May 31st in history:

More than two thousand people died on May 31st, 1889, in the great Johnstown, Pennsylvania, flood. Heavy rains caused a dam to break, unleashing all the water from a lake a few miles outside of Johnstown.

In legend, and in the movie “The Ten Commandments,” he’s the pharaoh whose army drowned in the Red Sea while pursuing Moses and his followers. Rameses II became the pharaoh of Egypt on May 31st in 1279 B.C.

Richard Nixon’s rule as president was sunk partly by leaks to the Washington Post from a source nicknamed “Deep Throat.” On this date in 2005, former FBI agent Mark Felt revealed himself to be Bob Woodward’s secret source.

And on May 31st, 1911, a huge ocean liner which would sink less than a year later was launched. It was the RMS Titanic.