On July 19, 1817, Georg Anton Schäffer — unsuccessful in his attempt to conquer the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi for the Russian-American Company — was forced to admit defeat and leave Kauaʻi. The effort had begun in 1815 as a shipwreck recovery mission but escalated after the German physician in the company’s employ had been played by native politicians. Legal action against Schäffer — considered, after the fact, a bungler (his efforts cost his employer over 200,000 roubles) — proved unsuccessful.
In A.D. 64 on the 19th of July, the Great Fire of Rome began. It caused widespread devastation and raged for six days, destroying half the city.
One thousand seven hundred eighty-one years later, the last great fire to affect Manhattan began early in the morning and was subdued that afternoon. This “Great New York City Fire of 1845” killed four firefighters and 26 civilians, destroying 345 buildings.