THIS DAY IN HISTORY - DECEMBER 13.

(From ONASA News Agency)

1577 - Five ships under the command of Sir Francis Drake left Plymouth, England, to embark on Drake's circumnavigation of the globe. The journey took almost three years. 1642 - New Zealand was discovered by Dutch navigator Abel Tasman. 1769 - Dartmouth College, in New Hampshire, received its charter. 1809 - The first abdominal surgical procedure was performed in Danville, KY, on Jane Todd Crawford. The operation was performed without an anesthetic. 1816 - John Adamson received a patent for a dry dock. 1843 - Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol was published. 1862 - In America, an estimated 11,000 Northern soldiers were killed or wounded when Union forces were defeated by Confederates under General Robert E. Lee, at the Battle of Fredericksburg. 1883 - The border between Ontario and Manitoba was established. 1884 - Percy Everitt received a patent for the first coin-operated weighing machine. 1913 - The …