Old Weather Forum
Old Weather: Classic => The Dockyard => Topic started by: Randi on 24 July 2012, 17:18:33
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Add your questions and comments to this topic.
If you need help transcribing see: Rodgers -- Reference: Transcription Example and Log Description (http://forum.oldweather.org/index.php?topic=3211.0)
If you are interested in the names of crew members see: Rodgers -- Crew Lists (http://forum.oldweather.org/index.php?topic=3408.0)
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The OCD guide to weather reports ::)
I found it very hard in the beginning, but now I have a system that works well for me.
I draw a box that is slightly less than 1 line in height and a bit longer than all the data on the line.
I alternate odd hours shifted left and even hours shifted right - to make them easy to select
You
will see two small red dots near the bottom of the attachment. Those
are the locations I click to get the boxes where I want them.
Once you get used to this, it is quite easy ;)
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An excellent system. I dropped mine and switched to yours. ;D
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:-[ :-*
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I'm impressed by how neat it is 8). No gaps and no overlaps.
Are you sure you can get that precision without any adjustments?
:o
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I have been known to tweak it a bit, although I rarely do that now ;)
Once you learn where to click to bring up the next box it is really not hard ;D
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San Francisco 10 June 1881
8 to mrdn Found out
that the stores had come from New York were in bad condition. Comdg
officer ordered a board of survey and the detailed peport will be
appended
Mrdn to 4 pm Recd on board 1 box containing clothes for officers. Also several boxed of sheep skin clothing.
Modern
Board of Survey:
http://olao.od.nih.gov/DLS/GovernmentProperty/ManagingProperty/LossDamageDestructionPropertyBoards/BoardsOfSurvey.htm
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The sheep skin clothing sounds like somebody in supply appreciates
arctic conditions. Wool coats don't make it up there. :)
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12 June 1881
http://oldweather.s3.amazonaws.com/ow3/USS%20Rodgers/Rodgers_1881/b001of010_0018_1.jpg
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American symbol for anchor ;D
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Well, they are at anchor ;) ;D
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On Rodgers, I don't think I have ever seen a 'c' by itself. It always seems to be either 'bc' or 'oc'.
And, it is not always consistent!
Code: bc
Clear: 0
earlier
Code: bc
Clear: 9
???
Now it generally seems to be oc when the prop clear is zero and bc when it is non-zero.
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Comet Tebbut2: Natural Phenomena (http://forum.oldweather.org/index.php?topic=384.msg47969#msg47969)
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Hi randi,
Just did a whole page of weather in about 30 mins which
I didn't think was too bad. You've been doing LOTS on the
searchable database. If you want to leave some entries for me to do then
let me know. I'm not sure of how we could do that, but I've been doing
some reading practice today by looking up the text pages on their own
using their URLs so that I'm not stuck gaping at the spider scrawl too
much. ;)
Ava
Time to darken ship for me!
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Right now, there isn't much, but later on it would be good if we could team up for the DB.
Do you have any preferences for people, places, or ships?
I see that Stuart is putting some in for Manning ;D
NOW is the time to do it so that everyone can get the most benefit!
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No preferences for DB stuff...but thinking about places, the
cartographer at work was away today - I'll see if Ailsa's got any useful
maps of the USN's areas of patrol tomorrow.
What's the weather code at 1 pm please:
http://oldweather.s3.amazonaws.com/ow3/USS%20Rodgers/Rodgers_1881/b001of010_0019_0.jpg
Given
that the events page is mostly a three part novel version of the
coding, and from what you've spotted, I now keep both pages open in two
different tabs. It's really helpful!!!
But for the above code the page says this :
http://oldweather.s3.amazonaws.com/ow3/USS%20Rodgers/Rodgers_1881/b001of010_0019_1.jpg
Can the 'f' stand for anything other than fog do you think?? (or is the fog the thing that's in my head ;D ;D)
OR PERHAPS - they were befuddled - it was the day of 'Many Ladies' ;D ;D ::)
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I think I put bcf, but I agree that the events page doesn't mention
fog - perhaps they were distracted by all the ladies visiting ("clear
and pleasant pleasant") ;)
I have seen f used for fog on Rodgers.
Sometimes the events page helps, sometimes it seems to have a rather different perspective ::)
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Triumph - three weather pages and novel pages dealt with today. What
made a real difference was Craig making me realize that I was opening a
new box by pinging in a greyed area (sigh!).
