Timeline December 13 to 15

December 13
1577  Sir Francis Drake of England set out with five ships on a nearly three-year journey that would take him around the world.
1642  Dutch navigator Abel Janszoon Tasman reached New Zealand.
1721  Alexander Selkirk, Scottish sailor and castaway, died. (b. 1676)
1804  Joseph Howe, Canadian statesman and publisher, was born.
1871  Emily Carr, Canadian painter and writer, was born.
1925  Dick Van Dyke, American actor and comedian, was born.
1929  Christopher Plummer, Canadian actor, was born.
2000  Al Gore concedes the U.S. presidential election to George W. Bush.

December 14
1287  St. Lucia's flood: The Zuider Zee sea wall in the Netherlands collapses, killing over 50,000 people.
1503  Nostradamus, French astrologer and physician, was born.
1542  Princess Mary Stuart becomes Mary, Queen of Scots.
1546  Tycho Brahe, Danish astronomer and alchemist, was born.
1782  The Montgolfier brothers' first balloon lifts off on its first test flight.
1799  George Washington, the first president of the United States, died at his Mount Vernon, Va., home at age 67.
1812  The French invasion of Russia comes to an end as the remnants of the Grande Armée are expelled from Russia.
1861  Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, consort of Queen Victoria, died.
1903  The Wright brothers make their first attempt to fly with the Wright Flyer at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
1911  Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen became the first man to reach the South Pole.

December 15
1832  Gustave Eiffel, French civil engineer and designer of the Eiffel Tower, was born.
1852  Henri Becquerel, French physicist, Nobel laureate, was born.
1899  Harold Abrahams, English athlete and Olympic gold medalist, was born.
1944  Bandleader Glenn Miller was killed when his U.S. Army plane disappeared over the English Channel.
2001  The Leaning Tower of Pisa reopens after 11 years and $27,000,000 to fortify it, without fixing its famous lean.