remaining 305 crew of the Royal Navy ship are killed when the ship founders in the Florida Keys. According to the ship's logbook, an epidemic of yellow fever began on August 1 and had killed 45 people before the hurricane struck, and left all but seven crew members too ill to walk.J. J. Colledge and Ben Warlow, Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy from the 15th Century to the Present (Seaforth, 2021) p. 482 October–December October 11 – King William III of England dissolves Parliament in the wake of a scandal involving former Speaker of the House of Commons John Trevor and other Tory MPs. October 25 – The 48-gun English Navy ship HMS Berkeley Castle is captured by the French Navy. November 22 – The new Parliament, with 513 members of the House of Commons is opened by King William III. Commons is composed of 257 Whigs (who hold a majority of one), 203 Tories and 53 members of other parties or independents. December 6 – A total eclipse of the sun is visible across the Middle East and western Asia. December 31 – A window tax is imposed in England. Some windows are bricked up to avoid it. Date unknown English manufacturers call for an embargo on Indian cloth, and silk weavers picket the House of Commons of England. A £2 fine is imposed for swearing in England. After 23 years of construction, Spain completes Castillo de San Marcos to protect St. Augustine, Florida, from foreign threats. After many years of construction, the Potala Palace in Lhasa is completed. Gold is discovered in Brazil. Johanne Nielsdatter is executed for witchcraft, the last such confirmed execution in Norway. In Amsterdam, the bank Wed. Jean Deutz & Sn. floats the first sovereign bonds on the local market. The scheme is designed to fund a 1.5 million guilder loan to the Holy Roman Emperor. From this date on, European leaders commonly take advantage of the low interest rates available in the Dutch Republic, and borrow several hundred millions on the Dutch capital market. A large unidentified tropical volcanic eruption causes colder temperatures, crop failure, food shortage and mortality in north-western Europe. The Great Famine of 1695–1697 begins as the Great Famine of Estonia (1695–97) in Swedish Estonia and spreads across Finland, Latvia, Norway and Sweden, while the "seven ill years" of