On this day in 1900, Captain John Phillips, of the passenger steamer SS Warrimoo achieved a uniquely freakish accomplishment. While traveling from Vancouver to Australia, Captain Phillips found himself very near the intersection of the Equator and the International Date line on the evening of December 31, 1899. Being somewhat of a prankster, the Captain charted a course for the intersection and positioned his vessel so that it straddled it in a specific way, just as the clocks turned midnight.
The consequences of his navigational decision were that SS Warrimoo existed in:
Two different days
On two different months
In two different centuries
In two different seasons
And two different centuries… all simultaneously.
