The Soviet K-278 Komsomolets nuclear submarine caught fire and sank off the coast of Norway.
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Booker T. Washington became the first Black person pictured on a US postage stamp.
New York and New Jersey were struck by the strongest earthquake in over one hundred years.
France initiated the War of the League of Cambrai against Venice.
Englishman John Walker invented modern-day wooden matches that create a flame through friction.
Mount Vesuvius volcano erupted, devastating Naples in the process.
