This Day in History, April 10

In 1790, merchant Robert Gray docked at Boston Harbor, becoming the first American to circumnavigate the globe. He sailed from Boston in September 1787.

In 1849, William Hunt of New York patented the first safety pin.

In 1864, Austrian Archduke Maximilian became emperor of Mexico.

In 1912, the RMS Titanic begin its ill-fated voyage.

In 1919, Emiliano Zapata, a leader of peasants and indigenous people during the Mexican Revolution, was ambushed and killed in Morelos by government forces.

In 1942, Japanese soldiers herded U.S. and Filipino prisoners of war on Bataan in the Philippines and forced them to march to another camp. During the six-day "Death March," more than 5,200 Americans and many more Filipinos died.

In 1963, the U.S. nuclear submarine "Thresher" sank in the Atlantic Ocean 220 miles east of Boston. All 129 men on board were lost.

In 1971, the U.S. table tennis team arrived in China, the first U.S. group to penetrate the so-called Bamboo Curtain since the 1950s.

In 1972, during his first visit to the United States in 20 years, movie pioneer and comic genius Charlie Chaplin accepted an honorary Academy Award for his "incalculable" contribution to the art of filmmaking.

In 1991, an Italian ferry headed to Sardinia collided with an oil tanker near Leghorn, Italy, killing 151 passengers and crew. The tanker crew survived.

In 1992, Charles Keating Jr., considered a symbol of the nation's savings and loan debacle, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for securities fraud.

Also in 1992, in a formal Gulf War report, the Pentagon said allied bombers destroyed more Iraqi electrical generating facilities than necessary, causing undue postwar hardship on civilians.

In 1994, two U.S aircraft bombed a Serbian command post in Bosnia. It was the first NATO air attack against ground forces.

In 1996, U.S. President Bill Clinton vetoed a ban on so-called partial birth abortions. The U.S. Congress was unable to override the veto.

In 1997, a U.S. judge in Washington ruled the Line-Item Veto Act of 1996 was unconstitutional.

In 1998, Britain and Ireland reached an agreement aimed at ending the long and bloody dispute over the future of Northern Ireland.

Also in 1998, the anti-impotence drug Viagra went on the market and became one of the best-selling new medications of all time.

In 2000, the Nasdaq plunged 258 points in its second-biggest drop, starting the dramatic fall-off in the value of technology stocks.

In 2003, the United States and Britain launched a massive public relations campaign over the Iraqi airwaves with President George Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair reading speeches to Iraqis over a jointly run television network.

Also in 2003, the pneumonia-like illness SARS, which sickened thousands and killed more than 100 people, continued to spread to new areas around the globe with Kuwait reporting its first case.

In 2004, the White House made public a key briefing document that warned President George Bush before Sept. 11, 2001, of possible al-Qaida attacks inside the United States.

In 2005, about 3,000 Israeli police officers were deployed to Jerusalem's Old City to prevent threatened protests by Jewish militants at the Temple Mount, angry at Israel's plan to remove Jewish settlements from Gaza and the West Bank.

In 2006, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was narrowly beaten in his bid for another term by former premier Romano Prodi.

In 2007, three former Birmingham, Ala., college students were sentenced to federal prison for setting fire to nine rural southern U.S. churches and ordered to pay $3.1 million in restitution.

Also in 2007, four Serbian paramilitary officers were found guilty of taking part in the Srebrenica massacre of Bosnian Muslims 13 years ago. Thousands of men and boys were reported slaughtered in a few days.

In 2008, a Muslim terrorist ring plot to kidnap athletes and visitors during the Summer Olympics in Beijing has been uncovered, Chinese officials said. Thirty-five suspects were arrested.

Also in 2008, international observers hailed Nepal's elections as a generally peaceful success despite some violence. Nepal voters decided to end their monarchy and adopt a republic form of government with former Maoist terrorists playing a key role.