Old Weather Forum

6) Sailing Terms Sailing terms column in the worksheet The most important question to answer is 'Do the sailing terms relate to the ice?' If the answer is 'yes' then those sailing terms should be recorded in this column Examples: 'Ship running along the ice' Ice = 1 for Yes Ice words: (there are no...

5) Sea Ice Important: Please read through the Ice (link) entry in the Library before starting to transcribe Note The vocabulary of sea ice at this time is not standardized and log keepers were not always consistent. Enter every term that is paired with 'ice'. That way we might even discover a usage...

4) Position https://i.imgur.com/Le3p9Y3.png Before you start to transcribe take time to visit the Welcome to Geographical Help page , and then visit at least the Alaska Reference section . Many places have changed their names over time and you will be able to find their names both old and new. If y...

2) Date Start worksheet: instructions for transcribing the date on the Primary worksheet https://i.imgur.com/3GPiX9C.png 2a) Primary worksheet Enter the date in column A Format of Date is YYYYMMDD. Fill in 'YearMonthDay'. For example the 22nd of May 1881 becomes 18810522. There is no need to record...

1) First things first: how to access the ship's log Start worksheet: Ship URL : Click on the URL to open the log book at its front cover Warning: some log books contain multiple journeys so do remember to start at the page advised when you get the ship's url link. This will be shown in cell B4 in t...

Important first principle Having details pulled out and associated by line with date/time/position, and page url, offers the most effective means of turning text into actionable data. The golden rule of transcribing is TWYS: Type What You See. Transcribe the requested information as it appears in t...

Please read the topic 'START HERE. General outline, the project and how to help' before continuing below. Thank you. Over the years this forum has accumulated a broad spectrum of detailed information which is kept in the Library . Please do take time to visit the Library because it will afford you a...

Hello All, Welcome everyone to OldWeatherWhaling (OWW), which is moving to this forum from its old life on Panoptes Talk, and away from the old transcription system on 'ScrIbe'. The new system will continue to allow volunteers to work through the log books systematically so there will be the benefit...

You can tell by the handwriting that sometimes the log keeper was writing quickly and so his cursive letters would get less defined or, like many of us often do, he'd write the wrong letter. Sometimes you can make a "typo" even in handwriting if your thoughts are moving quicker than your p...

Varnum, the log keeper for the Alexander, does not always cross his lower case "t"

Below is an example from the first page of the logbook in which the letter "t" is left uncrossed in "stearing" and "potatoes."

Each log writer is likely to have a peculiar writing style and spelling system. In the most exaggerated cases the spelling of one word may vary even in the entry for one day. If you find oddities please do post them here to help other viewers working with this project. Help with images If you want t...

Please mention any names of ships seen, or met, or gamed with . It is possible that a nearby ship may have a latitude and longitude for that small area of sea, but that is missing from this ship's log. Equally this ship might provide the position of those other ships. Not all logs provide a crew li...

The voyage of the Alexander from the 16th of March 1899 to the 12th of November 1899 has been completed. Thank you all! You can find more ships in this listing: Find your ship, & the full list of ships logbooks for OWW Your help will be very much appreciated. If you need help in choosing a jour...

Here is the full list of logbooks that we are currently working upon: Institution Ship Name Start Date End Date Catalog Entry NBWM John and Winthrop 1912 1912 Logbook of the John and Winthrop (Bark) of San Francisco, mastered by William F. Joseph, on voyage 21 Mar. 1912-24 Oct. (hardly legible, ed....

Welcome to the list of whaler journeys. Blue lettering indicates a link to another section of OWW or an whaling information external site. NBWM: New Bedford Whaling Museum - a fascinating site with a rich collection. You can take an e-trip around the museum Logbooks and journals History of whaling P...

Welcome to the log book of the Alexander 1899 (Steam bark) of San Francisco, mastered by B.T. Tilton, on voyage from 16 Mar.-11 Nov. 1899. At the moment (01/04/2020) all sections are claimed. Please check the shipyard listing for plenty of other log books waiting to help us understand Arctic ice. T...

The reason for this project is that it is very hard to automatically sort the navigation and ice (and other specific items) from blocks of text. Having such pulled out and associated by line with date/time/position and page url offers the most effective means of turning text into actionable data. I...

Please read the topic 'START HERE. General outline, the project and how to help' before continuing below. Thank you. Each whaler has a topic called 'Log pages for transcribing - apply here!' Follow the directions given in that board to request a logbook section to transcribe. You will be provided wi...