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SS WARRIMOO: THE SHIP THAT MISSED NEW YEAR’S EVE
by Ellsworth Boyd | Dec 3, 2020 |
In Australia, many names of people, places and things are taken from the Aborigines, native inhabitants that settled the country more than 50,000 years ago. Hence, the SS Warrimoo—meaning Eagle’s Nest or Landing—was chosen for the 345-foot passenger ship launched in England in 1892. Its owners, the New Zealand and Australian Steamship Company, never questioned its roots other than taking the word of Aboriginal historians who said it was an honorable nomenclature and politically correct for the times. Thus the ship’s remarkable feat became an extraordinary tale of maritime achievement.
The SS Warrimoo had 32 passengers and was halfway through her voyage while cruising in the middle of the Pacific Ocean on its way from Vancouver, Canada, to Sydney, Australia. The weather was calm and clear on the night of December 31, 1899. Capt. John Phillips was on the bridge puffing a cigar when the navigator completed a star fix and presented the figures, including the LOP—Line of Position—to the ship’s master. A wry smile crossed the captain’s face when he checked his ship’s position and informed the navigator and three of the crew that they were in for a special treat. It was midnight when Capt. Phillips called for the engine to stop, then checked and double checked the position and announced, “We’re here!” The steamship was resting on the Equator at exactly the point where it crossed the International Date Line. But the hearty master wasn’t through.
He showed the others how the fore of the ship was in the Southern Hemisphere and the middle of summer, while the aft was in the Northern Hemisphere and in the middle of winter. The date in the aft section of the ship was December 31, 1899, while in the forward section it was January 1, 1900. There were no celebrations in the aft where the ballroom held parties. That section missed New Year’s altogether. It was indeed a “one for the books” maritime success. The captain and his crew set an astounding world record that has never been broken. They were in two different days, months, seasons, years and centuries, all at the same time.
Although Capt. Phillips and his crew completed what some call, “the navigational coup of a lifetime,” they never received any credit until more than 40 years later. The captain wasn’t a braggart and never notified the newspapers of his accomplishment. In 1942, a Canadian reporter doing research on “shellbacks,” the name given to Navy seamen and civilians who cross the equator, came across a tiny blurb in an early Australian newspaper that told about the Warrimoo’s “strange” experience. In 1953, writer John Euller popularized the story by writing more about it in Ships and the Sea Magazine. As word got out and garnered more publicity, some people started to question the story. They said the navigational instruments used in those days weren’t accurate enough to gather all the data to support the captain’s claims. They thought it foolish to deal with imaginary lines. Others disagreed. They said the perfect weather, accompanied by calm seas, created just the right scenario for locating and holding the LOP while idling the engine at just the right spot. They also added that this wasn’t brain surgery for a captain and navigator who between them had 50 years experience on the high seas. This was an opportunity of a lifetime that neither one was going to let pass. The story simply didn’t get the hype it would receive in today’s worldwide news.
Unfortunately, the steamship became a victim of “friendly fire” during World War I when it was in a convoy transporting British troops from Bizerta, Tunsisia, to Marseille, France. In May, 1918, she sank off the coast of Tunisia, North Africa, 12 miles southwest of La Galite Island after colliding with the French destroyer Catapulte. (Latin, French for “war machine for throwing”). During the collision, the Allied warship’s depth charges broke free and blew out the bottom plates of both vessels. Some lives were lost as the ships settled in deep waters.
The SS Warrimoo rests on the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea, its story questioned but plausible. Records were meant to be broken, but if accepted, these maritime logs can only be tied, never beaten. Regardless of some people’s convictions, Capt. Phillips and the Warrimoo remains one of the best sea stories of all time.
