Question: A ship sets sail from Portsmouth (England) on 29 February 1700 and heads for Spain. It travels 1440 nautical miles at an average speed of 6 knots and then docks in Cadiz. On arrival the captain asks the harbourmaster what the date is, and the gentleman replies...?
Answer: "Es el 21 de marzo de 1701." (21 March 1701)
Explanation: It's a trick question - but the trick isn't that there was no 29 February 1700. England continued to use the Julian calendar until 1752. By that calendar the date of arrival would have been 10 March 1700. (6kt = 6 nautical miles per hour = 144nm per day, so the trip took 10 days.) But Spain used the Gregorian calendar, in which the date was 21 March 1701.
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