THE STRANGE STORY OF THE SS WARIMOO

On December 30, 1899, the SS Warimoo, a passenger steamer was in the waters of the mid-Pacific on its way from Vancouver to Australia. Just before midnight, the navigator informed Captain John Phillips that their position was latitude 0 degrees x 31 minutes north and longitude 179 degrees x 30 minutes west.

Captain Phillips had the navigator check and double check their position and then changed course slightly to bear on his new mark. At midnight the SS Warimoo lay at the Equator at exactly the point where it crossed the International Date Line. 

The consequences of this bizarre position were many. The forward part 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 December 31, 1899. Forward it was January 1, 1900. 

The ship was therefore not only in two different days, two different months, two different seasons and two different years, but also in two different centuries, all at the same time!

SS Warimoo