In the early afternoon, a series of explosions struck the Cethin Colliery, two miles from the South Wales town of Merthyr Tytfil. Rescuers immediately descended into the 3600 foot mine and found forty-seven fellow miners dead from either poison gas or the effects of the explosions.  Two more bodies were found later, bringing the total deaths to forty-nine.  Two hundred other men at work in the mine at the time survived. (By John Osborne)

The seventeen miners working in a small Bryn Gwiog lead mine in North Wales near the town of Denbigh broke through into an nearby disused and flooded mine.  Torrents of water filled their diggings immediately and only one man was able to seize a rope and haul himself to the surface.  The mine was completely filled with water thought to be around 240 feet deep.  (By John Osborne) 

H.M.S. Conqueror, a six year-old, 3,265 ton, 100-gun steam warship, had been ordered to Bermuda during the Trent Affair.  At dawn, she hit a reef at Rum Cay in the Bahamas and despite all efforts to refloat her, heavy weather destroyed the ship.  None of of her 1400 man crew were injured.  The Bahamas Government maintains the wreck, in thirty feet of water, as an underwater maritime museum.  (By John Osborne)  

The collapse of the main shaft of the Hartley Colliery on the Northumberland coast in north-east England had blocked all routes to the surface eight days before.  Rescue diggers finally cleared the blockage but found the 199 men and boys all dead from slow gas poisoning.  Most had survived uninjured for several days.  Five more had died immediately in the initial accident for a total of 204 deaths that devastated the three small villages that surrounded the colliery. (By John Osborne) 

One of the worst ever British mining disasters began with the collapse of the main shaft of the Hartley Colliery on the Northumberland coast in north-east England.  All routes to the surface were blocked and despite a nine day effort to dig out the obstruction, all 199 men and boys trapped below died of slow gas poisoning over several days.  Five more had died immediately in the initial accident for a total of 204 deaths that devastated the three small villages that surrounded the colliery. (By John Osborne) 

The heightened tensions between the United States and Britain over the Trent Affair had been causing anxiety on both sides of the Atlantic.  The news of the release of the two Confederate Commisioners on New Year's Day reached London via telegram from Cork where the transAtlantic steamer Europa had just docked with the latest information from the United States.  The end of the crisis saw London money markets make significant gains the next day.  (By John Osborne)

During the summer months water levels on the Ohio River at and below Pittsburgh dried up to the point that navigation was effected.  On this day, Pittsburgh officials announced that the river channel was at seven feet in depth and navigation was to be considered resumed for the winter months. (By John Osborne)

English-born Thomas Wildey was the founder of the Order of Odd-Fellows in North America.  He had himself been initiated in London before his emigration and founded the first chapter in the United States in Baltimore in 1819.  By 1831, there were more than six hundred members in Baltimore and chapters were spreading across the continent.  Wildey died at his home in Baltimore at the age of eighty and was buried in Green Mount Cemetery three days later.  (By John Osborne)