On this day in 1899, the SS Warrimoo accomplished a rare and fascinating achievement of navigation making maritime history. On December 30, Captain John Phillips straddled the Warrimoo across the International Dateline at exactly midnight. The result placed the forward part of the ship in the southern hemisphere in the middle of summer while the rear was in the northern hemisphere in the middle of winter. This put the Warrimoo in two different hemispheres in two different seasons, on two different days, in two different centuries, while skipping December 31 all together!
