Shipyard Page. Well done Crew - this ship's voyage is complete

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ggordon
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Joined: Sun Mar 15, 2020 1:14 am
Location: Near Seattle, Washington

Shipyard Page. Well done Crew - this ship's voyage is complete

Post by ggordon »

The basic principle of OldWeather Whaling....
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. It also means that the data can be sorted in all kinds of ways.


If you have a doubt about an entry you can always come back to this principle, and/or ask for help on your whaler's Shipyard page.
This main principle will also appear on every Shipyard page.

Additional information can typically include the following which are entered on the remarks worksheet.
  • natural phenomena (volcanoes, kelp, sun spots, auroras)
  • crew names
  • the names of other ships seen or visited
  • reports of ice from other ships
  • whaling details
  • other animals seen
Where to start then?
Please read these before starting to transcribe Have fun while you work and please do enjoy the help that is always available here from the moderators, in fact from everyone. And do also feel welcome to join in some of the lighter hearted side of OldWeather in the forum.

You will also bump into the OldWeather Arctic project which also extracts weather and ice details from the ships of the US Navy and Coast Guard. Your help with OldWeather Arctic would also be most welcome!
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ggordon
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Joined: Sun Mar 15, 2020 1:14 am
Location: Near Seattle, Washington

Re: Shipyard page. Example transcription, general questions and answers

Post by ggordon »

Welcome to the log book of the Belvedere from 9th March 1897 to November 5th 1898 (record number ODHS222)

The transcription of this logbook is complete. Thank you transcription crew! :)
There are plenty of other logbooks to work on. Check the Shipyards or request help from moderator AvastMH. Thank you :)


Here you will find an example transcription of details
This is also a place to ask questions and request help with oddities in the log
You can bring the ship to life by sharing interesting finds from the log pages and other information about the ship

General help with marking and transcribing whaling logs
Weather and ice records from the whaling ships of the USA which contains the following 'must read' topics... Tip: use ctrl+Pgup or ctrl+PgDn to quickly swap between the different worksheets as you move through start, primary, weather, and remarks sheets to record your findings

Treasure trove of information in the Library
Over the years this forum has accumulated a broad spectrum of detailed information which is kept in the Library[/url]
Please do take time to visit the Library because it will afford you a great deal of help. However, do feel welcome to ask questions at any time.

Help with images
  • If you want to query some text please supply the page link (the link changes as you view the middle of a page), and an image of the text if you wish. Help for manipulating/posting images can be found in Posting Links and Images (A Guide). If you have any problems with imaging post your question/s below.
  • Accessing pale images. Here is an example (it is from the Atlantic July 1st to July 6th 1881) opened through the 'Irfan' program, 'color correction' and adjust the brightness, saturation, and gamma correction. You may have your own program for adjusting brightness and contrast. Here are the before and after images using Irfan . Click to see them at full size.
Names of the crew
Names of the crew and notes of other ships mentioned or visited can also be recorded. Crew and ships met

To find the shipyard pages for other whalers
Link: Find your ship, & the full list of ships logbooks for OWW


Select 'view single page':
When the log book image opens you will see two pages. It is easier to read the details accessing one page at a time. Use the icons at the bottom of the screen:



You can walk through the Belvedere's log pages in chronological order. All you have to do is increment the number at the end of the link: page/2, page/3, page/4 etc.


Record number ODHS222
The following example page covers 19th and 23rd June 1897

Image
Image

Saturday June 19 x 97
Blowing from N took Anchor went over to
E Cape Jeanette & Karluk fast to the Ice
PM Karluk took a whale weather thick
Wm Baylies went off to S

Sunday 20
AM Blowing from NW thick with rain
Lowered for a whale PM clear wind E at
6 PM let go from the Ice made sail
Karluk & Jeanette in sight strong breeze all
night

Monday 21
Fog wind E to S.E at 5 PM Anchored
in 19 Fathoms E Cape ENE 1 mile

Tuesday 22
AM Calm at 12 m breeze from SE lowered
for a whale saw Alexander take a whale
at 7 PM saw her with foretopmast gone Karluk
Jeannette in sight all at anchor

Wednesday 23
Light variable winds went off from the Ice
for 3 hours to repair Tube in boiler PM lowered
for a whale Narwhal came to Anchor
Alexander went to Pt Clarence


Notes:
Type What You See (TWYS): The whaler Jeanette is noted as the Jeannette on the 22nd. Use the spelling in the log for each instance.

Here is a transcription of the above log page. Click on the worksheet images below to see them at full size.

Start worksheet (top section)
If you discover any metadata in the logbook please enter it on this page. Metadata means 'data about data'. See under 'Weather' at rows 32 and 33. For example, if you see that the temperature is in Celsius or Centigrade, that fact should be transcribed as metadata.


