On this day in conspiracies

Ship carpenter Matthew Gaffney reports firing a musket at the animal at close range, apparently striking it near the head without visible effect, after which it dove and reappeared. Armed boats put out in an unsuccessful attempt to take the creature.

President Gerald Ford signs Public Law 93-373, restoring the right of Americans to own, buy, and sell gold freely. It takes effect on December 31, 1974, and Executive Order 11825 revokes the old gold-control orders. After roughly four decades, private gold ownership is fully legal again and has remained so.

United Bamboo triad leader Chen Chi-li and an associate meet with Vice Admiral Wang Hsi-ling, director of Taiwan's Military Intelligence Bureau, and two of Wang's officers, Major General Hu Yi-min and Colonel Chen Hu-men. Chen is later found to have been recruited and given a target: Liu.

Kim Hak-sun becomes the first Korean survivor to testify publicly about her enslavement, breaking roughly fifty years of silence. In December she joins a lawsuit against the Japanese government. Her account emboldens hundreds of other survivors across Asia to come forward.

Russia publicly acknowledges the Kursk is on the seabed but downplays the situation, saying the crew is alive and that officers are in radio or tapping contact with them and that the problem is being handled without outside help. Both reassurances later prove false.

At a meeting with Lonmin executives, North West provincial police commissioner Zukiswa Mbombo is recorded urging that the situation be resolved, in words later scrutinised by the commission. Lonmin management presses for a swift end to a strike that is halting production.

Greek MEP Nikolas Farantouris claims on social media that Portugal had requested Russian Beriev Be-200 firefighting aircraft. Greek outlets amplify it. Lusa Verifica and Portugal's Interior Ministry establish that Portugal made no such request, which would breach EU sanctions on Russia.