a claim to being the first cinema as brothers Auguste Lumière and Louis Lumière present their short film, L'Arrivée d'un train en gare de La Ciotat ("The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat") to 250 surprised spectators. The action film shows a steam train pulling into La Ciotat station, passengers coming out of the cars, and departing passengers climbing on. March 22 – The coronation of Malietoa Tanumafili I as King of Samoa takes place. He had become the Malieota of the South Pacific island when his father died on August 22. March 23 – The U.S. cruiser USS Philadelphia and the Royal Navy cruisers HMS Porpoise and HMS Royalist bombard rebel-held villages in Samoa after an attack on Apia. March 24 – The U.S. Ambassador to Argentina, acting as arbitrator of a boundary dispute between Argentina and Chile, awards the disputed territory to Chile. George Dewey is made Admiral of the U.S. Navy. March 25 – The rowing team of Cambridge University wins the annual boat race against Oxford University for the first time in a decade, finishing ahead of Oxford by 3 1⁄4 lengths on the Thames. Oxford had won the race nine times in a row from 1890 to 1898. March 26 – In the first major action in the Malolos Campaign in the Philippine–American War, 90 Filipino soldiers are killed in the Battle of the Meycauayan bridge March 27 Guglielmo Marconi successfully transmits a radio signal across the English Channel. In the Battle of Marilao River, Filipino forces under the personal command of Emilio Aguinaldo, President of the Philippines, fail to prevent troops of the United States Army crossing the river. March 28 – Alfred Martineau becomes the new French colonial governor of French Somaliland in northeast Africa, now the Republic of Djibouti March 29 – The First Philippine Republic relocates its capital from Malolos to San Isidro, Nueva Ecija as the government flees an invasion of U.S. forces. March 30 – The British steamer Stella sinks in the English Channel with the loss of 80 people after wrecking against Les Casquets, a group of rocks near the Channel Islands. March 31 – The United Kingdom announces that it has completed the purchase of rights to occupy the Kingdom of Tonga. In the Philippine–American War, Malolos, capital of the First Philippine Republic, is captured by American forces. April 1899 April 1 – The Second Battle