi Role Tanker Transports from RAAF Base Amberley, Queensland. The squadron was formed in February 1942 during World War II, operating Short Empire flying boats and a variety of smaller aircraft until 1944, and flying Douglas C-47 Dakota transports in New Guinea before disbanding in May 1946. The unit was re-established in February 1981 as a flight, and re-formed as a full squadron in July 1983. By 1988 it was operating six Boeing 707s, four of which were later converted for aerial refuelling (pictured). The 707s saw active service during operations in Namibia, Somalia, the Persian Gulf, and Afghanistan. No. 33 Squadron relocated to Amberley, and in June 2011 began re-equipping with KC-30As. One of its aircraft has been deployed to the Middle East since September 2014, as part of Australia's contribution to the military coalition against ISIS. (Full article...)

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November 16

Bramshill House, in Bramshill, northeast Hampshire, is one of the largest Jacobean prodigy house mansions in England. It was built in the early 17th century by Baron Edward la Zouche of Harringworth, but was partly destroyed by fire a few years later. It was designated a Grade I listed building in 1952. The decorative architecture on the mansion's southern façade includes at its centre a large oriel window above the principal entrance. Interior features include a great hall displaying 92 coats of arms on a Jacobean screen, an ornate drawing room, and a 126.5-foot (38.6 m) gallery. Numerous columns and friezes are found throughout the mansion, and several rooms have large tapestries depicting historical figures and events on their panelled walls. The 262-acre (106 ha) grounds contain an 18-acre (7.3 ha) lake and early 17th-century formal gardens. During the Second World War, the mansion was used as a Red Cross maternity home. (Full article...)

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November 17

HMS Royal Oak was one of five British Revenge-class battleships built for the Royal Navy during the First World War. Launched on 17 November 1914, the ship first saw combat at the Battle of Jutland. On 14 October 1939, she was torpedoed by the German submarine U-47 while anchored at Scapa Flow in Orkney, Scotland; 835 were killed that night or died later of their wounds. The loss of the outdated ship—the first of the five Royal Navy battleships and battlecruisers sunk in the Second World War—did little to affect the numerical superiority enjoyed by the British navy and its allies, but the sinking had a considerable effect on wartime morale. Günther Prien, the U-boat commander, became the first German submarine officer to be awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. Demonstrating that the German navy was capable of bringing the war to British home waters, the raid resulted in rapid changes to dockland security and the construction of the Churchill Barriers around Scapa Flow. (Full article...)

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November 18

Ninian Park grandstand

Cardiff City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. They entered the Southern Football League in 1910 and joined the English Football League (EFL) in 1920. Since then, the club has spent 17 seasons in the top tier of English football, including nine seasons in the 1920s and the 2018–19 Premier League season. In 1927 they became the only team from outside England to have won the FA Cup. They reached the FA Cup Final in 1925 and 2008, and the EFL Cup Final in 2012. They have won the Welsh Cup 22 times, making them the second-best performers in the competition's history behind Wrexham. Ninian Park (grandstand pictured) was their home ground for 99 years, until they moved into the Cardiff City Stadium in 2009. They have long-standing rivalries with two nearby clubs, the South Wales derby with Swansea City and the Severnside derby with Bristol City. The club's top goalscorer is Len Davies with 179 goals. (Full article...)

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November 19

A 3rd-century limestone bust,
possibly depicting Odaenathus

Odaenathus (c. 220 – 267) was the founder of the Palmyrene Kingdom. Born into an aristocratic family of Palmyra, Syria, he became the lord of the city in the 240s. By 258, he was a consularis, a position of high status in the Roman Empire. In 260 the Roman emperor Valerian was captured by the Sassanian emperor Shapur I, leaving the eastern Roman provinces at the mercy of the Persians. Odaenathus fought the Persians, reclaiming the entirety of the Roman lands they occupied. By 263, following a successful campaign in which he besieged their capital Ctesiphon, Odaenathus took the title traditionally held by Persian emperors, King of Kings, and gained effective control of the Levant, Roman Mesopotamia and Anatolia's eastern region. He was assassinated in 267 during or immediately after a campaign in Anatolia. He was succeeded by his son Vaballathus under the regency of his widow Zenobia, who used the power base established by Odaenathus to forge the Palmyrene Empire in 270. (Full article...)

