The Mysteries of History (February 16 Edition)
Barbary Pirates Bested, King Tut Located, First 911 Call Made
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” — Spanish-American philosopher George Santayana, 1905
1804 — To the Shores of Tripoli
public domain image of The Philadelphia burning
The First Barbary War (1801-1805) was also known as The Tripolitan War. The reason for the dustup (or waveup) was that the Barbary Pirates, who hailed from Algeria (more specifically its capital, Algiers); Morocco; Libya (more specifically its capital, Tripoli); and Tunisia (more specifically its capital, Tunis) had been capturing American ships and then ransoming the goods and sailors back to America.
Newly elected U.S. President Thomas Jefferson, who had appeased the Federalists he had defeated in the Presidential election the year before by beefing up the American Navy as they wished, on this date in 1804 sent the Navy, including nine Marines, to the Mediterranean to protect America’s interests in the region.
The specific incident that was the “last straw” for Jefferson was when the American frigate Philadelphia ran aground off Tripoli Harbor in October 1803. Not wanting the ship to fall into the possession of the pirates to use against them and to copy its design and reverse-engineer its technology, Navy Commodore Stephen Decatur Jr. and his men destroyed the Philadelphia. They accomplished this daring mission by disguising themselves as sailors from Malta: Decatur and his 74 men stealthily sailed into the harbor in a small ship. They neared the Philadelphia without being challenged, boarded it, subdued the surprised pirates aboard, set it aflame, and departed. Once the fire spread to the ship’s store of munitions, the Philadelphia dramatically exploded, completely destroying the vessel (see image above).
As a side note, their participation in the First Barbary War is why the Marines’ Hymn starts with the words, “From the Halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli, we fight our country’s battles…”
Questions: How long did it take until the Barbaryans completely gave up their pirating ways against American vessels? How many other Barbary Wars were there? How long were they or how long was it? What similar pirating has occurred in modern times? Have you seen the movie “Captain Phillips” starring Tom Hanks?
1923 — Long Lost “King Tut” Found
public domain images from wikimedia commons
Had Mark Twain been shown King Tut in his tomb on his visit to Egypt, he would have asked, feigning serious concern, “Is he dead?” (it was a running joke among Twain and his friends on that trip to Europe and the Holy Land in the 1860s, as recounted in his book The Innocents Abroad: Or, The New Pilgrim’s Progress).
Tut wasn’t found until more than half a century later, though, so Twain missed his chance for levity at Tut’s expense. Steve Martin (winner of the 2005 Mark Twain award), however, made up for lost time with his satirical song named for the boy King (more properly, Pharaoh), who had died in his teens.
It was on this date in 1923, in Thebes, Egypt, that English archaeologist Howard Carter encroached on the mummified remains of Pharaoh Tutankhamen (affectionately called “King Tut” for short). Carter was by no means the first person to invade the final resting place of Egyptian potentates. Graverobbers had plundered other tombs previously, usually for the booty rather than out of scientific curiosity.
Prior to this discovery of his burial chamber and its many well-preserved artifacts, Pharaoh Tutankhamen had been a relative unknown. Carter knew about him, as he was an Egyptologist, and had unsuccessfully searched for Tut’s sarcophagus for five years. After this lengthy search, Carter’s sponsor, Lord Carnarvon, was going to call an end to Carter’s expedition, but Carter convinced Carnarvon to let him continue one more year. When that sixth year was almost up, steps leading down to a doorway with Tutankhamen’s name over it was unearthed in the rubble near another already-discovered tomb. It was then that Tut was transformed from an obscure “minor” Pharaoh to the poster child of Egyptian mummies.
Lord Carnervon was called to the site of the discovery, and then he and the archaeologist/Egyptologist Carter, along with others (archaeologists, Egyptologists, and government officials keeping an eye on them), made the official discovery and examination of the treasures that had been hidden from sight for 3,000 years. These artifacts included nested coffins a la Russia dolls, the innermost one containing Pharaoh Tutankhamen, the first perfectly preserved mummy to be found. There was also a chariot, jewelry, statues, weapons, clothing, and golden shrines.
Questions: Which Pharaohs besides “Tut” are you familiar with? How old was Pharaoh Tutankhamen when he died? What did he die from? Have you heard the song “Walk Like an Egyptian” by The Bangles?
1968 — First 911 Call
public domain image from wikimedia commons
Britain beat America to it: in 1936, they began using a universal phone number to alert emergency services. In their case, they chose 999.
When American officials wanted to follow suit, AT&T suggested 911 as the number to call, as it was easy to remember and, perhaps at least as important, not already in use as an area code.
The 911 system was officially adopted in 1967, but the first actual call made to 911 occurred on this date in 1968, when Rankin Fite (not a member of the Rank and File, but a speaker of the Alabama House of Representatives) made the call from Haleyville, Alabama, in the rural Northwestern part of the Yellowhammer State. There was no emergency to report; he just wanted to be the first one. In other words, the first 911 call was basically a prank call!
Rankin’s example didn’t exactly catch fire. It took almost 20 years, until 1987, before calling 911 during an emergency became de rigueur, at which time 50% of the US was doing so.
Note: Canadian citizens, copying the U.S. rather than Britain, also adopted 911 s the number to call in times of trouble. Now, 98% of US and Canadian citizens use 911 when emergencies occur (or when they think they are experiencing an emergency).
Questions: What other countries use a universal telephone number in emergency situations? Did any of them begin this before Britain? What is the most ridiculous 911 call you have ever heard of (such as customer complaints about not getting enough mayonnaise on their sandwich or to get directions to a 7-11 store or things of that sort)?
