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Topic starter
22/09/2022 10:02 am
On December 31, 1899, Captain John Phillips was navigating the passenger-cargo ship SS Warrimoo when his crew informed him that they were approaching the equator.
Captain Phillips had his navigator double-check their position, and then adjusted the course and speed of the Warrimoo so that at exactly 12 a.m., the ship lay astride the Equator at exactly the point where it crossed the International Date Line.
The forward part of the ship was in the Southern Hemisphere and in the middle of summer. The rear part of the ship was in the Northern Hemisphere and in the middle of winter. Half of the ship was on 30 December 1899, while the forward half skipped a day ahead and into 1 January 1900.
The ship was, therefore, not only in two different days, two different months, two different years, two different seasons, and two different hemispheres but also in two different centuries all at the same time.
John Kuvakas
Warrenton, VA
22/09/2022 10:08 am
There are days I am in two different time zones and I don't have to go to the equator to accomplish such a feat.
22/09/2022 11:52 am
If someone on board the ship had a baby at that time, I wonder what you would put on the birth certificate?
Ed Davis
Inverness, Illinois, USA
John Kuvakas reacted
22/09/2022 12:35 pm
Capt. Phillips was ahead of his time…literally. The 20th century began on January 1, 1901, so the good captain was a year early.
22/09/2022 2:36 pm
Very much like standing on the “4-corners” marker in the US - (Utah, Colorado, New Mexico & Arizona) - but the feat you speak of here is far more impressive!
Zeeky Banutski
The People’s Republic of Maryland
John Kuvakas reacted
23/09/2022 1:21 am
23/09/2022 3:09 pm
Been there, done that, but it was 1972 for me & I don’t recall it looking that nice back then…I was looking at some more recent photos & it’s really been updated.
Zeeky Banutski
The People’s Republic of Maryland