this month in history



Heroine: Edna Watson

born this month



Patton: Princeton president

in the news



Open day: Visit Victor Scott School on Jan.19

Three die in Cavalier crash
January 21, 1939
e die, ten surviveJanuar

The flying boat Cavalier, one of the most luxurious airliners of its day, crashed into the waters of the Atlantic, two hours after it took off from Port Washington, New York bound for Bermuda.

Three of the 13 passengers and crew died within the first few hours of the crash and the remaining 10 spent a harrowing 11 hours in the open sea, 388 miles off Bermuda, awaiting rescue.

Montrealer Edna Watson (above), a physiotherapist who had lived in Bermuda since the 1920s, emerged as the heroine. She saved the life of captain Roland “Roly” Alderson, by helping to keep him afloat after he gave his life preserver to another passenger.

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Francis Landey Patton
January 22, 1843-November 26, 1932

Theologian, educator and author Francis Landey Patton served as president of Princeton University for 14 years.

Born and raised in Warwick, he attended Warwick Academy and received his early religious education at Christ Presbyterian Church in Warwick before continuing his studies overseas.

Following his ordination in 1865, he received his first ministerial appointment at the Eighty-fourth Presbyterian Church in New York. He began his career as an educator at the McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago and was appointed Princeton’s president in 1888.

Photo courtesy of the National Museum of Bermuda

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