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November 20

A Dutch soldier on patrol
during the riots

The 1969 Curaçao uprising was a series of riots from 30 May to 1 June on the Caribbean island of Curaçao, then part of the Netherlands Antilles, a semi-independent country in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. A protest rally during a strike by oil workers turned violent, leading to widespread looting and destruction in the center of Curaçao's capital, Willemstad, as well as two deaths and hundreds of arrests. The protesters achieved their demands for higher wages and the government's resignation. The uprising's leaders gained seats in parliamentary elections in September. A commission investigating the riots put the blame on economic issues, racial tensions, and police and government misconduct. The uprising prompted the Dutch government to undertake new efforts to fully decolonize the remnants of its colonial empire. Suriname, another constituent country of the Netherlands, became independent in 1975, but leaders of the Antilles resisted independence out of fear of economic repercussions. (Full article...)

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November 21

Joe Strummer

Cut the Crap is the sixth and final studio album by the English punk band the Clash. Released in November 1985, it followed a turbulent period for the band, after the dismissal of co-founder, lead guitarist and principal songwriter Mick Jones and drummer Topper Headon by lead vocalist Joe Strummer (pictured) and bassist Paul Simonon. They were replaced by Vince White, Nick Sheppard, and Pete Howard, as manager Bernie Rhodes attempted to take control over the songwriting and musical direction during tense recording sessions, and Simonon feuded openly with Rhodes, often refusing to work with him. The album's final production, as engineered by Rhodes, relied heavily on synthetic drum sounds and sampling, and was widely derided. Upon its release, Strummer disowned the album, dissolved the band, and moved to Spain. Some critics have found merit in Strummer's songwriting and vocal performance, especially on the single "This Is England", although the album is still generally regarded as the band's worst. (Full article...)

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November 22

Donkey Kong 64 is an adventure video game for the Nintendo 64 console, first released on November 22, 1999. It was the first in the series to feature 3D gameplay. As the gorilla Donkey Kong, the player explores an island to collect items and rescue his kidnapped friends. The player completes minigames and puzzles as five playable Kong characters, each with its own special abilities. The game's exceptionally large marketing budget included advertisements, sweepstakes, and a United States tour. The game received universal acclaim from reviewers, but was criticized for its camera controls and emphasis on item collection and backtracking. It won the 1999 E3 Game Critics award for the best platform game, and multiple awards and nominations from games magazines. By 2004, 2.3 million units had been sold. A rap song from the game's introductory sequence is often cited among the worst songs to feature in a video game. (Full article...)

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November 23

T7's sister ship, the similar T3

T7 was a sea-going torpedo boat operated by the Royal Yugoslav Navy between 1921 and 1941. Originally 96 F, a 250t-class torpedo boat commissioned on 23 November 1916 by the Austro-Hungarian Navy, she performed escort, minesweeping, anti-submarine and shore bombardment operations during World War I. Following Austria-Hungary's defeat in 1918, she was allocated to Yugoslavia and renamed T7. She was captured by the Italians during the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941 and used for coastal and second-line tasks, after her main armament was modernised. Following the Italian capitulation in September 1943, she was captured by Germany and handed over to the Navy of the Independent State of Croatia, continuing to serve as T7. Her crew came under the influence of the Yugoslav Partisans, and were preparing to mutiny when the Germans intervened. She ran aground during a battle with British motor torpedo boats in June 1944 and was then destroyed. (Full article...)

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November 24

3D-printed reconstruction

Spinophorosaurus was a sauropod dinosaur that lived around 167 million years ago, during the Middle Jurassic. The first two specimens of the genus were excavated from the Irhazer Shale formation in Niger in the 2000s by German and Spanish teams. Spinophorosaurus ("spine-bearing lizard") was the first sauropod to have its skeleton 3D-printed (reconstruction pictured), when the fossils were brought to Europe and digitally replicated. The shoulder height was an estimated 4 m (13 ft), and its weight was about 7 metric tons (7.7 short tons). The braincase was short, deep, and broad, and the teeth were spoon-shaped. The neck contained 13 vertebrae. The tail was powered by strong musculature and had a rear section that was rather rigid due to long and overlapping chevron bones. Features of the vestibular apparatus suggest that vision and coordinated eye, head, and neck movements were important in Spinophorosaurus. Paired spikes on the tail may have been used for defence. (Full article...)

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November 25

Edward the Black Prince

The Black Prince's chevauchée was a large-scale mounted raid carried out by an Anglo-Gascon force under the command of Edward, the Black Prince (depiction shown), between 5 October and 2 December 1355 during the Hundred Years' War. John, Count of Armagnac, who commanded the local French forces, avoided battle, and there was little fighting during the campaign. The Anglo-Gascon force of 4,000–6,000 men marched from Bordeaux in English-held Gascony 300 miles (480 km) to Narbonne and back to Gascony, devastating a wide swathe of French territory and sacking many French towns on the way. During the four months following Christmas, more than 50 French-held towns or fortifications were captured. In August 1356 the Black Prince headed north on another chevauchée with 6,000 men; he was intercepted by the main French army, 11,000 strong, at Poitiers, where he decisively defeated them and captured King John II. (Full article...)

