Here’s a repost of great sea story appropriate for New 12 months’s Day. It additionally seems to be kind of true. RMS Warrimoo was an Australian/New Zealand passenger ship, launched in 1892. The ship is finest remembered for crossing the intersection of the worldwide dateline and the equator at exactly the flip of the century from 1899 to 1900. Right here is how the story is normally informed:
The passenger steamer SS Warrimoo was quietly knifing its manner by way of the waters of the mid-Pacific on its manner from Vancouver to Australia. The navigator had simply completed figuring out a star repair and introduced the grasp, Captain John Phillips, the end result. The Warrimoo’s place was latitude 0 levels x 31 minutes north and longitude 179 levels x half-hour west.
The date was 30 December 1899. Know what this implies? First Mate Payton broke in, we’re only some miles from the intersection of the Equator and the Worldwide Date Line.
Captain Phillips was prankish sufficient to take full benefit of the chance to realize the navigational freak of a lifetime. He referred to as his navigators to the bridge to verify and double-check the ship’s place. He modified course barely to bear immediately on his mark. Then he adjusted the engine pace. The calm climate and clear evening labored in his favor. At midnight the Warrimoo lay on the Equator at precisely the purpose the place it crossed the Worldwide Date Line!
The results of this weird place had been many. The ahead a part of the ship was within the Southern Hemisphere and the center of summer. The strict was within the Northern Hemisphere and in the course of winter. The date within the aft a part of the ship was 31 December 1899. Ahead it was 1 January 1900.
This ship was due to this fact not solely in two totally different days, two totally different months, two totally different seasons, and two totally different years however in two totally different centuries — all on the similar time.
It is a nice sea story, however did it occur? It seems to be like it might have, or, at the least, got here near occurring.
In line with the Firm of Grasp Mariners of Australia web site, Captain J (John) D. S. Phillips was Grasp of 3326 tons R.M.S. WARRIMOO of the Canadian – Australian Strains in at the least 1899 and 1900; he’s listed as Grasp when the (Sydney) Night Information of October 17, 1900, reported RMS WARRIMOO as arriving Sydney on October 16 1900 from Vancouver by way of Honolulu and Brisbane with 32 passengers on board (all named besides 3 kids, a maid and three steering passengers). She was additionally reported at Brisbane on April 28 and July 23, 1900, however the Grasp was not named on these events.
So, it seems that RMS Warrimoo was in the suitable ocean at kind of about the suitable time.
The one side of the story that’s odd is the preliminary date and coordinates given on most variations of the story, which is December 30, and roughly half-hour of latitude and longitude from the intersection of the equator and the dateline. That put the ship barely over 40 nautical miles away from the essential crossing level.
Primarily based on the truth that the place was taken primarily based on a starsight, that may make the time within the early night, the day earlier than New 12 months’s Eve. So, with a pace of round 14.5 knots, the ship would arrive on the crossing virtually a day early.
However, if the date was actually the thirty first and never the thirtieth, the ship would have arrived both on time or late, relying on how lengthy it took the Mate to cut back his star sights and so forth.
The opposite wrinkle is that even when every part occurred precisely as described, the accuracy of celestial navigation utilizing a sextant and a chronometer is at finest a mile, and in observe is commonly two or three miles, so there’s a good likelihood that the 347′ lengthy ship was just a few thousand toes off, all different issues being equal.
No matter what actually occurred the story concerning the RMS Warrimoo on the equator and dateline on precisely midnight 1900 is an excellent sea story, value retelling.
Pleased New 12 months to all, wherever it’s possible you’ll be on the briny globe.
Because of Miro for contributing to this submit.
The submit On New 12 months’s Day — RMS Warrimoo, In A number of Locations and Instances at As soon as appeared first on Outdated Salt Weblog.
