SY Aurora, c. 1912

The drift of the Antarctic exploration vessel SY Aurora was a 312-day ordeal during the Ross Sea section of Ernest Shackleton's expedition between 1914 and 1917. It began when the ship broke loose from its anchorage in McMurdo Sound during a gale. Caught in heavy pack ice, Aurora was carried into open waters with eighteen men aboard, leaving ten men stranded ashore with meagre provisions. With first officer Joseph Stenhouse in command, the ship suffered severe damage, including the loss of its rudder and anchors. It was finally freed from the ice in March 1916 after it had drifted north of the Antarctic Circle. It was able to reach New Zealand for repairs and resupply before returning to Antarctica to rescue the surviving members of the shore party. Stenhouse was removed from command by the organisers of the Ross Sea party relief expedition, but was later appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for his service aboard the ship. (Full article...)

Bishop John Carroll statue in 2010

• ... that when the statue Bishop John Carroll (pictured) was unveiled in 1912, a plaster cast version was secretly used instead?
• ... that Wolfgang Rennert conducted the world premieres of Louise Talma's Die Alkestiade at the Frankfurt Opera and Rainer Kunad's Sabellicus at the Staatsoper Berlin?
• ... that in 2016, a researcher used the Statcheck software package to scan more than 50,000 peer-reviewed psychology articles for statistical errors, and then posted the results on PubPeer?
• ... that Cardiff City lost £200 from a deal signed with Joe Hillier's transfer to Middlesbrough in 1930 after the club's manager wrote down the wrong sum?
• ... that after the 1980 coup d'état that overthrew and killed Liberian President William Tolbert, the People's Redemption Council took power pending a rewrite of the country's constitution?
• ... that Kate McComb did not decide to become a professional stage actress until she was 52 years old?
• ... that the former Shanghai Jewish Hospital is now a hospital for eye, ear, nose, and throat?
• ... that the Royal Air Force thought that Green Garlic was very good indeed?

Christmas market in Strasbourg

• A gunman kills at least three people and injures a dozen others at the Christmas market (pictured in 2014) in Strasbourg, France, before fleeing.
• Scientists announce that Voyager 2 has left the heliosphere and entered interstellar space, becoming the second man-made object to do so.
• In South American association football, the Copa Libertadores concludes with River Plate defeating Boca Juniors in the finals.
• The sample-return spacecraft OSIRIS-REx arrives at the asteroid 101955 Bennu.

December 14: Martyred Intellectuals Day in Bangladesh (1971); Monkey Day

Shoe being thrown at George W. Bush

• 557 – A large earthquake severely damaged the city of Constantinople.
• 835 – In the Sweet Dew incident, Emperor Wenzong of the Tang dynasty conspired to kill the powerful eunuchs of the Tang court, but the plot was foiled.
• 1918 – In the 1918 United Kingdom general election women over thirty were permitted to vote, making it the first British election with female voters.
• 1948 – American physicists Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann were awarded a patent for their cathode-ray tube amusement device, the first interactive electronic game.
• 2008 – During a press conference in Baghdad, Iraqi journalist Muntadhar al-Zaidi threw his shoes at U.S. President George W. Bush (pictured), yelling that "this is for the widows and orphans and all those killed in Iraq".

Aldfrith of Northumbria (d. 704 or 705) · Louis Marshall (b. 1856) · Lupe Vélez (d. 1944)