from the French village of Les Baraques, near Calais, 36 minutes earlier, Blériot became the first person to fly an airplane across the English Channel and made the first international flight as well. A British newspaper noted the next day, "England's isolation has ended once and for all." Blériot, who was recovering from surgery and had no compass, crash-landed. Legend has it that the airplane engine was saved from overheating by a slight drizzle as he neared the English coast. Blériot won a £1,000 prize from the London Daily Mail and received hundreds of orders for his airplane. Charles K. Hamilton flew his airship across the Bay of Osaka in Japan. July 26, 1909 (Monday) The SS Waratah departed Durban, South Africa, with 211 passengers and crew on board, bound for a 3-day journey to Cape Town, its next stop on a voyage from Australia to Britain. The Waratah was spotted on the 27th by the Clan MacIntyre, and never seen again. No trace of the ship has ever been found. Explorer Emlyn Brown thought he had located the wreckage in 1999, but had found, instead, a freighter sunk during World War II. As of 2009, no trace of the Waratah has been found. Born: Vivian Vance, American actress best known for portraying Ethel Mertz on I Love Lucy, for which she won the Emmy Award in 1954; as Vivian Roberta Jones in Cherryvale, Kansas (died 1979) July 27, 1909 (Tuesday) At Fort Myer, Virginia, Orville Wright and his passenger, Lt. Frank P. Lahm, went aloft in the Wright Military Flyer. Staying aloft for more than one hour (1:12:37.8), Wright met the first requirement of the U.S. Army Signal Corps' Specification No. 486. July 28, 1909 (Wednesday) National League President Harry Pulliam shot himself in the head and died the following day. The Board of the Ford Motor Company voted to build its first assembly plant outside of Michigan, settling on 1025 Winchester Avenue in Kansas City, Missouri. Born: Malcolm Lowry, English-born Canadian novelist; in New Brighton, Cheshire (died 1957) July 29, 1909 (Thursday) General Motors acquired the Cadillac Motor Company from Henry M. Leland for . Amid concerns that African workers recruited from Angola were being exploited as slave labor by the chocolate maker Cadbury Brothers Ltd, Portugal's Colonial Minister, Manuel da Terra Vianna, barred further recruitment until an investigation could be made. Born: Chester Himes, African-American author; in