The Great Sea Story

Part 1 – Key Vocabulary

  • Launch has a number of different meanings but in this story launch means to put a new boat into the water.
  • Navigation means planning and moving a ship or an airplane from one place to another. The person who does this job is a navigator.
  • The equator is an imaginary line drawn around the world exactly between the north pole and the South Pole.
  • The bridge is the room or the area of a ship where are the captain and crew control the movement of the ship.

Part 2 – Read the Story

The Great Sea Story

*You can listen to the article above, at both a slow speed and fast speed

The SS Warrimoo was a passenger ship which was launched in 1892 in England for an Australian Company. It seems that on December 31st, 1899, the ship was traveling through the waters of the Pacific Ocean on its way from Vancouver to Australia. In those days, navigation was done by stars and the navigator, First Mate Payton, had brought his report to Captain Phillips. When Payton reported the ship’s location, he pointed out that the ship was just a few miles from the intersection of the Equator and the International Date Line.

Captain Phillips called his navigators to the bridge to check & double check the ship’s position. He changed course slightly so as to head directly to the spot in the ocean he was looking for. Then he adjusted the engine speed. The calm weather & clear night worked in his favor. At midnight the SS Warrimoo was on the Equator at exactly the point where it crossed the International Date Line! The results of this unique position were many:

  • The bow (the forward part of the ship) was in the Southern Hemisphere & in the middle of summer.
  • The stern (the rear part of the ship) was in the Northern Hemisphere & in the middle of winter.
  • The date in the stern part of the ship was on Sunday, December 31,1899.
  • The date in the bow part of the ship was on Monday, January 1, 1900.

What does this mean? Well, based on the position of the ship in the sea and the time, the SS Warrimoo was on two different days, in two different months, in two different years, in two different seasons, and in two different centuries – all at the same time!
the ship map

Original Article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Warrimoo

Speaking Practice

Get some speaking practice by

#1: Summarizing the basic idea of this story.

#2: Talk about your reaction to this story.

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