It might be helpful to note that this ship, by its small change in course, has reputedly done something no other sailing craft has ever done (at least I don’t think so) before or since.
If they hadn’t done the course change, would they have arrived at their destination later? Arrived at the wrong destination? Suffered some sort of catastrophe?
Was the meeting and course change prior to crossing the International Date Line?
Was the course change made purely to accomplish a gimmick relating to the International Date Line?
Was the time of day when this happened relevant?
Was the time of year relevant?
Was the year relevant?
I’m guessing that the captain saw the opportunity, just after midnight on New Year’s, to go “back in time” by a year, or possibly even a century, and his officers found the idea amusing enough to agree.
If they hadn’t done the course change, would they have arrived at their destination later? Arrived at the wrong destination? Suffered some sort of catastrophe? No.
Was the meeting and course change prior to crossing the International Date Line? Yes
Was the course change made purely to accomplish a gimmick relating to the International Date Line?
Yes
Was the time of day when this happened relevant? Yes
Was the time of year relevant? Yes
Was the year relevant? Yes
I’m guessing that the captain saw the opportunity, just after midnight on New Year’s, to go “back in time” by a year, or possibly even a century, and his officers found the idea amusing enough to agree. Close, but not right. Not sure if such an accomplishment would deserve a wiki page. Of course one could argue this doesn’t deserve a wiki page either…but there it is.
Was the date of this incident New Year’s Eve and/or Day?
If not New Year’s, was the date of this incident relevantly any other holiday or observance?
Was the time of the incident midnight, or in relevant close proximity thereto?
Was any other discontinuity in the conventions of timekeeping involved (such as Daylight Saving Time or Leap Day)?
reply to Chronos:
Was the date of this incident New Year’s Eve and/or Day? Yes
If not New Year’s, was the date of this incident relevantly any other holiday or observance?
Was the time of the incident midnight, or in relevant close proximity thereto? Yes
Was any other discontinuity in the conventions of timekeeping involved (such as Daylight Saving Time or Leap Day)?
No
I’m guessing they became the first people to celebrate a special year. To be pedantic, not the beginning of a century but something like 1800, 1900, 2000. That seems where this is headed.
Not this.
But based on the responses to Chronos, they did cross the IDL right as the year was changing?
But it wasn’t a special year like an American ship being the first to be in 1876 (Centennial year)?
But based on the responses to Chronos, they did cross the IDL right as the year was changing?
But it wasn’t a special year like an American ship being the first to be in 1876 (Centennial year)?
No.
Did they celebrate an occasion twice?
(I knew a travel agent who wanted to go to Australia and New Zealand on consecutive days so he could celebrate New Year’s Eve twice)
Did they celebrate an occasion twice? No
(I knew a travel agent who wanted to go to Australia and New Zealand on consecutive days so he could celebrate New Year’s Eve twice)
Hint: Forget the people. What did the boat do (according to the story, Snopes cannot confirm) that had never been done before?
Be in all 4 hemispheres at once?
reply to Saint_Cad:
IDK. Be in all 4 hemispheres at once?
Yes! Very good! And…
Be in 2 different Milleniums?
reply to Cheesesteak:
Be in 2 different Milleniums?
Close. The S. S. Warrimoo supposedly changed its course to pass over the equator and the date line at exactly midnight on December 31st 1899. (Now lets not quibble over whether the new century starts in 1900 or 1901). Thus this boat, at the same moment, existed in all four hemispheres, in both winter and summer, in two different days in two different months, in two different years, in two different decades and in two different centuries. I don’t know if anyone tried to top this feat in 2000.
More here:
Yay! I knew this one from boating. It’s an incredible story.
So shouldn’t the answer to this
have been “yes” not
Even if incomplete?
I call Thread Foul
They weren’t celebrating a special year.