October 12 — Peter II was born, Russian Emperor, the last representative of the House of Romanov in the direct male line.
September 12 — Peter I issued a decree forbidding residents of the capital to reinforce their footwear with metal staples and nails. The Tsar made this decision to protect the wooden pavements in Saint Petersburg. And since the choice of footwear was limited, many people simply stopped going out. The people of Saint Petersburg were especially worried about the harsh punishment for violating the ban. Merchants selling reinforced boots were sent to penal labor, while buyers paid a large fine.
May 4 — the first folding umbrella was produced in Paris.
The capture of Stralsund and Rostock by Russian troops.
The first industrial brewery appeared in Lviv.
July 31 — one of the greatest disasters in the history of seafaring occurred. A tropical hurricane destroyed the Spanish “Silver Fleet” of Admiral Juan Esteban de Uribilla in the Sargasso Sea, so called because its main cargo was silver coins and bullion. Ten of the squadron’s eleven ships went to the bottom, along with more than 1,200 sailors and immense treasures whose combined value, by some estimates, equaled several annual budgets of the Spanish Empire. In the holds of the lost ships were the fruits of the long labor of the silver mines of Mexico and Peru, the gold and emerald mines of Colombia, as well as the work of many skilled jewelers of Latin America. The loss of these treasures meant financial collapse for Madrid, since the Spanish government had taken on debts secured by them, and now had nothing with which to pay. After receiving news of the catastrophe, the Spanish searched for the sunken treasure for four years, but managed to recover only those valuables that were aboard three ships lying in shallow water off the coast of Florida. The remaining seven were never found.
Since then, many people have been engaged—and continue to be engaged—in searching for the “Silver Fleet,” but only one man, Kip Wagner, was fortunate in 1963 to discover underwater the wreck site of one of the vessels. His haul included more than 60,000 silver and gold coins, 42 massive gold disks weighing from 20 to 40 kilograms, gold and silver crosses, chains, tableware, jewelry, and much more, with a total value of over 10 million dollars.