PEOPLE IN HISTORY
Soon after leading a famous mutiny against the captain of the Bounty in 1789, Fletcher Christian was blessed with a son born on Pitcairn Island in the South Pacific.
He couldn’t think of a name for the baby, so Fletcher chose to call him Thursday October (I’ll bet you can’t guess the day and month that Thursday October Christian was born).
Today, more than 200 years later, there are boys named Thursday October living on Pitcairn Island .
Did You Know?
Today, shipyards have a number of ways to get a ship out of water, either by hauling it out or by floating it into a basin and the water pumped out.
Historically though, sea captains would careen their vessels in shallow water by either heaving it over on its side while it was still afloat or by anchoring in shallow water at high tide and then waiting for the tide to go out. The vessel would touch bottom, and, as the tide went out, lay over on its side.
How does one go about getting a ship, especially a big ship, high and dry out of the water today?