Crossing the 0 meridian

Way back when crossing any meridian was a Big Deal. Before people had reliable gps units, even before the gps units where made out of wood, people would tell the position of their ship using a sextant, and accurate time peace, and an almanac with the location of the heavenly bodies. Using this method, it is easy to work out longitude, by measuring the highest position it will take up during the day. For latitude however, the time piece is needed, as the only way to accurately measure latitude is to compare the 12 o'clock at Greenwich, with the local 12 O'clock. Telling time accurately was therefore a big deal, and smart people at Greenwich finally worked out how.

Not that the crew was told the positions accurately. As old superstitions still held with some of the sailors, the captain would usually report less progress than what was actually made. This way, the sailors would be less scared of falling off the earth.

The first time I crossed the 0 meridian, I was sailing from Belgium into London. Right in front of the O2 stadium, the gps reported 0.0000. Quite coincidentally, this is the closed Greenwich that you can get by boat.

This time we Crossed the 0 meridian in front of Cartagena. As the GPS did the navigating, we barely noticed.

Tux and Luna at the exact position of the 0 meridian.