SS Warrimoo

[Dennis McGuckin]

S.S. WARRIMOO - FASCINATING -short story



Interesting....




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 & brought the master, Captain John Phillips, the result. The Warrimoo's position was LAT 0º 31' N and LON 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 ships 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 & 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.
Forward 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.

[Paul Bradley]

Good Sirs,

I do believe that the veracity of the story quite surely falls into question. I shall endeavour to simplify the situation thus as its been a very long time since I were at sea and I doubt I still could remember how to even plot my position on a clear night ashore;

If the stern of the ship is confirmed as being across the date line from the prow, and the stern is indeed in the 31st of December, then as midnight ticked over the Bowsman and party would be in the early throes of the 2nd of January, not the 1st, the day of the 1st would vanish from the fore of the vessel as fast as it arrived at the aft, therefore at midnight she would be sitting astride the 31st & 2nd.
The stern party would dally and tick over from the 31st to the 1st, swiftly progressing to the 2nd as the ship gained on her position and the date line fully navigated.
The lack of allusion to this tells me that this is a mere literary curio by a landsman or tall tale by the crew, indeed the story is oft attributed to non-other than Mark Twain hiself, who would perhaps have not grasped an understanding of the missing day.

In addition, not even a modern GPS system is accurate enough to provide the navigator with a position so accurate that he could hope to sit astride an imaginary article such as an equator, border of tropic or especially the international date line, especially as the latter appears drawn by a drunkard.


I drink to your health,


Paul

[j.sabourn]

I was mate on deep sea ships for over 10 years and as you say Paul the story is for landlubbers. To get 5 stars to form a cocked hat with a 2 mile square area you were doing well. So. You have at the best of times a choice of sticking a pin in that area and hoping you are near the target. There is no way of verifying this unless a big finger comes out of the heavens and pushes you into the position as stated. The date line is anything you want to make it also. Most trampships I was on depending if. The master was a good company’s man or not depended whether you got a Sunday at sea in some cases. Made up story to fool those who don’t know better. Cheers JWS. Going by your cv as given to the site however your seatime must have been only done during the era of GPS. Are you aware of the limitations of celestial navigation by the old and trusted ways? Cheers JS