Old Weather Forum

20 May 1570 - Abraham Ortelius published Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, the "first modern atlas"

https://www.weather.gov/abr/This_Day_in_Weather_History_May_19 1780: The infamous "dark day" in New England tradition. At noon, it was nearly as dark as night. Chickens went to roost, and many persons were fearful of divine wrath. The "dark day" was caused by forest fires to the...

https://www.history.uscg.mil/research/chronology/ 1846 — Secretary of Treasury Walker assigned Revenue Captain John A. Webster to control movements of vessels assigned to Army and to cooperate with the Navy in the War with Mexico. 1896 — Congress authorized the Secretary of Treasury to patrol regatt...

https://www.history.navy.mil/today-in-history/may-19.html 1882 — Commodore Robert W. Shufeldt, onboard USS Swatara, arrives in Korea to negotiate the first commerce treaty between Korea and a Western power. The treaty is signed on May 22, opening Korea to United States trade. https://s3.amazonaws.c...

NASA Earth Observatory https://eoimages.gsfc.nasa.gov/images/imagerecords/152000/152832/yawajaba_oli2_20240421.jpg April 21, 2024 https://eoimages.gsfc.nasa.gov/images/imagerecords/152000/152832/yawajaba_oli_20240429.jpg April 29, 2024 Montgomery Reef Revealed https://www.geonames.org/2074108/colli...

https://www.history.uscg.mil/research/chronology/

1920 — Coast Guard officers and enlisted personnel were granted the same pay, allowances and increases as the Navy.

https://www.history.navy.mil/today-in-history/may-18.html 1898 — During the Spanish-American War, boat parties from USS St.Louis and USS Wompatuck, under Capt. Caspar F. Goodrich, cut communication cables at Santiago, Cuba. 1902 — Marines and Sailors from the iron-hulled screw steamer, Ranger go as...

I can only hope that their seamanship is better than their log keeping

Interesting comment in this 1855 log:
when the temperature of the water is taken below the surface, the depth in fathoms should be placed above, thus
₅₀
⁴⁰
denotes that at the depth of 50 fathoms the temperature of the water was 40°

A tea sommelier sounds very

erudite

https://www.weather.gov/abr/This_Day_in_Weather_History_May_17 1896: An estimated F5 tornado tracked 100 miles through northeastern Kansas and extreme southeastern Nebraska. Seneca, Oneida, Sabetha, and Reserve, Kansas sustained severe damage. While passing through Reserve, the tornado was 2 miles ...

If you find something interesting and/or amusing in the log, please share it here.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/dc-metro/rg-024/581208/2020-01/581208-lackawanna-001/581208-lackawanna-001-002.JPG They, presumably, know where they are, so why bother noting that in the log. Fortunately, the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships is a bit more helpful: https://www....

Done!

Off to Lackawanna (1863)

F1 across TAURUS

The other May Zodiac sign. April 21 to May 20.