All went merrily for ten minutes, when I chanced upon the following rhyme for navigators:
“Greenwich time least
Longitude east;
Greenwich best,
Longitude west.”
Heavens! The Snark’s time was not as good as Greenwich time. When it was 8:25 at Greenwich, on board the Snark it was only 8:9. “Greenwich time best, longitude west.” There I was. In west longitude beyond a doubt.
“Silly!” cries my literal mind. “You are 8:9 A.M. and Greenwich is 8:25 P.M.”
“Very well,” answers my logical mind. “To be correct, 8.25 P.M. is really twenty hours and twenty-five minutes, and that is certainly better than eight hours and nine minutes. No, there is no discussion; you are in west longitude.”
Then my literal mind triumphs.
“We sailed from Suva, in the Fijis, didn’t we?” it demands, and logical mind agrees. “And Suva is in east longitude?” Again logical mind agrees. “And we sailed west (which would take us deeper into east longitude), didn’t we? Therefore, and you can’t escape it, we are in east longitude.”
“Greenwich time best, longitude west,” chants my logical mind; “and you must grant that twenty hours and twenty-five minutes is better than eight hours and nine minutes.”
“All right,” I break in upon the squabble; “we’ll work up the sight and then we’ll see.”
And work it up I did, only to find that my longitude was 184° west.