Amazing Feat of Navigation

[Brian Probetts (Site Admin)]

Once in a century!!

Amazing Feat of Navigation


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 the result to the master, Captain John Phillips.
The Warrimoo's position was LAT.0 degrees 31' N and LON.179 degrees30'W.

The date was 30 December 1899.
First Mate Payton broke in....."You know what this means.....we're only a few miles from the intersection of the
Equator and the International Date Line"
Captain Phillips was crafty enough to take full advantage of the opportunity for achieving this navigational feat of a lifetime.

He called his navigators to the bridge to check and 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 and clear night worked in his favor.
At midnight the SS Warrimoo lay on the Equator at exactly the point where it crosses the International Date Line.

The consequences of this bizarre position were several.

The bow of the ship was in the Southern Hemisphere and the middle of summer.
The stern was in the Northern Hemisphere and in the middle of winter.
The date in the aft part of the ship was 31 December 1899.
Forward it was 1 January 1900. This ship was therefore not only in two different days, two different months,
two different years and two different seasons, but in two different centuries all at the same time.

Attachment 23641

[Manfar Tuck]

Yes it was well pinpointed, Once I hearing told about a man who made his circumnavigation just aid by an alarm-clock, was said there wasn't even the second hand in the clock.

[Ivan Cloherty]

Yes it was well pinpointed, Once I hearing told about a man who made his circumnavigation just aid by an alarm-clock, was said there wasn't even the second hand in the clock.

Well that is possible, wouldn't need a second hand, as he was sailing an approximation would be good enough. Once navigated across the Atlantic on time from a wristwatch when someone overwound the chronometer (that is difficult to do), why he wound it fully one will never know, as it was always wound at the same time everyday with a certain number of turns so that the same part of the spring is used thus avoiding different tensions if using another part of the spring making for a more constant spring output for the balance wheel.

[eric fisher]

Name of Joshua Slocum wrote Sailing Alone Around The World. Built the schooner, Spray. See my Photos for the Picture. Used an old tin clock pictured in his book, written late 19th century I believe. Cheers, Eric

[Des Taff Jenkins]

Hi Eric.
I read his book a few years ago; one of the best sea stories i have read, wasn't the Spray built from an Indian canoe.
Cheers Des

[j.sabourn]

#13... knew at one time Ivan how to rate a chronometer by another but was only in theory. was never on a ship with 2 chronometers. At one time the shipowner was loth to put one on board so I was told by older seafarers and the master had to carry his own. Forget one trick of finding think it was North , if had a wrist watch was pointing the hour hand at the sun and halfway between the two hands was what you were looking for. That is not the correct answer, but was something like to that. Forgot a long time ago. JS

[Ivan Cloherty]

#13... knew at one time Ivan how to rate a chronometer by another but was only in theory. was never on a ship with 2 chronometers. At one time the shipowner was loth to put one on board so I was told by older seafarers and the master had to carry his own. Forget one trick of finding think it was North , if had a wrist watch was pointing the hour hand at the sun and halfway between the two hands was what you were looking for. That is not the correct answer, but was something like to that. Forgot a long time ago. JS

Heard the same about the wrist watch John, but also forget the exact know how, also never sailed on a vessel with two chronometers, but do remember sticking my head right above it trying to avoid refraction whilst waiting for the time signal from the radio room to get an up to date error reading, which on most chronometers was pretty constant. I was also told by older Masters they had to carry their own chronometer, it was bad enough when we had to carry our own sextants, never did sail with a company that provided a sextant, I think most of us carried our own binoculars as well, the first purchase upon reaching Japan (well maybe the second!) as shipowners only provided those beer bottle binoculars. The third purchase by nearly everyone was the translucent tea/dinner set with the Geisha Girl's face in the bottom of the tea cups and bowls when you held them up to the light

But according to some on here we will have got our experience from Wiki

[Captain Kong]

I read somewhere, that a US Submarine also did it on the turn of the century 2000, but again can you believe some of the info from them?

[j.sabourn]

#17... think those beer bottle things were what they grandly called night glasses, or was it Day glasses, plus the old telescope which think was a BOT requirement. Was on a Norwegian Seismic ship in the 90s and she had proper infra red night glasses two sets on the bridge was like daylight looking through them. Would have been a peeping Toms most cherished possession. My sextant was a 12 pound vernier ex naval QM stores. Sold for 15 pounds as soon as they put one on the ship. The reason for putting on board was to miss paying excess luggage when flying.
Sight reduction tables which were a US contribution for air navigation brought out during the war and saved an hours work, working out 5 Stars, had to buy yourself. The original supply of all heavy weather gear etc. was to also cut back on overweight on aircraft journeys. They now say it was their contribution to safety. Cheers JS

[Ivan Cloherty]

#19 another useful little book was 'Bairnsons Ex-Meridian Tables' whose examples of how to use are in five different languages and the dates of examples of how to use are dated 15th March 1888, why I still have it I don't know because I will never use it again, and no I didn't use it when it was first published

[Kevin Murphy]

A great story, and as long as they beleived it, thats good enough, we all know the reallity, Given that even in the mid 1980's many landmarks, Lighthouses, reefs etc in Indonesian waters had "reported to lie 7 cables east" or similar, as these were based on Japanese navy surveys from the 1930's. Even Pulau Rondo, a major landmark heading to the Mallacca straits from Sri Lanka had a note that it was probably a couple of miles to the east, as I seem to remember around 1992. As I havent been around that part ofthe world for a while, I don't know what things are like now, I would imagine, positions have now been confirmed to three decimal places