Primary worksheet


Weather worksheet


Remarks worksheet




Warning: AUTOFILL function between worksheets.
Do not drag and drop the date or time on any of the worksheets because you may disrupt the autofill function.
If you are unsure that the autofill is in proper order you can check by pressing two keys on your keyboard.
You are certainly welcome to ask for help with this action.



The remainder of this topic is for you. Ask questions and share interesting discoveries with us to make these logs live. Thank you for your help :)
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AvastMH
Posts: 2675
Joined: Mon Mar 16, 2020 7:48 pm
Location: Oxford, England

Re: Shipyard page. Example transcription, general questions and answers

Post by AvastMH »

The Belvedere 1897 (ODHS spool 545)
'this is the heaviest gale I ever passed through'

Image

In fact it's such a tough time that he misses entries and (by the looks of it) is not even sure of the date at one point.
Monday March 30th 1897 (Monday was actually the 29th March which is faintly visible)
'Commenced with strong gales from E [...] under topsails + Foresail Middle Part strong gale NE [...] parted main t gallant sheets both clewlines and both buntlines lost 2 quarter boats Latter Part wind hauled to N took in foresail and fore topsail and hove to this is the heaviest gale I ever passed through Barometer 28+7ths carried away smoke stack'

The next entry is Thursday 30th March 1897 (it was quite likely the 30th March)
Commenced with heavy gale from N ship hove to Port tack at 7 PM carried away jibboom lost all the gear and Jib + Flying Jib Middle Part more moderate heavy sea running Latter Part same

This logbook has a twin, Belvedere ODHS spool 222.
Spool 222 logbook notes another worrying problem on March 28th 1897
April 7th 1897: 'Leaking bad Pumps choked with coal'
This log also clarifies Tuesday 30th March: '7 PM lost Gib Boom'. On the 31st the 'water gaining some all pumps choked with coal allmost put out the fires'

All in all I'm sure that they were relieved to get into Dutch Harbor on April 8th 1897.
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AvastMH
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Location: Oxford, England

Re: Shipyard page. Example transcription, general questions and answers

Post by AvastMH »

The Belvedere gets caught up in a long stay in the ice just south of Point Barrow from September 1897. Not only does she have her own crew, but many from the Orca which sank, and the Freeman which burnt out, in the same icy nightmare.
There have been regular hunting trips and meat brought by local Inuit, or bought from local Inuit.

To save these sailors the USS Government set up the The Overland Relief Expedition, also called the Alaska Relief Expedition or Point Barrow-Overland Relief Expedition. It was an expedition in the winter of 1897–1898 by officers of the United States Revenue Cutter Service to save the lives of 265 whalers trapped in the Arctic Ocean by ice around their ships near Point Barrow, Alaska.

We are running 'twin' log books from the Belvedere (spools ODHS222 & ODHS545). Their reaction to the arrival on the 26th March 1898, of the brave Expeditioneers is, well, underwhelming to be honest:

'at 5 PM Mr (Lieut) Jarvis & Dr Call of Rev Cutter Bear arrived with mail 3 months from St Michelas (note: St Michaels) Reported seeing Mr Tilton 40 miles from St Michaels 4 of Jan.'

Image


And after that nearly 4 month trek Lieut Jarvis and Dr Call had to tramp right over to Herschel Island on the Canadian Yukon coast to rescue the Beluga and other ships also trapped in ice since the previous year.
There's an interesting site covering the set up and story of the expedition here link

We are working on the logbooks of other ships caught in this debacle. The Orca, Beluga and Navarch can all be linked to from the shipyard listing in this new forum viewforum.php?f=6
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AvastMH
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Joined: Mon Mar 16, 2020 7:48 pm
Location: Oxford, England

Re: Shipyard page. Example transcription, general questions and answers

Post by AvastMH »

Amchimskey or Omchimsky is Mys Opukinskiy

Mys Opukinskiy ca. 176 m
9611853
T CAPE cape
Russia RU » Kamchatka 92
61.80002, 174.29983

5th May 1897 Belvedere ODHS spool 545
Image

5th May 1897 Belvedere ODHS spool 222
Image
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AvastMH
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Joined: Mon Mar 16, 2020 7:48 pm
Location: Oxford, England

Re: Shipyard page. Example transcription, general questions and answers

Post by AvastMH »

Molgrave Hills Belvedere, ODHS 222, 23rd July 1897

The log keeper notes the Mulgrave Hills as 'Molgrave Hills':
Image

If the writes the letter 'v' running onto the letter 'e' the 'v' can look like an 's'. This clip from the shows the 'v' in 'Navarch' and 'saved'. 7th September 1897
Image


Posted in the Geographical Help Board, and in 'Handwriting Help' for this Shipyard.
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