Posted by Murrisk on March 02, 2001 at 10:02:41:
Buenos Aires lies on the estuary of the River Plate, a muddy brown river. The mouth of the river is 230 kilometers wide. On March 8, 1814, a red haired Irish sea captain named William Brown led an improvised fleet of 19 ships from Buenos Aires to attack the Imperial Spanish naval forces and support the patriot forces which were besieging Montevideo. This was the start of a long career that turned William Brown, born in Foxford, County Mayo in 1777, into one of the founding fathers of Argentina. He became and remains a very famous person. Even today, there are schools, streets, districts etc named after him. He built his house at Quilmes (pronounced Kilmez) on the shore line southeast of Buenos Aires. The house no longer exists except in replica, and today Quilmes is the name of the most famous of Argentine beers.