Next message: George Huxtable: "Re: Fw: Nautical Day"
I have followed the debate about the nautical day and whether it caused
confusion or not. I am surprised, as Cook as been used as an example, that
no one mentioned that he got his days confused when he crossed the position
of what we now call the International Date Line on his journey west from
Tahiti towards New Zealand.
As a consequence he was one day out from this part of the journey onwards
and it was not rectified until he arrived back in England.
An interesting consequence is that he placed New Zealand a little to the
west of its actual location i.e. closer to Australia. This would cause
consternation to both modern Australians and New Zealanders and thankfully
has been rectified.
Kieran Kelly