Note: “Shellbacks” (warriors) go back 400 years in maritime history. Originally Navy men and later civilians, they are welcomed by King Neptune and his court as the ship crosses the equator. There’s lots of hazing and crazy costumes as everyone celebrates the transformation of muddy pollywogs (someone who hasn’t crossed the equator) to a seafaring shellback and noble member of the court.
https://numa.net/2020/12/ss-warrimoo-the-ship-that-missed-new-years-eve/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Warrimoo
by Ellsworth Boyd | Dec 3, 2020 |
In Australia, many names of people, places and things are taken from the Aborigines, native inhabitants that settled the country more than 50,000 years ago. Hence, the SS Warrimoo—meaning Eagle’s Nest or Landing—was chosen for the 345-foot passenger ship launched in England in 1892. Its owners, the New Zealand and Australian Steamship Company, never questioned its roots other than taking the word of Aboriginal historians who said it was an honorable nomenclature and politically correct for the times. Thus the ship’s remarkable feat became an extraordinary tale of maritime achievement.
The SS Warrimoo had 32 passengers and was halfway through her voyage while cruising in the middle of the Pacific Ocean on its way from Vancouver, Canada, to Sydney, Australia. The weather was calm and clear on the night of December 31, 1899. Capt. John Phillips was on the bridge puffing a cigar when the navigator completed a star fix and presented the figures, including the LOP—Line of Position—to the ship’s master. A wry smile crossed the captain’s face when he checked his ship’s position and informed the navigator and three of the crew that they were in for a special treat. It was midnight when Capt. Phillips called for the engine to stop, then checked and double checked the position and announced, “We’re here!” The steamship was resting on the Equator at exactly the point where it crossed the International Date Line. But the hearty master wasn’t through.
He showed the others how the fore of the ship was in the Southern Hemisphere and the middle of summer, while the aft was in the Northern Hemisphere and in the middle of winter. The date in the aft section of the ship was December 31, 1899, while in the forward section it was January 1, 1900. There were no celebrations in the aft where the ballroom held parties. That section missed New Year’s altogether. It was indeed a “one for the books” maritime success. The captain and his crew set an astounding world record that has never been broken. They were in two different days, months, seasons, years and centuries, all at the same time.
Although Capt. Phillips and his crew completed what some call, “the navigational coup of a lifetime,” they never received any credit until more than 40 years later. The captain wasn’t a braggart and never notified the newspapers of his accomplishment. In 1942, a Canadian reporter doing research on “shellbacks,” the name given to Navy seamen and civilians who cross the equator, came across a tiny blurb in an early Australian newspaper that told about the Warrimoo’s “strange” experience. In 1953, writer John Euller popularized the story by writing more about it in Ships and the Sea Magazine. As word got out and garnered more publicity, some people started to question the story. They said the navigational instruments used in those days weren’t accurate enough to gather all the data to support the captain’s claims. They thought it foolish to deal with imaginary lines. Others disagreed. They said the perfect weather, accompanied by calm seas, created just the right scenario for locating and holding the LOP while idling the engine at just the right spot. They also added that this wasn’t brain surgery for a captain and navigator who between them had 50 years experience on the high seas. This was an opportunity of a lifetime that neither one was going to let pass. The story simply didn’t get the hype it would receive in today’s worldwide news.
Unfortunately, the steamship became a victim of “friendly fire” during World War I when it was in a convoy transporting British troops from Bizerta, Tunsisia, to Marseille, France. In May, 1918, she sank off the coast of Tunisia, North Africa, 12 miles southwest of La Galite Island after colliding with the French destroyer Catapulte. (Latin, French for “war machine for throwing”). During the collision, the Allied warship’s depth charges broke free and blew out the bottom plates of both vessels. Some lives were lost as the ships settled in deep waters.
The SS Warrimoo rests on the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea, its story questioned but plausible. Records were meant to be broken, but if accepted, these maritime logs can only be tied, never beaten. Regardless of some people’s convictions, Capt. Phillips and the Warrimoo remains one of the best sea stories of all time.
