January 1, 1900: The Feat of the Century

January 1, 1900: Or should I say, December 31, 1899? The last major feat of the 19th Century is performed, and it is also the first great feat of the 20th Century.

Spare me the semantics. It was widely accepted at the time that the 19th Century ended, and the 20th Century began, on January 1, 1901. But most people accepted that the 20th Century ended, and the 21st Century began, on January 1, 2000, and thus retroactively decided on 1899 to 1900, not 1900 to 1901. So put a sock, or whatever passed for a sock in 1899, in it.

SS Warrimoo was a passenger and refrigerated cargo liner that was launched in 1892, in England for Australian owners. It was named for the village of Warrimoo, New South Wales, not far from Sydney.

On December 31, 1899, Warrimoo was sailing quietly across the Pacific Ocean, on its way from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada to Australia. The navigator finished checking the stars for the ship’s position, and gave the result to Captain John D. S. Phillips:

* Latitude: 0° 31' North, just north of the Equator.

* Longitude: 179° 30' West, near the International Date Line.

First Mate Payton realized something exciting, and told Phillips, "Captain, we’re just a few miles from the point where the Equator and the International Date Line meet!"

Phillips 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 12:00 Midnight, ship's time, the SS Warrimoo was positioned so that:

The front of the ship (bow) was in the Southern Hemisphere, enjoying Summer.
The back of the ship (stern) was in the Northern Hemisphere, in the middle of Winter.
The date at the back was still December 31, 1899.
The date at the front had already become January 1, 1900.

This meant the ship was in: two different days, two different months, two different seasons, two different years, and two different centuries, all at the same time.

Warrimoo became a troop ship in World War I. In 1918, the French destroyer Catapulte collided with Warrimoo in the Mediterranean Sea. In the collision some of Catapulte's depth charges broke loose and fell into the sea, where they detonated and sank both ships. There were 58 deaths about Catapulte, 1 aboard Warrimoo.

*

January 1, 1900 was a Monday. Being that this was the era before college football began playing "bowl games" on New Year's Day, there were no games scheduled, and thus there were no scores on this historic day.