Navigation to the nth degree...

For those of you that are Predicted Loggers and those of you who enjoy navigation as a part of boating:
"The passenger steamer SS Warrimoo was quietly making its way through the mid-Pacific on its way from Vancouver to Australia. The navigator had just finished working out a star fix and brought the Master, Captain John Phillips the result. Their position was latitude 0 degrees X 31' north and longitude 179 degrees X 30' west. The date was 31 December 1899. Captain Phillips called his navigators to the bridge to check and double check the ships position. He changed course and at midnight the Warrimoo lay on the Equator at exactly the point where it crossed the International Date Line! 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. The ship was therefore not only in two different days, two different months, two different seasons, and two different years, but in two different centuries at the same time."

Interesting passenger list on the Warrimo that day.

Great story, thanks.

Reminds me of a trip I took for work. I flew from Houston to Hawaii on 12/29. Left Hawaii fro Guam on 12/30. We arrived in Guam 8 hours later on the evening of 12/31. Celebrated New Years eve. Left Guam on 1/1. Arrived in Hawaii 8 hours later on the eve of 12/31. Celebrated New Years Eve once again!!!

Wouldn't the new century start in the year xx01?

Capt Kangeroo said:

Interesting passenger list on the Warrimo that day.

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Were Mamas Michelle, Cass, and Papa Denny on the Warrimo too?

vp1 said:

Wouldn't the new century start in the year xx01?

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Reminds me of Kramer's new century party. Oh oh.

FWIW, Warrimoo is a village in the Blue Mountains region of NSW state. From my searches I suspect the ship, originally plying between Australia and NZ, is named after the village. A search doesn`t reveal the origin of the name Warrimoo, but it sounds an Aboriginal name, perhaps for the area where the village was located.
I saw that SS Warrimoo was lost by colliding with a French warship while performing duties as a troopship in 1918 during WW1.
Reminds me of the Australian aircraft carrier, the HMAS Melbourne(aka The Vung Tau Ferry during the Vietnam war), which sliced the USS Frank E Evans in half during training maneuvers in 1969 in Philippines waters, with considerable loss of life.

vp1 said:

Wouldn't the new century start in the year xx01?

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It would start the second after the end of 00. But then to computers the issue occurs a year earlier than that when the first two numbers change.

What is the location measurement precision of celestial navigation?

Lost Horizons said:

What is the location measurement precision of celestial navigation?

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I'm not an expert but have taken a celestial nav course and reduced sights...I believe the short answer to accepted precision is 1nm under good conditions...visibilty of horizon...sea state...size and stability of vessel and calibration of sextant.
Many variables that can affect the result and lots of detailed studies on the subject.

Bacchus said:

I'm not an expert but have taken a celestial nav course and reduced sights...I believe the short answer to accepted precision is 1nm under good conditions...visibilty of horizon...sea state...size and stability of vessel and calibration of sextant.
Many variables that can affect the result and lots of detailed studies on the subject.

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So, the subject boat would be a couple miles from the equator and meridian. Nice try, though...

WTF! It was still a good story!

JEEEEZZ, only crossed the equator a half dozen times, and it was special every time. We did the same route back in 88 I think, does that make me a silver shellback?

Based upon the information given what do you think was the heading of the vessel at midnight ?

ulysses said:

Based upon the information given what do you think was the heading of the vessel at midnight ?

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Correction...

Heading roughly 225*...could be +\_ some?

Bacchus: Yes that would be my guess also in that it refers to aft and forward portions of the vessel in both a longitudinal and latitudinal mode. 180* would have created a port and strb. reference. I could be wrong though, it has happened once before.

Well I think it's a very cool story!

Star0210 said:

Well I think it's a very cool story!

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And in my mind it's no less cool if they were a little off here and a little off there. It reminds me of those places like Lookout Mountain that tell you to look through the binoculars and you can see five states. I guess they could tell me seven and I wouldn't know. There are no lines drawn like on a map. I can't tell just looking out over forests how many states I'm really seeing. I know which ones are close and I could be seeing. But it's still a nice view.