The temperature on August 31, 1909 was between 8.4 °C and 15.8 °C and averaged 11.7 °C. There was 11.8 mm of rain. There was 5.9 hours of sunshine (43%). The average windspeed was 4 Bft (moderate breeze) and was prevailing from the west. Source: KNMI
January 9 » Ernest Shackleton, leading the Nimrod Expedition to the South Pole, plants the British flag 97 nautical miles (180km; 112mi) from the South Pole, the farthest anyone had ever reached at that time.
February 12 » New Zealand's worst maritime disaster of the 20th century happens when the SSPenguin, an inter-island ferry, sinks and explodes at the entrance to Wellington Harbour.
February 20 » Publication of the Futurist Manifesto in the French journal Le Figaro.
March 4 » U.S. President William Taft used what became known as a Saxbe fix, a mechanism to avoid the restriction of the U.S. Constitution's Ineligibility Clause, to appoint Philander C. Knox as U.S. Secretary of State.
April 11 » The city of Tel Aviv is founded.
September 30 » The Cunard Line's RMS Mauretania makes a record-breaking westbound crossing of the Atlantic, that will not be bettered for 20 years.
When copying data from this family tree, please include a reference to the origin: Hans Dunning, "Family tree Dunning", database, Genealogy Online (https://www.genealogieonline.nl/stamboom-dunning/R6874.php : accessed March 17, 2026), "Jacobus Jan Smeding (1909-)".
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