Did you know…?
A small strait off the coast of Wales is the scene of the strangest coincidence ever recorded.
Ships capsizing and sinking in the same area is not as strange as you may think. But three ships that sank over the span of 200 years in the Menai Strait off the north coast of Wales is only the beginning of the strangest coincidence ever recorded.
The first ship in our story set sail on the Menai Strait in 1664, with 81 passengers on board. On December 5th the ship hit nasty weather, capsized, and sank. Only one passenger survived. His name was Hugh Williams.
More than a century later, in 1785, another ship sank in the very same location, on the very same day, December 5th. This ship went down with 60 passengers and only one survived—a man named Hugh Williams.
In 1860, a small ship with only 25 passengers set sail on the Menai Strait. On that unlucky day, December 5th, it, too, met its fate—and in the same exact place. The ship sank, taking all of its passenger with it, save one. His name?
Hugh Williams.
The moral of the story: Don’t go sailing the Menai Strait in December—especially if your name is Hugh Williams.
Did you also know…?
- Potpourri
- Sweden once had two Leaps Days in one year.
- Doorways make you forget.
- In the wrong hands, one Christmas custom can bring a whole lot of bad luck.
- Because of a printer’s error, one edition of the Bible went from pious to downright wicked.
- Singing “Happy Birthday to You” in public can land you in jail.
- According to Italian space trackers, there are cosmonauts stranded in space.
- In Denmark, it is illegal to name your child Apple.
- A small strait off the coast of Wales is the scene of the strangest coincidence ever recorded.
- The electric chair was invented by a dentist.
- Nutmeg can kill you.
- A Frenchman once ate an entire airplane.
- Shakespeare wrote the first knock-knock joke.
- In fifteenth-century Britain, people were banned from wearing buttons.
- The fear of Friday the 13th is called Friggatriskaidekaphobia.
- The Mayflower set sail from Devonshire, England, on this day—in 1957.
- There is no need to be wary of Ides.
- The word “Abracadabra” was originally used to cure malaria.
- Post-it® notes were invented in church.