A fun story that may or may not be true.
The passenger steamer SS Warrimoo was quietly knifing its way through the waters of the mid-Pacific on its way from Vancouver to Australia. The navigator had just finished working out a star fix and brought Captain John DS. Phillips, the result. The Warrimoo's position was LAT 0º 31' N and LONG 179 30' W. The date was 31 December 1899. "Know what this means?" First Mate Payton broke in, "We're only a few miles from the intersection of the Equator and the International Date Line". Captain Phillips was prankish enough to take full advantage of the opportunity for achieving the navigational freak of a lifetime.
He called his navigators to the bridge to check & double check the ship's position. He changed course slightly so as to bear directly on his mark. Then he adjusted the engine speed.
The calm weather & clear night worked in his favor. At midnight the SS Warrimoo lay on the Equator at exactly the point where it crossed the International Date Line! The consequences of this bizarre position were many:
The forward part (bow) of the ship was in the Southern Hemisphere & in the middle of summer.
The rear (stern) was in the Northern Hemisphere & in the middle of winter.
The date in the aft part of the ship was 31 December 1899.
In the bow (forward) part it was 1 January 1900.
This ship was therefore not only in:
Two different days,
Two different months,
Two different years,
Two different seasons
But in two different centuries - all at the same time!
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14 comments:
The only way you could top that is if we were all sitting in a different state at four corners listening to you! That's cool. I love stuff like this. Thanks Mike
So it must have taken a whole day to walk from one end of the ship to the other.
I hope it is true.
Cloudia - Four corners would be much more accessible for all of us.
Kirk - Exactly!
Sue - It's too good a story not to be true!
Reminds me of when a new US fighter jet first flew across the equator it snaprolled inverted because the autopilot SW had never been tested for that.
Even if it's not true, it's a great story. Unlike most of Der Furor's stories, which are neither true nor great.
If it's not true, it SHOULD be!
Sorry to be Señor Buzzkill, but 1 January 1900 and 31 December 1899 are in the same century, the nineteenth. The twentieth century began on 1 January 1901. (Memory tip: there was no zero, so every century must start in a year xxx1.)
It's a cute story, though. I wonder if it's true. (Wikipedia says not.)
The Bionic Stan
Great blog
I hope it's true too!
Stu - Good thing it wasn't a passenger plane!
Bill - If tRUMP told this story only 35% of people would believe it.
Deb - I totally agree!
Stan - ARRGGHHH. I'm usually the one quoting facts and busting bubbles. Wikipedia says "not sure". 😁 I found this on Wikipedia... "While the century has been commonly used in the West, other cultures and calendars have utilized differently sized groups of years in a similar manner. The Hindu calendar, in particular, summarizes its years into groups of 60, while the Aztec calendar considers groups of 52."
So I'm declaring a new calendar called the SS Warrimoo calendar that has a year zero. It was a short year when nothing happened. Time stood still. Sort of like when the Gregorian calendar was introduced... "
The Gregorian Calendar was introduced on October 4th, 1582 and, to realign it to the Julian Calendar, it was necessary to eliminate ten days by passing directly to October 15. And therefore from 5 to 14 October no one was born, and no one died. Nothing happened. ... FIXED!
RR - I think so too.
Kathy - There has been a question about that raised. But we can ignore it.
That is way cool. It could be true, and that's the best part.
Cheers, Mike.
That's a feat to brag about for sure.
Almost as good is standing at the intersection of four states and having a foot or hand in each.
Robyn - Yes it is!
River - One day I'll make it to the four corners... or not.
RR - Thanks.
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