to allow the Republic of Genoa to resume its administration of the island in return for amnesty and promised reforms. May 28 – Dirck van Cloon becomes the new Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). June 9 – James Oglethorpe is granted a royal charter for the colony of Georgia. July–September July 2 – Spain completes the conquest of the Algerian cities of Oran and Mers El Kébir in the Oran Province, after a 17-day siege. August 16 – The Order of Malta under the command of Jacques-François de Chambray defeats a convoy of the Ottoman Empire and frees 14 Christian slaves, following the naval battle of Damietta. August 21 – Mikhail Gvozdev in the Sviatoi Gavriil makes the first known crossing of the Bering Strait, from Cape Dezhnev to Cape Prince of Wales in Alaska, marking the first time that Europeans have reached the northwest coast of North America. September 13 – The Treaty of the Three Black Eagles or the Treaty of Berlin, a secret treaty between the Austrian Empire, the Russian Empire and Prussia against the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. September 16 The magnitude 5.8 Montreal earthquake occurs in Quebec (New France). A military warehouse explosion kills up to two-thirds of the population of Campo Maior, Portugal. October–December October 7 – French Army Lieutenant General Florent-Jean de Vallière is tasked by King Louis XV to improve France's method of forging cannons. October 16 – Russia approves the second Kamchatka expedition of Danish-born cartographer Vitus Bering, and the Admiralty orders him to sail east and try to claim uncharted lands in North America. November 29 – The magnitude 6.6 Irpinia earthquake causes deaths in the former Kingdom of Naples. December 5 – 139 members of the Parliament of Paris, exiled by order of King Louis XV, secure their recall. December 7 – The original Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, London (the modern-day Royal Opera House) is opened. December 19 – Benjamin Franklin, in the Pennsylvania Gazette, first advertises the publication of Poor Richard's Almanack, purportedly written by "Richard Saunders", a pen name used by Franklin. The book goes on sale on December 28. The annual publication will continue until 1758. Date unknown Herman Boerhaave publishes the authorized edition of his Elementa chemiae, recognised as the first text on chemistry. The world's first lightship is moored at the Nore, in the Thames Estuary of England. This year's General Assembly of