ON THIS DAY: 8 July 1822

The 29-year-old English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, an experienced sailor, drowned in a storm in the Gulf of La Spezia, off the west coast of Italy. Accompanying Shelley in his boat, the Don Juan, were his friends: Edward Williams, a retired army officer; naval officer Daniel Roberts; and their 18-year-old boat boy, Charles Vivian. All perished, … Read more