Blog archives: April 2021
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The Tuileries Palace under Napoleon I and Louis XVIII
April 30, 2021
One thing that Napoleon I and Louis XVIII had in common was a fondness for the Tuileries Palace, a magnificent building in Paris that no longer exists. The Tuileries Palace stood on the right (north) bank of the River Seine, at the eastern end of the Tuileries Garden, next to the Louvre Palace, to which it was joined. It was home to the rulers of France for almost 300 years.
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Robert Fulton & the First Steam Warship
April 16, 2021
Robert Fulton, an American engineer and inventor best known for bringing steamboats to commercial success, also built the world’s first steam-powered warship. Although Demologos, or Fulton the First, heralded the conversion from sail to steam in naval warfare, she never saw battle and met a tragic end in the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
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A Sailor’s Easter in California in 1835
April 2, 2021
In 1834-35, Richard Henry Dana, Jr., sailed as a merchant seaman from Boston to Alta California, which was then a province of Mexico. The ship’s arrival in Santa Barbara coincided with the Easter holidays. Dana left a vivid description of the festivities on shore, including activities not usually associated with Easter.
We must confess that fate, which sports with man, makes merry work with the affairs of this world.
Napoleon Bonaparte