boguing
Active member
Don't know if you've seen this before, or if it's even true, but I found this elsewhere on the intarweb:-
New Year 1899-1900
The night was warm and inviting. The stars shone in all their tropical brilliance.
Captain John D Phillips was in a dark corner of the bridge quietly pulling on a cigar with all the contentment that comes to a sailor when he knows the voyage is half complete and they are homeward bound. The passenger steamer SS Warrimoo was quietly knifing her way home through the waters of the mid Pacific, from Vancouver to Australia. The navigator, had just finished working out a star fix and brought the results up to Captain Phillips. The Warrimoo's position was spotted at about Latitude 0* 30' North and Longitude 179* 30' West. The date was December 30th 1899.
First Mate, Daylong broke in "Captain do you realize what this means? We are only a few miles from the intersection of the Equator and the International Date Line". Captain Phillips knew exactly what it meant; he was in good spirits and feeling prankish enough to take full advantage of a unique opportunity to achieve a navigational freak of a lifetime.
In an ordinary crossing of the Date-Line it is confusing enough for passengers because they lose a day, but the possibilities he had before him were sure to confound them for the rest of their lives. He immediately called four more navigators to the bridge and told them to check and double check the ship's position every few minutes and report it to him. He changed course slightly so as to correctly bear on his mark. Then he carefully adjusted the engine speed so he would strike it at the right moment. The clear night, calm sea and the eager co-operation of the entire crew worked successfully in his favour.
Precisely at Midnight, local time, the Warrimoo, lay on the Equator at exactly the point where it crosses the International Date Line.
The consequences of this bizarre situation were many.
The Forward part of the ship was in the Southern Hemisphere and in the middle of summer.
The Stern was in the Northern Hemisphere and in the middle of Winter.
The date in the after part of the ship was 30th December 1899
Forward it was 1st January 1900.
The ship was not only in two different days, two different years, but two different centuries all at the same time.
Moreover, the passengers had been cheated out of a New Year's Eve celebration. The 31st of December 1899 had disappeared from their lives forever.
Not all was disappointment for the people on board the Warrimoo were the first to greet the new century. All they had to do was run from aft to f'wrd.
Captain Phillips when speaking about it years later said he had never heard of it happening before and the next time the same situation could happen was 1999-2000.
New Year 1899-1900
The night was warm and inviting. The stars shone in all their tropical brilliance.
Captain John D Phillips was in a dark corner of the bridge quietly pulling on a cigar with all the contentment that comes to a sailor when he knows the voyage is half complete and they are homeward bound. The passenger steamer SS Warrimoo was quietly knifing her way home through the waters of the mid Pacific, from Vancouver to Australia. The navigator, had just finished working out a star fix and brought the results up to Captain Phillips. The Warrimoo's position was spotted at about Latitude 0* 30' North and Longitude 179* 30' West. The date was December 30th 1899.
First Mate, Daylong broke in "Captain do you realize what this means? We are only a few miles from the intersection of the Equator and the International Date Line". Captain Phillips knew exactly what it meant; he was in good spirits and feeling prankish enough to take full advantage of a unique opportunity to achieve a navigational freak of a lifetime.
In an ordinary crossing of the Date-Line it is confusing enough for passengers because they lose a day, but the possibilities he had before him were sure to confound them for the rest of their lives. He immediately called four more navigators to the bridge and told them to check and double check the ship's position every few minutes and report it to him. He changed course slightly so as to correctly bear on his mark. Then he carefully adjusted the engine speed so he would strike it at the right moment. The clear night, calm sea and the eager co-operation of the entire crew worked successfully in his favour.
Precisely at Midnight, local time, the Warrimoo, lay on the Equator at exactly the point where it crosses the International Date Line.
The consequences of this bizarre situation were many.
The Forward part of the ship was in the Southern Hemisphere and in the middle of summer.
The Stern was in the Northern Hemisphere and in the middle of Winter.
The date in the after part of the ship was 30th December 1899
Forward it was 1st January 1900.
The ship was not only in two different days, two different years, but two different centuries all at the same time.
Moreover, the passengers had been cheated out of a New Year's Eve celebration. The 31st of December 1899 had disappeared from their lives forever.
Not all was disappointment for the people on board the Warrimoo were the first to greet the new century. All they had to do was run from aft to f'wrd.
Captain Phillips when speaking about it years later said he had never heard of it happening before and the next time the same situation could happen was 1999-2000.
