Old Weather Forum

owpedia_beg This is a collection of responses to questions about nautical, naval, and a few other terms found in our log books. The board Weather, sea, and ice terminology may also be useful. You can use your browser's search function. Items where alphabetic order didn't make sense are at the end. ...

Whaling reference sources: Overview of North American Whaling - New Bedford Whaling Museum American Whaling Vessels and Terminology Life Aboard Whales & Hunting Art and Literature Introduction to Whaling Logbooks and Journals - New Bedford Whaling Museum The beginning of an entry Typical activit...

HMS Odin has just been paid off then recommissioned two weeks later, with a break in the logs in between. She travelled from the Middle East to Portsmouth Harbour, for refit, arriving in early May 1919. On the 9th of May there was the simple entry "Ship paid off" and nothing more in the l...

28 July, 1922 "Cairo" is in Colombo Mr Edward S ~ Moore is cautioned for negligently performing his duty on the 8th May in that by not ascertaining the number of rounds returned after a salute a charge was fired thereby causing injury to 4 persons. order of C in C E. J. No 01A of 24th Jul...

16 April 1917 Roxburgh is in Bermuda, and has been for some weeks. The disciplinary entries relating to Mr Dodd seem unusual in that the entry has been repeated in red with minor changes to the original entry, the date of the offence is different and the original includes "statement". The...

These notes span 10 curious days on Cadmus, they could form the basis of a book - no royalties required or expected Cadmus 12 June, 1918 - Stops at Santu and reports "One Chinese witness joined ship" 16 June, at King Po "H.M. Consul and one witness joined ship" 18 June, at Kin M...

http://s3.amazonaws.com/zooniverse-avatars/users/339927/forum.jpg?1288797333 HMS Ribble 18th March 1915 9.10 Captain "D" hoisted Senior Officer pendant in Ribble, proc'd 2.0 "Bouvet" struck mine & sank in 4 m~ (minutes?) 2.10 closed "Bouvet" - Full Speed 2.40 Stopp...

At the end of July 1918 the crew of Cadmus suffered from a bout of illness, probably flu but not defined as such. The attachment gives details, what I find surprising is that there were no comments in the log about the 'epidemic' which afflicted over 10% of the crew at times. If it was flu, it is a...

Generally, ships would have different grades of coal with varying burning properties; "best" (usually Welsh coal) would be saved for high speed work and the rest for normal working. Coal for immediate use would be near the boilers, the rest would be stowed around the ship. There were stor...

Having spent many years forecasting snow, I have an abiding interest in the subject. Years ago a meteorologist analyzed a large number of reports of snow and related the visibilitiy to the rate of snowfall. Although his data was taken from observations on the Canadian Prairies, I analyzed data from...

Here are summaries of some earlier instrument discussions: Dry bulb vs. Ther Attached Why is it that these two readings never seem to line up? The barometer is kept inside the ship (or in some cases an observatory shack) while the dry bulb is outside in the free air or even away from the ship in a s...

Sources: Naval History.Net: Meteorological Instruments - and their use in the Royal Navy in the World War 1 Era Blog by Philip on barometers: 0.02953 inches to the hectopascal The Mercury Barometer The Barometer in American practical navigator, originally by Nathaniel Bowditch, 1916 The Thermometer ...

OW glossary Dwye: Also spelled dwy, dwey, dwigh, dwoi, dwoy Eddy, gust, flurry; squall; brief shower or storm ... of rain, hail or snow. Dictionary of Newfoundland English [AvastMH] + I have a nfld term for snow squalls. People from Fogo call it snow dwye. https://twitter.com/RickG709/status/164102...

External resources American Meteorological Society: Glossary of Meteorology Forecasters Handbook for the Arctic (US Naval Research Laboratory) Hydrographic cycle National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration NOAA Central Library NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory National Snow and Ice D...

And on the Wonganella's final voyage as a Q-ship, two more U-boat encounters: http://oldweather.s3.amazonaws.com/ADM%2053-68927/ADM%2053-68927-043_1.jpg http://oldweather.s3.amazonaws.com/ADM%2053-68927/ADM%2053-68927-044_0.jpg The logs don't mention the Wonganella returning fire on the submarine -...

Wonganella's logs are -- what's the word? -- sparer? than any I've seen. Nevertheless, the instructions to the logkeeper seem pretty standard: http://oldweather.s3.amazonaws.com/ADM%2053-68924/ADM%2053-68924-002_0.jpg That was the first page of a new log volume. And the first page entered? Here it ...

Here is an interesting account of one of Wonganella's engagements from early in 1916 that illustrates the dangerous game the Q-ships were up to (from Q-Ships and their Story , pgs. 35-38): Mention was made just now of the Werribee (alias Wonganella, etc.). On February 3, 1916, this ship, which had ...

I want to test my idea of having a forum thread about the ship I am working on so that we can keep track of what is happening on the cruise and share any background information about the ship we learn. For the current OldWeather cruise at 19%: The HMS Wonganella spent Christmas 1916 in Malta and pu...

In December 1915 Victorian is at Busta Voe. Each morning, three so far, a boat arrives from "Gibralter" to collect the wireless news. What was the wireless news, I assume not an early version of a podcast. lgb I assume not an early version of a podcast. Au contraire, mon ami. I'm sure tha...

Dated: 1 December 1916 I have just come across what appears to be all or part of a signal book http://oldweather.s3.amazonaws.com/ADM%2053-55291/ADM%2053-55291-015_0.jpg is the first page. The next page is the RHS and I have tried, and failed, to produce a photoshop merge of the two parts. Question ...