September 29

480 BC: Battle of Salamis: The Greek fleet under Themistocles defeats the Persian fleet under Xerxes I.

1493: Christopher Columbus leaves Cadiz, Spain, on his second voyage to the new world.

1513: Spanish explorer Vasco Nunez de Balboa discovers the Pacific Ocean.

1853: Emigrant ship "Annie Jane" sinks off Scotland.

1911: Gun magazine of French battleship Liberte explode.

1940: 1st US merchant ship "Booker T. Washington" commanded by a black captain (Hugh Mulzac), launched at Wilmington Delaware.