n October 15, 1910, Walter Wellman's hydrogen-filled airship America departed Atlantic City in the first attempt to cross the Atlantic by powered aircraft. Originally built for Wellman's unsuccessful attempts to reach the North Pole, the enormous airship had been enlarged and equipped with engines, a suspended lifeboat and an experimental radio.

The expedition also carried Kiddo, a cat who was so unhappy about flying that engineer Melvin Vaniman used their pioneering radio equipment to ask someone to come get the 'damn' thing.

On October 14, 1888, Louis Le Prince filmed four people moving through the garden at Oakwood Grange in Roundhay, Leeds. The surviving twenty frames of Roundhay Garden Scene are believed to form the oldest surviving motion-picture film, created with the single-lens camera Le Prince had developed in his Leeds workshop.

One of those people was Sarah Whitley, Le Prince's mother-in-law, who died only ten days after the filming. But the biggest shock was yet to come.

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Special note: At the time of scheduling this episode, the hat you see here was listed for sale on Etsy at the following link. It might still be there if you act fast enough, or you might find another you like even more. The Etsy shop link is https://www.etsy.com/shop/

At dawn on Friday, October 13, 1307, King Philip IV of France ordered the arrest of members of the Knights Templar, including Grand Master Jacques de Molay. The Templars had grown from a tiny group protecting pilgrims into a wealthy international religious and military organization with castles, businesses, land and a sophisticated financial network across medieval Europe.

The accusations against them were extraordinary, but there was a devastating problem with the apparent evidence: many Templars confessed under torture.

On October 12, 633, Edwin of Northumbria, probably the most powerful ruler in Britain at the time, met the combined forces of Cadwallon of Gwynedd and Penda of Mercia at the Battle of Hatfield Chase. Edwin had previously extended Northumbrian power into territory associated with Cadwallon, but Cadwallon recovered, allied with Penda and ultimately helped destroy Edwin's army.

Edwin was killed, but the catastrophe went considerably deeper. His son Osfrith also died in the battle, his son Eadfrith was captured and later killed, and Northumbria fractured into Bernicia and Deira.

On October 11, 1634, a violent storm drove the North Sea against North Frisia, Dithmarschen and southwestern Jutland. Dikes already weakened by years of poor maintenance and regional hardship began failing, and floodwater surged into communities with enough force to destroy houses and throw ships onto roads and embankments.

The greatest devastation struck Strand Island. At least 6,123 people there died, approximately two-thirds of the population.

On October 10, 1913, President Woodrow Wilson pressed a telegraph key at the White House and sent an electrical signal more than 2,000 miles to Panama. The signal triggered explosives beneath the Gamboa Dike, destroying a major barrier and allowing the waters of Gatun Lake to flood into the Culebra Cut. It was a dramatic milestone in a project that had already defeated an earlier French effort and required American engineers to excavate through the Continental Divide, construct enormous locks and dams, and create a navigable route between two oceans. But despite the symbolism of Wilson's explosion, the canal was not actually finished that day.

On October 9, 1410, the Prague astronomical clock received its first known written mention. Created by clockmaker Mikuláš of Kadaň and astronomer Jan Šindel, its oldest mechanism could display far more than ordinary time, including the position of the Sun and Moon, astronomical information and an old system of counting hours from sunset. More than six centuries later, it is still mounted on Prague's Old Town Hall. For centuries, people repeated the wonderfully grim legend that a clockmaker named Hanuš created the masterpiece and was then blinded by Prague's councillors so he could never duplicate it. The story even claimed Hanuš sabotaged the clock in revenge. I head the story myself.

But what was the truth, exactly?

On October 8, 1856, Chinese marines seized the Arrow at Canton and arrested twelve members of its Chinese crew on suspicion of piracy. Britain protested, demanding the sailors' release and an apology after the vessel's captain reported that the British flag had been pulled down. The dispute quickly became the spark for the Second Opium War.

There was one particularly uncomfortable complication... and it was linked to piracy.