Day Tripping: December 31

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By Allan C. Green (1878–1954) — http://trove.nla.gov.au/version/182160098, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=29427295

At about a minute before midnight in 1899, the SS Warrimoo was completing a run from Vancouver to Australia. The ship’s navigator reported a star fix of its position to Captain John Phillips. At precisely midnight the passenger steamer was straddling the International Date Line.

Because of its direction, the bow of the steamer was in the Southern Hemisphere during summer, and…