And let that be a warning to you thieving pirates!
On this day in history, May 23
The best There are great and there are greats, but there were none finer than Brazil's Pele and Portugal's Mozambique-born Eusebio. Both had mesmerizing and dazzling football skills
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1699 Sheikh Yusuf, Islamic leader and brother of the sultan of Macassar, who was banished to the Cape, dies at Zandvliet in the Cape. Born in Macassar in 1626, he is regarded as the founder of the Islamic faith in the province.
1701 Convicted of piracy and murder, Captain William Kidd – whose fabled treasure is said to lie off Madagascar – is hanged in London. He was hanged twice. On the first attempt, the hangman’s rope broke. Although some in the crowd called for Kidd’s release, claiming the breaking of the rope was a sign from God, Kidd was hanged again minutes later and his body was gibbeted for three years over the River Thames as a warning to others.
1842 The Battle of Congella starts. At midnight, British Captain Charlton Smith leads a regiment on a pre-emptive attack on the Boers, led by Andries Pretorius, at the village of ‘Kongela’, in Port Natal. It’s a disaster. Smith has to retreat, leaving 31 wounded men, who are nursed by the Voortrekkers.
1844 The Báb, born Sayyed Alí Muhammad Shírází, says he is a prophet and founds a religious movement. His is the forerunner of the Bahá’i faith.
1892 Johannesburg gold digger FB Deeming is hanged in Australia for killing his wife and casting her in a cement block.
1960 A quake in Chile causes a tsunami that kills 61 people half a world away in Hawaii.
1961 Born in Lorenzo Marques (Maputo) and one of the world’s greatest footballers, Eusébio makes his debut for club side Benfica. He goes on to become one of the world’s greatest footballers, dazzling Europe with his skills and, scoring 727 goals in 770 appearances for Benfica, and netting 41 times in 64 appearances for Portugal. Eusébio has been called “Africa’s first great footballer” and “Africa’s greatest-ever player”.
2016 Archaeologists say the earliest use of barley to make beer was in China in 3 400BC.
2022 New York City removes its last public payphones in Midtown Manhattan, they will become part of a museum display.
2024 In an effort to shore up dwindling support for US boots on the ground in Africa, US President Joe Biden says he will work to make Kenya the US’s 1st key non-Nato ally.
DAILY NEWS