Today in History.....November 14

On this day in …

* 1851, Herman Melville's novel "Moby-Dick" was first published

* 1889, inspired by Jules Verne, New York World reporter Nellie Bly (Elizabeth Cochrane) set out to travel around the world in less than 80 days. (She made the trip in 72 days.)

* 1940, during World War II, German planes destroyed most of the English town of Coventry

* 1943, an American torpedo was mistakenly fired at the battleship USS Iowa, which was carrying President Roosevelt and his joint chiefs to the Tehran conference; the torpedo exploded harmlessly in the Iowa's wake

* 1968, Yale University announced it was going co-educational

* 1969, Apollo 12 blasted off for the moon

* 1972, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above the 1,000 level for the first time, ending the day at 1,003.16

* 1995, the U.S. government instituted a partial shutdown, closing national parks and museums while government offices operated with skeleton crews

* 2004, Mahmoud Abbas, successor to Yasser Arafat, ym"s, escaped unharmed when militants firing assault rifles burst into a mourning tent for the deceased Palestinian leader in Gaza, killing two security guards