Note: “Shellbacks” (warriors) go back 400 years in maritime history. Originally Navy men and later civilians, they are welcomed by King Neptune and his court as the ship crosses the equator. There’s lots of hazing and crazy costumes as everyone celebrates the transformation of muddy pollywogs (someone who hasn’t crossed the equator) to a seafaring shellback and noble member of the court.
https://numa.net/2020/12/ss-warrimoo-the-ship-that-missed-new-years-eve/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Warrimoo
Posted >1 y ago
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Thank you my friend SGT John " Mac " McConnell for posting the History Guy video and background on the Australian passenger ship the R.M.S. WARRIMOO of the Canadian – Australian Lines [Warrimoo means Eagle’s Nest or Landing in native Aborigine]
Captain J (John) D. S. Phillips seems to have had a great sense of humor and camaraderie since he decided to stop the SS Warrimoo in the equator at midnight December 31, 1899 for the aft of the ship was in the Northern Hemisphere in the mid-winter while the fore of the ship was in Southern Hemisphere on January 1, 1900 in mid-summer.
The SS Warrimoo was a passenger and refrigerated cargo liner that was launched in 1892 in England for Australian owners, was later owned by two of New Zealand's foremost shipping companies, and finally belonged to a Singaporean company.
Images:
1. SS-Warrimoo straddling the international date line and the equator - December 31, 1899 and January 1, 1900
2. The last photograph before the SS Warrimoo sailed
3. Members of the Māori Pioneer Battalion line Warrimoo's deck before leaving New Zealand in February 1915
4. SS Warrimoo -The Ship That Missed New Year’s Eve But Gained Two Centuries.
Background from {[http://www.mastermariners.org.au/stories-from-the-past/2304-strange-story-of-the-ss-warimoo
"Captain J (John) D. S. Phillips was Master of 3326 tons R.M.S. WARRIMOO of the Canadian – Australian Lines in at least 1899 and 1900; he is listed as Master when the (Sydney) Evening News of October 17 1900 reported RMS WARRIMOO as arriving Sydney on October 16 1900 from Vancouver via Honolulu and Brisbane with 32 passengers on board (all named except 3 children, a maid and 3 steerage passengers). She was also reported at Brisbane on April 28 and July 23 1900, but the Master was not named on those occasions."
WARRIMOO was one of two ships built for James Huddart, of Huddart Parker Ltd., for an independent Trans-Tasman service in competition with Union Steamship Company. After a fierce rate cutting war James Huddart withdrew from the Trans-Tasman trade after only five months and started a service connecting Australia and Canada, subsidised by the Canadian and New South Wales governments. In 1897 the New Zealand government offered a subsidy if the ships would also call at a port in their country. To provide the same service frequency a third ship was required and the steamer AORANGI was purchased from the New Zealand Shipping Company. Unfortunately the service, despite the subsidies, couldn’t support three ships; the company defaulted on payments for the AORANGI and in February 1898 the New Zealand Shipping Company assumed control of the Canadian – Australian Line, and purchased WARRIMOO on 16.08.1899. In 1901 NZSCo sold the service and ships to Union Steamship.
In late 1914 WARRIMOO was taken up as a troopship. On 17 May 1918 when on a convoy from Bizerta to Marseille she collided with the escorting French destroyer CATAPULTE. In the collision the destroyer’s depth-charges were dislodged; they exploded in the water blowing out the bottom plates of both ships, causing them both to sink with some loss of life."
FYI PO2 (Join to see) PO3 Steven Sherrill LTC (Join to see) Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. SMSgt Lawrence McCarter SMSgt David A Asbury LTC Greg Henning LTC (Join to see) SFC Chuck Martinez SSG Stephen Rogerson SSG Michael Noll SSG Franklin Briant SPC Nancy Greene SPC Woody Bullard SPC Matthew Lamb PVT Mark Zehner CWO3 Dave Alcantara PO1 John Johnson LTJG Richard Bruce
Captain J (John) D. S. Phillips seems to have had a great sense of humor and camaraderie since he decided to stop the SS Warrimoo in the equator at midnight December 31, 1899 for the aft of the ship was in the Northern Hemisphere in the mid-winter while the fore of the ship was in Southern Hemisphere on January 1, 1900 in mid-summer.
