Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1857-01-19
EVENING STAR.
Longitude 1902 West.
WHERE Two SUNDAYS CONE ToGyTuRR
(FrOm Carrinu. .on ,s sCor,,,;s.yo-.t

Two Sundays together, What nonsense,,
said Mrs. Penn. Her best Shapes needle. :,
midsIr stayed, pointed due North, uninfl n.
enced by tho local attraction of the eat-i 70,
on the table beside her. "What nonse1,so
What do you expect TO make out of su cb ,
head as that and she pulled that last gray
hair as she spoke.
MIS-. Z. holds, with Captain Priest, "that
| all the secrets of navigation are contained in
small compass" and are easily learned as to
bite needleful of six-cord. Nevertheless,
Mrs Penn is no navigator, albeit she does
compass much with small needle. She is
seaman enough, though, to "let go everything
and scud, when squall strikes - her
ear, from the second story back
But we are taking too much latitude for our
longitude: let us come back to our course
Thanks to common schools and the electric
telegraph, most long shore men understand
that difference in longitude N axes differ
ence IN the time of day that message going
westward arrives ut its destination before its
apparent hour OF starting; or, as Pat would
have il, cd rache st Louis before ye sint il,
from New York.
Orreries have taught our youngsters that,
as the earth turns towards the SUM- at the
point which is - full face to the luminary. l.
Is nigh noon; while at one quarter of the
eaTth's circumference towards the west, IL is
just sunrise
This difference of time is (at the eouatorl
just four minutes for zach degree of longitude
equal to six hours (three hundred and six;v
minutes) for the ninety degrees, or quarter
circumference above noted.
Thus, at st. Louis, fifteen degrees west of
New York, it is sixty minutes earlier than
with uS-Or, III o'clock when it is IL here
and ship circumnavigatinS the globe, going
Westwardly, thus gains on apparent time (laps
over on to the next day. four minutes for each
of the three hundred and sixty degrees oc
westiog-or twenty four hours in all.
In other words, going west and carrying
the day OF the week OF which she starts, OF
arriving hack at her port on what, to her Is
Monday, she finds that j. is Tuesday there.
and she must skip from Monday to Wednesday
to :" make up y
Going eastwardiy, the case is reversed, aud
arriving from the west, she writes Tuesday on
her log, when tomorrow is Tuesday to the
boarding CHIceT. The ship then doubles Tues-
day, and cries quits But many seamen cor
rect this seeming error on passing tie half way
po'nt-t. e., on reaching 1902 west or east oC
their governing meridian; a day is dropped
or repeated, and the ship arrives without be-
Ing IN next week, when she should be in this
LandSmen's ignorance of these facts caused
some amusing scenes or steamers On the Pa
cifc
The "New Orleans" Cthe first passenger
steamer that ever crossed the Pacific OCEAN,
was going from San Francisco to Sydney with
@ cargo OF gold hunters, including few
'Pike county men, whose nautical educa-
ton was limited. Oar friend the Purser had
posted his usual bulletin of latitude, longi-
tude, distance run, &c-slways an interesting
episode in the history os day, on a sea voy,
ege--dated, say Monday, the 10th. The aezt
day it stood Wednesday, the I2th-the I6Oth
degree hGviEg been passed meanwhile, and
the interv veEing day duly dropped. The ap-
parent hiunder caught the eye CT tho eager |
T .aders at once. HalIoO Purser, what's |
tnis We made mistake: you've dated |
this Wednesday" "Yes, sir! That's all |
right" All right? Why yesterday was |
Monday here's tho bulletin up yet" "Yes,
sir that right too . Right, too? Where's |
Tuesday ?'' Knocked out" s.Oh come.
now" said ? Ee, OF the look out for sailors 1
tricks on green bands, " that won't do You |
can't 'ccme that. See here, boys! the Pur- |
ser's regular horse marine-gone and drop |
ped day out Of the week" Bets were finally |
taken, TO be settled at Sydney; and when the |
pilot boarded them, the papers showed the |
PuTser to be right, and that it was the 10Th in |
Australia, while Pike was a day short in the |
almanac
On "the other tack" the "Golien Age" !
from Sydney TO Panama, on reaching the 1902, |
posted her bulletins Sunday, the 5th, and the /
next day the same. Here was another fuss
the John Balls on board were especially dis |
gusted with Capt Porter. "All 'umbug. Two
Sundays! Captain Porter is a very clever
man, no doubt; but that won't do, I've see
No Yankee tricks on us The Captain in
sisted, with the intimation that that was the
time when his notes fell due, and be was ready
to meet them, if presented.
And thus we have endeavored to explain
how honest Jack has real time in his eye, and
means what he says when he offers to accept |
your bill, payable "When two Sundays come
together ~