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November 26

The sole remaining monastic building of Littlemore Priory

The Littlemore Priory scandals of 1517 and 1518 involved accusations of sexual immorality and brutal violence. The Benedictine priory in Oxfordshire, England, was very small and poor and had a history of troubled relations with its bishop. Katherine Wells, the prioress of Littlemore, was accused of putting nuns in the stocks for extended periods and physically assaulting them. She entertained men in her parlour, had a baby by the priory's chaplain and pawned the priory's jewels to pay for the child's upbringing; at least one other nun also had a child. On one occasion several nuns broke out of the priory through a window and escaped into the surrounding villages. The bishop launched an investigation, and in 1525 the priory was closed. It was one of the priories that Cardinal Wolsey suppressed during the 1520s. The house became a farmstead and was gradually pulled down; only one original building survives into the 21st century. (Full article...)

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November 27

Caroline Brady (1905–1980) was an American philologist whose scholarship focused on Old English and Old Norse. Her works included the 1943 book The Legends of Ermanaric, based on her doctoral dissertation, and three influential papers on the Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf. She was born an American citizen in Tientsin, China, and studied in the University of California system, receiving her Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1935. The Legends of Ermanaric discussed two competing traditions about the Gothic king Ermanaric, who ruled in the fourth century AD. Ostrogothic lore viewed him as a good king, whereas a second tradition, promulgated by those subjugated by him, saw him as evil. Brady was known as an investigator of the intractable problems of Germanic myth, and the convoluted nature of the related scholarship. In 1952–53 she was the Marion Talbot Fellow of the American Association of University Women. (Full article...)

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November 28

The Pilgrim Tercentenary half dollar was a commemorative fifty-cent coin struck by the United States Bureau of the Mint in 1920 and 1921 to mark the 300th anniversary of the arrival of the Pilgrims in North America. It was designed by Cyrus E. Dallin. Massachusetts congressman Joseph Walsh was involved in joint federal and state efforts to mark the anniversary. He saw a reference to a proposed Maine Centennial half dollar and realized that a coin could be issued for the Pilgrim anniversary in support of the observances at Plymouth, Massachusetts. The bill moved quickly through the legislative process and became the Act of May 12, 1920, with the signature of President Woodrow Wilson. Sculptor James Earle Fraser criticized some aspects of the design, but the Treasury approved it. After a promising start, sales tailed off, and tens of thousands of coins from each year were returned to the Philadelphia Mint for melting. (Full article...)

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November 29

Raymond Robert Emery (1982–2018) was a Canadian ice hockey goaltender who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for 11 seasons. Chosen 99th overall by the Ottawa Senators in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft, he helped them reach the 2007 Stanley Cup Finals, the first appearance in the finals by the modern Senators. With Emery, the Chicago Blackhawks won the 2013 Stanley Cup championship. He won, among numerous other awards and accolades, the William M. Jennings Trophy in April 2013 along with teammate Corey Crawford for giving up the fewest goals in the season. Emery finished the 2012–13 season with 1.94 goals against average and a 0.922 save percentage. His 17 wins included 12 straight to start the year, the best such streak in NHL history. He was a two-time Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy finalist for his dedication and perseverance. His teammates and fans often referred to him as "Razor" or "Sugar Ray" for his aggressive playing style. (Full article...)

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November 30

Plaque honouring Surville's
anchoring at Doubtless Bay

Jean-François-Marie de Surville (1717–1770) was a merchant captain with the French East India Company who commanded a voyage of exploration to the Pacific in 1769 and 1770. Born in Brittany, France, Surville joined the company when he was 10 years old. For the next several years, he sailed on voyages in Indian and Chinese waters. In 1740, he joined the French Navy. He fought in the War of the Austrian Succession and the Seven Years' War, twice becoming a prisoner of war. In 1769, in command of Saint Jean-Baptiste, he sailed from India on an expedition to the Pacific looking for trading opportunities. He explored the seas around the Solomon Islands and anchored in December at Doubtless Bay, New Zealand (commemorative plaque pictured). Part of his route around New Zealand overlapped that of James Cook in Endeavour, who had preceded him by only a few days. Three months later, Surville drowned off the coast of Peru while seeking help for his scurvy-afflicted crew. (Full article...)

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