Sunday, June 17, 1691

Wildfires erupted across central Portugal, eventually causing the deaths of 66 people.

A white supremacist committed a mass shooting at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, killing nine people during a prayer service.

Following a petition, the liberal progressive Czech Pirate Party was officially registered as a political party.

Five men were arrested for attempted burglary on the offices of the Democratic National Committee, igniting the Watergate scandal that ultimately led to the resignation of US president Richard Nixon more than two years later.

Riots broke out in Saigon one day after the signing of the Joint Communiqué, an attempt to resolve the Buddhist crisis in South Vietnam.

Guatemalan Revolution: The Guatemalan Congress passed Decree 900, redistributing unused land greater than 224 acres (0.91 km2) in area to local peasants.

Second World War: RMS Lancastria was sunk by German aircraft near Saint-Nazaire, France, causing thousands of fatalities in Britain's worst maritime disaster.

Hundreds of Canadian soldiers rioted in Epsom, England, leading to the death of a British police officer.

In Detroit, autoworkers for car manufacturer Studebaker went on strike in the American auto industry's first major strike action.

Boxer Rebellion: Allied naval forces captured the Taku Forts from Qing China after a brief but bloody battle.

American Civil War: The Battle of Vienna, Virginia, took place, which involved one of the world's first military movements of troops by train.

French Revolutionary Wars: Off the coast of Brittany, a Royal Navy squadron commanded by William Cornwallis (pictured) fended off a numerically superior French Navy fleet.