Oct. 25, 1836: The passenger steamship Royal Tar, heading from Saint John, New Brunswick, to Portland, burns and sinks in Penobscot Bay while carrying a variety of circus animals, as well as 72 passengers and 21 crew members. Thirty-two people and most of the animals die in the sinking. Two of the ship’s four lifeboats […]

Oct. 24, 2007: The Navy says its Arleigh Burke-class of destroyers, some of which were built at Bath Iron Works in Maine, need about $59.8 million worth of upgrades to their bows because they tend to sustain structural damage when fully loaded and traveling in rough seas. A Navy spokesman says defense industry reports of […]

Oct. 23, 1651: The Massachusetts Bay colony’s General Court sends a letter to authorities in southwestern Maine, the part of Maine that retains the name after a division of that colony into four parts, saying that the area is under Massachusetts’ jurisdiction. No response is given. In November 1652, four Massachusetts commissioners arrive in Kittery […]

Oct. 22, 1886: Amid high winds, a fire destroys 33 houses, 19 stores, three churches, two hotels, a bank, the county jail and the post office in Farmington. The fire begins in a Front Street barn owned by John A. Storyell, where about 45 tons of hay are stored. The wind carries cinders in all […]

Oct. 21, 1947: Strong wind fans the flames of fires already burning for three days on Mount Desert Island, boosting the area burned from about 169 acres to more than 2,000. On the afternoon of the next day, the wind changes and pushes the fire directly toward Bar Harbor. It travels 6 miles in less […]

Oct. 20, 1860: Spectators gather at Portland Harbor to watch the Prince of Wales – Britain’s future King Edward VII (1841-1910) – depart for England aboard his ship, HMS Hero. The 18-year-old prince, who arrived by special train that afternoon from Boston and was treated to a luncheon at the city’s Preble House, is returning […]

Oct. 19, 1814: In an era when Maine remains part of Massachusetts, three men representing Maine counties in the Massachusetts Senate ask the Massachusetts General Court (the state legislature) to appoint a committee to consider raising a force to drive British troops out of eastern Maine, which those troops recently attacked and occupied. The General […]

Oct. 18, 1775: In the opening phase of the Revolutionary War, a British fleet under the command of Lt. Henry Mowatt, aboard the HMS Canceaux, attacks the part of Falmouth that now is downtown Portland with incendiary cannonballs and, later, militia units lighting fires. More than 400 homes are destroyed or damaged. The incident traumatizes […]

Oct. 17, 1793: After eight years of failed efforts to separate Maine from Massachusetts, a meeting called by separation proponents is held at the courthouse in Portland. They hope a provision in the 1780 Massachusetts Constitution calling for a people’s review of that document might provide impetus for the District of Maine’s separation and that […]