Day Tripping: May 29

Sinkings, Summits, and Spaceports

Depths of Despair

Two years after the Titanic hit the iceberg off the coast of Newfoundland, another sea tragedy occurred in Canadian waters at the mouth of the St. Lawrence River. In 1914, as a thick morning fog rolled into the Seaway, the Norstad, a Norwegian ice breaker collided with the liner Empress of Ireland. Though the cruise ship was equipped with plenty of lifeboats as a result of the lessons learned from Titanic, it took just over fifteen minutes for the Empress to sink.

One thousand and twenty-four of the ship’s passengers and crew perished in the incident, making the Empress of Ireland sinking the worst marine disaster during peacetime in Canadian history. The wreck has been visited by expert divers and artifacts have been retrieved. It is now a protected site by order of the Canadian Government.

Heights of Achievement

Mountain climber Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and his Nepalese guide Tenzing Norgay became the first to successfully ascend the summit of Mount Everest in 1953. The pair reached the final summit of 29,000 feet at 11:30 a.m. and only after the previous assault by the expedition was halted days earlier when a fellow climber’s oxygen system failed. Norgay’s younger brother was with that group who were forced to turn around at the South summit, only 300 feet below.

When Hillary returned triumphantly, he told his expedition leader, “Well, George, we knocked the bastard off”. News of the successful climb was sent by runner from base camp, and able to reach England in time to be announced before the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II that morning.

Outstanding Mission

The third ship in the Space Shuttle series, Discovery became the first to complete a successful docking with the International Space Station in 1999. Carrying a payload of research equipment, a satellite, crane, and building parts for the completion of the station, Discovery remained docked there for almost six days.

The nine-day mission was this ship’s twenty-sixth of thirty-nine in total, the most by any other operational Space Shuttle. Among the mission’s crew were three women including the future Governor-General of Canada, Julie Payette.

Musical Milestones

The principal of Sacred Heart School in Clifton, New Jersey refuses to allow his 8th Grade students to play Queen’s We Are The Champions at their graduation ceremony in 1992. The song’s composer Freddie Mercury had recently died from AIDS and the school’s concern is that students are identifying with the late bi-sexual icon.

The aftermath results in a flood of requests for the song at a local radio station where it becomes national news and Queen’s We Will Rock You gets re-released as a single 15 years after its first run. Insistent on maintaining “high moral ground”, Principal Donald Quinlan cancels the graduation ceremony.

Narratives

Astronomers travel from Britain in two teams to Africa and Brazil in 1919 to use a total solar eclipse to prove Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity. Arthur Eddington and Andrew Claude de la Cherois Crommelin place themselves where the eclipse will only be partial to confirm Einstein’s premise of light refraction caused by gravity from the Sun.

Remembrance

Famous for many years as a regular contributor to the Carol Burnett Show, Harvey Korman also played key roles in Mel Brooks’ best comedies like Blazing Saddles, and he was the voice for the Great Gazoo on The Flintstones. Korman died in 2008 at the age of 81.

Notable Births

1903 — British born comedian who famously entertained troops all over the world, Bob Hope

1917 — Eldest of three famous brother politicians, President John F. Kennedy

K. Barrett Katie Wallace Maria Rattray Maryam Merchant Dr Mehmet Yildiz Tree Langdon Myriam Ben Salem Phil Truman Chelsea Mandler MAT Terry Mansfield Hollie Petit, PhD. Terry Trueman Dr Preeti Singh John Gruber Bill Abbate James G Brennan ScienceDuuude Marcus Liam Ireland Claire Kelly Noorain Hassan, BMS Amy Pierovich David Acaster Nora Thewriteyard David Perlmutter Joe Luca

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