On this day...

1577 Sir Francis Drake sets sail from England to go around the world
1642 New Zealand discovered by Dutch navigator Abel Tasman
1769 Dartmouth College in New Hampshire received its charter
1774 First incident of the Revolution-400 attack Fort William & Mary, NH
1816 Patent for a dry dock issued to John Adamson, Boston
1862 Battle of Fredericksburg, VA; South beats North
1903 Italo Marcioni patents the ice cream cone (NJ)
1916 Avalanche kills 10,000 Austrian & Italian troops in 24 hrs in Tyrol
1918 US army of occupation crosses the Rhine, enters Germany
1919 Ross & Smith land in Australia from a flight from London
1928 George Gershwin's "An American In Paris" premieres (NYC)
1936 Final Boston Redskin NFL game, lose to Packers 21-6, move to Washington DC
1944 Japanese kamikaze crashes into US cruiser Nashville, kills 138
1947 Maine Turnpike opens to traffic
1949 AL votes down proposal to revive the spitball
1949 Knesset votes to transfer Israel's capital to Jerusalem
1951 Future British PM Margaret Roberts marries Denis Thatcher
1959 Archbishop Makarios elected first President of Cyprus
1960 Italy beats US in Davis Cup (First time in 24 years US not in finals)
1973 World Football League grants first franchise (Detroit)
1974 Malta becomes a republic
1976 Golden Gate Bridge District starts ferry service to Larkspur
1977 Entire University of Evansville basketball team dies in plane crash
1978 Susan B. Anthony dollar, first US coin to honor a woman, issued
1981 Polish government declares martial law, arrests Solidarity activists
1983 9,655 see highest-scoring NBA game: Detroit 186, Denver 184 (3 OT)
1983 Martha Layne Collins inaugurated as Kentucky's first female governor
1984 Artificial heart recipient William Schroeder suffers first stroke
1988 3 men end 29-hr all-466-station subway ride in New York City
1988 Arafat addresses UN in Geneva
1989 Walter Davis (Denver) ends NBA free throw streak of 53 games
1989 Forced repatriation of Vietnamese in Hong Kong
1991 Both Koreas sign an accord calling for reconciliation
1991 NY assembly speaker Mel Miller is convicted of federal mail fraud
1991 Ricky Pierce (Seattle) ends NBA free throw streak of 75 games

Birthdays which occurred on December 13th:

1797 Heinrich Heine, Germany, poet/lyricist (Schubert)
1810 Clark Mills, US, sculptor (Freedom, Armed Liberty)
1818 Mary Todd Lincoln, First Lady
1835 Phillips Brooks, Episcopal bishop/composer (Little Town of Bethlehem)
1871 Russell W. Porter, Vermont, explorer (Alaska)
1890 Marc Connelly, McKeesport PA, playwright (One Minute Please)
1899 Harold Guinzburg, publisher (founder of Literary Guild)
1903 Carlos Montoya, Madrid Spain, guitarist (Suite Flamenco 1966)
1910 Lillian Roth, singer/actress (Animal Crackers)
1910 Van Heflin, Walters Oklahoma, actor (Great Adventure)
1911 Kenneth Patchen, US, poet/novelist (Cloth of the Tempest)
1913 Archie Moore, light-heavyweight boxing champ (1952-60)
1913 Jimmy Carroll, New York, pianist (Most Important People)
1915 Balthazar Johannes Vorster, Prime Minister of South Africa (1966-77)
1915 Mark Stevens, Cleveland, actor (Big Town, Martin Kane)
1915 Ross MacDonald, detective novelist (Goodbye Look)
1917 Dave Street, Los Angeles, actor/singer (Broadway Open House)
1920 Don Taylor, Freeport PA, actor (Father's Little Dividend)
1920 George P. Schultz, US Secretary of State (1982-89)
1922 Rex Allen, Wilcox AZ, cowboy actor (I Dream of Jeannie)
1924 Larry Doby, first black in baseball's AL (Cleve Indians)
1925 Dick Van Dyke, West Plains MO, actor (Rob Petrie-Dick Van Dyke Show)
1926 Carl Erskine, baseball player (Brooklyn Dodgers)
1929 Albert Paulsen, Guayaquil Ecuador, actor (Doctors' Hospital)
1929 Christopher Plummer, Toronto, actor (Sound of Music, Doll's House)
1930 Genevieve Page, actress (Day & the Hour)
1930 Robert Prosky, Philadelphia, actor (Christine, Sgt. Jablonski-Hill St. Blues)
1941 John Davidson, Pittsburgh, TV host (Hollywood Squares, That's Incredible)
1943 Ferguson Jenkins, baseball player (Cubs, Texas)
1948 Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, guitarist (Steely Dan-Deacon Blues)
1948 Kathy Garver, Long Beach, actress (Cissy-Family Affair)
1948 Lillian Board, England, 400m (Olympic silver-1968)
1948 Ted Nugent, Detroit, guitarist (Cat Scratch Fever, Damn Yankees)
1949 Nana Alexandria, USSR, International Woman's Chess Grandmaster (1976)
1949 Randy Owen, country singer (Alabama)
1949 Tom Verlaine, musician (Television)
1950 Heather North, Pasadena, actress (The Barefoot Executive)
1953 Zoltan Magyar, Hungary, side horse gymnist (Olympic-gold-1976, 80)
1954 John Anderson, country singer/actor (Swingin')
1958 Dana Strum, Washington DC, rock bassist (Slaughter)
1958 Lynn-Holly Johnson, actress (Ice Castles)
1959 John Whitaker, Van Nuys California, actor (Family Affair)
1967 Jenn Thompson, New York, actor (Dee-Harper Valley PTA)
1973 Christie Clark, Los Angeles, actress (Carrie Brady-Days of Our Life)
1981 Chelsea Hertford, actress (Major Dad)

Deaths which occurred on December 13th:

1204 Maimonides, Jewish philosopher, dies in Cairo at 69
1250 Frederick II, German Emperor (1212-1250), dies at 55
1603 Franciscus Vieta, mathematician, dies in Paris at 63
1924 Samuel Gompers, organized American Federation of Labor, dies at 44
1944 Vassily Kandisky, abstract artist (Dreamy Inspiration), dies at 78
1958 Tim Moore, actor (Kingfish-Amos 'n' Andy), dies at 70
1974 Rufe Davis, actor (Floyd Smoot-Petticoat Junction), dies at 66
1975 Cyril Delevanti, actor (Lucius-Jefferson Davis), dies at 88
1979 Jon Hall, actor (Ramor of the Jungle), dies at 66
1981 Pigmeat Markham, comedian (Here Comes da Judge-Laugh In), dies at 75
1983 Leora Dana, actress dies at 60