A fun story from 1900 is still being championed on the internet. The captain of the passenger steamer SS Warrimoo claimed to have crossed the intersection of the International Date Line and the Equator precisely at midnight on December 31, 1899. If this is true, the front of the ship (bow) was in the Southern Hemisphere, enjoying summer, while the back of the ship (stern) was in the Northern Hemisphere, in the middle of winter.

The date at the stern was still December 31, 1899.

The date at the bow had already become January 1, 1900.

This meant the ship was in:

• Two different days

• Two different months

• Two different years

• Two different seasons

• Two different centuries (the 1800s and the 1900s) — all at the same time!

When Neil Degrasse Tyson posted this story on his Facebook page recently, it read like a feat of human genius. “The navigator finished checking the stars for the ship’s position and gave the result to Captain John D.S. Phillips. ...The captain saw a chance to do something unforgettable. He slightly changed the ship’s course and adjusted the speed. The night was calm, the sky was clear, and the timing was perfect.” At exactly midnight, the SS Warrimoo was precisely positioned.

Scoffers say the navigational technology of the time was not accurate enough to have fixed the ship’s position so precisely, and the feat claimed cannot be verified. But the story has persisted for 125 years. 

Which is more likely, that the story is exactly true or that it was close enough to be shared as a great yarn? Today, with better ways to measure time, latitude and longitude, perhaps this is something that could be replicated — but not until December 31, 2099.