The first Russian ship departed to California on the 26th of February in 1806. Nickolai Rezanov — one of the heads of Russian-American company, the commander, honored with the order of Big St. John of Jerusalem Maltese Cross — was on the board of the “Juno”. The “Juno” staffed “with inexperienced people and the ones suffering from scurvy” under the command of lieutenant N. A. Khvostov departed from New-Arkhangelsk to California and reached the San Francisco Bay, a month later.

In the old days, sea captains kept pigs on board because they believed, should they be shipwrecked, pigs always swam toward the nearest shore.

How times have changed! 100 years ago there were less than 20,000 motorcars in the whole world, a lot of them being electric cars. The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph (16km/h). The Eiffel Tower was the tallest structure in the world, at 1063 ft (324 metres).

In medieval times, left-handed people could not become knights because it was thought that they were descendants of the devil, it is said. Spiral staircases in castles ran clockwise to allow knights – all right-handed – to battle intruders effectively.