EXPEDITIONS AND ENGINEERING

DISCOVERY,  DISASTER AND DISPLAY ALL ON THE 6TH OF MAY

On the 6^th May 1835 the first issue of the New York Herald was published by James Grodon Bennett, Sr. It is from his son James Gordon Bennett, Jr. who was born on the 10^th May 1841, that the exclamation “Gordon Bennett” derives. In 1866, the 25 year old Bennett took over the running of the Herald and in 1869 he provided the financial backing for the expedition by Henry Morton Stanley (also born 1841) into Africa to find Dr. David Livingston, I presume. (Coincidentally Stanley died on the 10^th May 1904) According to Stanley's account, he asked Gordon Bennett how much he could spend. The reply was "Draw £1,000 now, and when you have gone through that, draw another £1,000, and when that is spent, draw another £1,000, and when you have finished that, draw another £1,000, and so on — BUT FIND LIVINGSTONE!" In actuality, Stanley had lobbied his employer for several years to mount this expedition.

Stanley

Bennett

There is a 1939 film Stanley and Livingston with Spencer Tracey as Stanley and Henry Hull as Gordon Bennett. Hull was ten years older than Tracy, and looked it. Why, as they were the same age (Stanley was only four months older), could this not have been reflected in the film is beyond me, but Hollywood seems never to get things right.

Still, it makes a good story.

It was also on the 6^th May 1937 that the Deutsches Luftschiff Zeppelin #129; Registration: D-LZ 129, Hindenburg burned and crashed on arrival at Lakehurst Naval Air Station in Manchester Township, New Jersey, United States.

Here are a few scenes from a docudrama made in 2007 about the Hindenburg featuring Celia Bannerman and Michael Praed as survivors of the crash, Margaret Mather and Nelson Morris.

And on the 6th May 1994 The Channel Tunnel was officially opened by Elizabeth II and François Mitterrand. The Channel Tunnel ( Le tunnel sous la Manche), (also referred to as the Chunnel) is a 50.5-kilometre (31.4 mi) undersea rail tunnel linking Folkestone, Kent in England with Coquelles, Pas-de-Calais near Calais in northern France beneath the Channel at the Strait of Dover. At its lowest point, it is 75 metres (250 ft) deep.