150 years of the Shipping Forecast
 

Just seen on the news tonight its the 150 Anniversary of the iconic shipping forecast.

Although ive not listened to it for many years I have fond memories as a child of sitting by the radio listening to it and wondering what all the marvellous names meant.
Does anyone else have memories?

Re: 150 years of the Shipping Forecast
 

Hi.

Yes, good memories as a youngster, listening to the start of the Shipping Forecast late at night. The title music, Sailing By was very soothing and relaxing to listen to before getting off to sleep.

Regards
Symon.

Re: 150 years of the Shipping Forecast
 

How can the Shipping Forecast be 150 years old? That would mean the first one was in 1867. Were fishing vessels carrying wireless receivers in those days?

Re: 150 years of the Shipping Forecast
 

Visual.

Lawrence.

Re: 150 years of the Shipping Forecast
 

The item on the BBC news this evening mentioned that these were displayed using a code consisting of cones and cylinders, though this was skipped over fairly rapidy. I must admit that was wondering the same thing at the start of the item.

Re: 150 years of the Shipping Forecast
 

I think the 1867 messages went something like this: "If you cant see these cones and cylinders you're in serious schtuck"

Re: 150 years of the Shipping Forecast
 

Is that where the expression "storm cone" comes from?

What did the cylinder mean?

Re: 150 years of the Shipping Forecast
 

I still listen to it in the morning out of interest and fascination. I'm still baffled by the marvelous names.

Re: 150 years of the Shipping Forecast
 

As ever, Wikipedia has the answer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shipping_Forecast

Re: 150 years of the Shipping Forecast
 

I'm always intrigued why they speak in 'shorthand', so for example the shipping forecast might say "rain from West" where the ordinary weather forecast would say "rain from the West". Is it because at some time it has been sent in something other than speech, for example in Morse?
Andy

Re: 150 years of the Shipping Forecast
 

Unfortunately I have lost or mislaid my old seamanship primers which had the signal codes that gave out storm warnings as visual signals from shore stations. This was still ostensibly in use 45 years ago, before the current era of electronic communications. Obviously it was only useful for coastal navigation in inshore waters within sight of land.
I couldn't find a link to the UK cylinder and cone signals but it seems such signals are still used in Indian and other far eastern ports for storm warnings. here's a link, and as memory serves the symbols and configurations used are similar to the old british ones. Hardly surprising as the Indians used British methods as part of the Empire.

http://www.marinebuzz.com/2010/11/10...ian-sea-ports/

That might give some sort of clue as to what form those early weather signals may have looked like.

Also this one

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_FitzRoy

Admiral Fitzroy who instigated the visual storm warnings and methods of Marine weather forecasting, and who has his name immortalised as that of a Shipping Forecast sea area.

I hope that might shed a bit of light on it.

In the early 20th Century the advent of wireless telegraphy brought about a revolution in both communicating weather forecasts to mariners at sea, but also brought about the first accurate mapping of weather systems by dint of merchant vessels being designated weather reporting ships and required to take a series of meterological observations every 6 hours which would then be coded and transmitted back to the met Office where all the data would be compiled and a synoptic chart produced from which a forecast could be made. The information in these charts was encoded and transmitted back so that it was possible, if laborious, to plot a weather map on board ship.

Andy.

Re: 150 years of the Shipping Forecast
 

Imagine yourself with your ear pressed to the radio speaker, at midnight, on a small craft rolling and pitching, with only a dim light to write by and scribbling down the information given out.
I was never on anything as small as a fishing boat, but even on a reasonable sized ship it could get tricky at times, and add to that reception difficulties.

And the regular shipping forecast was also transmitted from coastal stations and Portishead by morse and radiotelephony. R/T for vessels below 1500 GRT that were not required to carry a radio officer. It used to be a bit of an ongoing game with sparks whereby if we could hearthe shipping forecast on the BBC, we'd have it written down and pinned up in the chartroom before sparky came in from the radio room with his copy, often nicely typed on a marconi telegram form whereupon he would ceremoniously tear off our handwritten version and pin up his "official" one. All in good humour for the most part and one must remember it wasn'y always possible to pick up the LW BBC signal, so the R/O was an invaluable link.

Ahhhhh happy days.

A.

Re: 150 years of the Shipping Forecast
 

Yes, it almost casts a spell. I have bouts of insomnia and I listen to the shipping forecast in the early morning and I find it very comforting.

Re: 150 years of the Shipping Forecast
 

Those names, Fishers, Cromarty, Viking, German Bight, Fastnet etc it was all a secret mysterious code to me as a kid.

Andrew

Re: 150 years of the Shipping Forecast
 

The BBC4 Storm Trouper programs was good for the history of weather forecasting, if it ever comes round again it's worth watching.

Lawrence.

Re: 150 years of the Shipping Forecast
 

Here's a description of the use of storm cones from "The British Code List for 1891", published by Lloyd's. Originally, only one cone was used, pointing DOWN for a Southerly gale, and UP for a Northerly gale. If a station's telegraphic communication was interrupted, two black balls were hoisted.

This book was left behind when Marconi Marine moved out of their site in Waterhouse Lane in the late 1990's. I found it in a cupboard with the slip cover of the guest book from Marconi's yacht "Electra". The Marconi archives were not interested in the code book, so I kept it. At that time, most British-registered vessels had been allocated a unique four-letter code that was used by shore stations to telegraph notice of their sightings to Lloyds for notices to be published in its weekly "Shipping Gazette & Lloyd's List" and "Lloyd's Weekly Shipping Index". .

Re: 150 years of the Shipping Forecast
 

Ahhh... Dogger, Fisher, German Bight aroused much curiosity in me as a child. WWII was not long over so this German Bite did seem a little worrying. Then there was all this rising and falling slowly stuff. To the curiosity of others I used to able to recite the sea areas in order...

The names were fascinating and mysterious and it wasn't until travelling on a cross-channel ferry in the 1980s that, in those pre-internet days, I saw for the first time where they were all located - there was a framed map on a wall.

I can remember the Minches and did wonder what happened to them or whether they were a figment of my imagination - I wasn't dreaming, wikipedia reveals all!

I missed Finisterre when it became Fitzroy but this was done with good reason.

Also I remember North Utsire and South Utsire arriving and wondered what they replaced. Seems they simply took a bite out of Viking.

Met Eirann do their own version of the Shipping Forecast just before midnight on RTE 1 252kHz - interesting to compare.

The SF was always comforting in a odd sort of way. Can't help feeling that time's not far from up for this feature of broadcasting.

Re: 150 years of the Shipping Forecast
 

I compiled a Google Earth forum post regarding The Shipping Forecast a couple of years ago, explaining this stalwart of the airwaves. It's here.

Cheers,

Frank

Re: 150 years of the Shipping Forecast
 

My favourite is from the "Reports from Coastal Stations" (do they still broadcast those?). "Precipitation in sight". Certainly true today!

73 from snowy Norfolk,

Roger/G3VKM

Re: 150 years of the Shipping Forecast
 

A lot of info' is contained in the short time that the forecasts take, I did the Yacht Masters exam and from a forecast which was read out you had to draw a chart showing all the isobars, wind speed and direction etc, and words which we use every day like 'soon' have a specific meaning, in this case within 6 - 12 hours.

John