On this Date in 1888...

...an audio recording of English composer Arthur Sullivan's "The Lost Chord", one of the first recordings of music ever made, is played during a press conference introducing Thomas Edison's phonograph in London.  Upon concluding the playback Thomas Edison was overheard commenting, "Well, it looks like they found it."

On this Date in 1960...

...the Central African Republic declares independence from France.  France promptly surrenders, to which the Central African Republic responds, "But, we don't want your country.  Just this one.  Thanks anyway."

On this Date in 1499...

...first engagement of the Battle of Zonchio between Venetian and Ottoman fleets.  Marking the first time in history where window treatments battle foot stools for supremacy.  Onlookers are baffled at the wholesale destruction of so much interior decor.

On this Date in 1786...

...Captain Francis Light establishes the British colony of Penang in Malaysia.  Who was known as the much more healthy of the Captain Francis'.

On this Date in 1628...

...the Swedish warship  Vasa sinks in the Stockholm harbour after only about 20 minutes of her maiden voyage.  She will go on to become the crown jewel of the Swedish fleet...from the bottom of Stockholm harbour.

On this Date in 1173...

...construction of the campanile of the cathedral of Pisa (now known as the Leaning Tower of Pisa) begins; it will take two centuries to complete.  Proving that it does take a long time to get something perfectly imperfect.

On this Date in 2000...

Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley is raised to the surface after 136 years on the ocean floor and 30 years after its discovery by undersea explorer E. Lee Spence and 5 years after being filmed by a dive team funded by novelist Clive Cussler. It was later broken into, and searched, by Benjamin Gates for clues to the location of George Washington's lost wooden teeth.