The SS Warrimoo was a passenger and refrigerated cargo liner that was launched in 1892 in England for Australian owners, was later owned by two of New Zealand's foremost shipping companies, and finally belonged to a Singaporean company.
Images:
1. SS-Warrimoo straddling the international date line and the equator - December 31, 1899 and January 1, 1900
2. The last photograph before the SS Warrimoo sailed
3. Members of the Māori Pioneer Battalion line Warrimoo's deck before leaving New Zealand in February 1915
4. SS Warrimoo -The Ship That Missed New Year’s Eve But Gained Two Centuries.
Background from {[http://www.mastermariners.org.au/stories-from-the-past/2304-strange-story-of-the-ss-warimoo
"Captain J (John) D. S. Phillips was Master of 3326 tons R.M.S. WARRIMOO of the Canadian – Australian Lines in at least 1899 and 1900; he is listed as Master when the (Sydney) Evening News of October 17 1900 reported RMS WARRIMOO as arriving Sydney on October 16 1900 from Vancouver via Honolulu and Brisbane with 32 passengers on board (all named except 3 children, a maid and 3 steerage passengers). She was also reported at Brisbane on April 28 and July 23 1900, but the Master was not named on those occasions."
WARRIMOO was one of two ships built for James Huddart, of Huddart Parker Ltd., for an independent Trans-Tasman service in competition with Union Steamship Company. After a fierce rate cutting war James Huddart withdrew from the Trans-Tasman trade after only five months and started a service connecting Australia and Canada, subsidised by the Canadian and New South Wales governments. In 1897 the New Zealand government offered a subsidy if the ships would also call at a port in their country. To provide the same service frequency a third ship was required and the steamer AORANGI was purchased from the New Zealand Shipping Company. Unfortunately the service, despite the subsidies, couldn’t support three ships; the company defaulted on payments for the AORANGI and in February 1898 the New Zealand Shipping Company assumed control of the Canadian – Australian Line, and purchased WARRIMOO on 16.08.1899. In 1901 NZSCo sold the service and ships to Union Steamship.
In late 1914 WARRIMOO was taken up as a troopship. On 17 May 1918 when on a convoy from Bizerta to Marseille she collided with the escorting French destroyer CATAPULTE. In the collision the destroyer’s depth-charges were dislodged; they exploded in the water blowing out the bottom plates of both ships, causing them both to sink with some loss of life."
FYI PO2 (Join to see) PO3 Steven Sherrill LTC (Join to see) Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. SMSgt Lawrence McCarter SMSgt David A Asbury LTC Greg Henning LTC (Join to see) SFC Chuck Martinez SSG Stephen Rogerson SSG Michael Noll SSG Franklin Briant SPC Nancy Greene SPC Woody Bullard SPC Matthew Lamb PVT Mark Zehner CWO3 Dave Alcantara PO1 John Johnson LTJG Richard Bruce
Strange story of the SS Warimoo
The Company of Master Mariners Australia website provides articles of interest to Master Mariners, Seafarers, the Maritime Industry and the public.
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LTC Stephen F.
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Happy New Year to you and your family my friend and brother-in-arms SGT John " Mac " McConnell .
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LTC Stephen F.
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Happy New Year
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FYI LT John Chang CDR (Join to see) TSgt Randal Groover CPO (Join to see) SCPO Del Wolverton FN George Woodruff SN Greg Wright PO3 Michael James PO3 Galon Miller SN John McCormack LTJG Josh Thaxton CWO3 Dennis M. CMDCM Gene TreantsPO2 Jeffery Marcussen Sr LTJG Robert M. PO3 (Join to see) PO2 Jonathan Scharff LCDR (Join to see) CMC Robert Young
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Always thought the story was true!
SGT John " Mac " McConnell
SGT John " Mac " McConnell
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@Sgt John "Mac" McConnell I always enjoy a great history share. Thank you.
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