History Shorts

Flash Writers

by Tony Sakalauskas

Copyright ©2002

Hiroshima was hit by an atomic bomb on August 6,  while Nagasaki took it on August 9.  On August 12, the Japanese tested an atomic bomb near a small island off the coast of Korea. Witnesses said that it produced a mushroom-shaped cloud a thousand yards wide. Several vessels in the test area were vaporized while others farther away burnt fiercely. It was just after that that Japan surrendered. The name of the Japanese scientist who built the bomb was Nashina. He never talked about his work and he died of cancer a few years later. 

In the 1880's, a NewYork tailor left behind 71 pairs of pants to be sold off at an auction. No one was allowed to tamper with the trousers before the sale. After the auction the lucky buyers discovered, sewn into a pants pocket, a thousand dolars. 

In 1814, a beer flood occured in London, England.  The Meux and Company Brewery housed several huge wooden vats of beer.  On October 16, two of those vats exploded.  The sound was heard as far as five miles away.

The beer exploded in all directions.  The pressure of 8,500 barrels of ale smashed through a 25 foot high brick wall and escaped outside into Saint Giles; a crowded slum area where whole families lived in single rooms, cellars or attics.

A small sea of beer crashed into nearby houses, flooded basements and demolished two homes.  Many people ran to higher area in their homes or on rooftops or trees.  Eight people who weren't so lucky drowned.

When the flood subsided people rushed to get their share of the free beer.  Some scooped it up in pots while others lapped it up in their hands.  Relatives of some of the people who drowned had their corpses displayed in their homes and exhibited  to the crowd for a fee.

For weeks afterwards the neighbourhood stank of beer and the primitive pumps of the day could not get rid of all the ale.  The brewery was brought to court but the judge and jury blamed no one.  They found that the people who died, "Died by casualty".  In other words, it was and "Act of God". 

In 1934, the Cunard Company built a luxury liner and decided to call it the 'Queen Victoria'.  But first Sir Thomas Royden, on Cunard's board of directors, had to ask King George the fifth for permission to do so. Royden asked his highness "Can the ship be christened after the greatest queen this country has ever known?"  King George replied: " That is the greatest compliment ever paid to my wife.  I'll ask her."

And so, the that was how the 'Queen Mary' was named. 

In 1911, the Cuban government offered a prize of ten thousand dollars to the first pilot who could fly a plane from Florida to Cuba.  J.A.D. McCurdy, the first man to fly a plane in Canada, decided to take the challenge.

McCurdy was practicing flying from a Florida beach when dozens of people showed up to watch. With too many people on the ground he was unable to land, so he headed to Havana.  Engine problems brought him down about a mile from shore.  As the plane floated McCurdy waited for help while sharks swam around him.

He was picked up and a banquet was given in his honor in Havana.  He was given a silver trophy and a package supposedly containing ten thousand dollars.  Before he got back to his hotel room the trophy got stolen.  And when he opened the package, instead of finding money he found shredded newspapers.