AND to quote the
great Walt Whitman.. Captain! Oh my Captain! - how come the front page
says there's no captain? At least they've given you the correct
insignia. Odd -but the least of our worries. ::) ;D ;D
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I
think I put bcf, but I agree that the events page doesn't mention fog -
perhaps they were distracted by all the ladies visiting ("clear and
pleasant pleasant") ;)
I have seen f used for fog on Rodgers.
Sometimes the events page helps, sometimes it seems to have a rather different perspective ::)
Yes - I noticed 'pleasant pleasant'. ::) ::) ;D
Oh
well - the rule is to put down what's there..I'll just make a note in
events - and the 'clear sky' column at least shows that it can't have
been foggy. :D
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Triumph
- three weather pages and novel pages dealt with today. What made a
real difference was Craig making me realize that I was opening a new box
by pinging in a greyed area (sigh!).
AND to quote the great Walt
Whitman.. Captain! Oh my Captain! - how come the front page says
there's no captain? At least they've given you the correct insignia. Odd
-but the least of our worries. ::) ;D ;D
Soon to be Ex captain if I don't get to work! ;D
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BAROMETER CHANGE - please alert analysts
7 July 1881
For the 6 to 8 pm watch, they say "Registered mercurial barometer from 8pm"
The pressure at 7pm is 30.15
The pressure at 8pm is 30.00 - the following day seems to be with this barometer.
http://oldweather.s3.amazonaws.com/ow3/USS%20Rodgers/Rodgers_1881/b001of010_0043_0.jpg
http://oldweather.s3.amazonaws.com/ow3/USS%20Rodgers/Rodgers_1881/b001of010_0043_1.jpg
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Noted, Oh my Captain!
;D
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After about 3 weeks "At Sea" out of San Francisco, we finally have a landmark: Ounalaska
Unalaska Island: http://www.geographic.org/geographic_names/usaname.php?uni=1411520&fid=usageo_1311
http://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~3853~400043:Rand,-McNally-&-Co--s-Alaska-?qvq=w4s:/where/Alaska/when/1879/;lc:RUMSEY~8~1&mi=0&trs=1
http://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~30523~1140050:Northwestern-America-showing-the-te?sort=Pub_List_No_InitialSort%2CPub_Date%2CPub_List_No%2CSeries_No&qvq=w4s:/where/Alaska/when/1880;sort:Pub_List_No_InitialSort%2CPub_Date%2CPub_List_No%2CSeries_No;lc:RUMSEY~8~1&mi=2&trs=3
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Aha, I didn't see you there. The Corwin was there on May 21 & 22 1881. (I entered into the DB today).
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You'd already left ;D
I should soon be able to profit from your DB work!
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I found some genuine NOAA nautical charts.
List of available charts: http://www.charts.noaa.gov/OnLineViewer/AlaskaViewerTable.shtml
Bering Sea south with Aleutians: http://www.charts.noaa.gov/OnLineViewer/513.shtml
Bering Sea north: http://www.charts.noaa.gov/OnLineViewer/514.shtml
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Good work, Janet. These could be useful 8)
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After about 3 weeks "At Sea" out of San Francisco, we finally have a landmark: Ounalaska
Unalaska Island: http://www.geographic.org/geographic_names/usaname.php?uni=1411520&fid=usageo_1311
http://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~3853~400043:Rand,-McNally-&-Co--s-Alaska-?qvq=w4s:/where/Alaska/when/1879/;lc:RUMSEY~8~1&mi=0&trs=1
http://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~30523~1140050:Northwestern-America-showing-the-te?sort=Pub_List_No_InitialSort%2CPub_Date%2CPub_List_No%2CSeries_No&qvq=w4s:/where/Alaska/when/1880;sort:Pub_List_No_InitialSort%2CPub_Date%2CPub_List_No%2CSeries_No;lc:RUMSEY~8~1&mi=2&trs=3
These are fab...I'll make a gazeteer (did I really just say that??) ::) ::)
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I found some genuine NOAA nautical charts.
List of available charts: http://www.charts.noaa.gov/OnLineViewer/AlaskaViewerTable.shtml
Bering Sea south with Aleutians: http://www.charts.noaa.gov/OnLineViewer/513.shtml
Bering Sea north: http://www.charts.noaa.gov/OnLineViewer/514.shtml
These
are amazing...but I might just not get very far with a gazeteer ( :-[
:-[ ::) ;D )....I wonder if the USCG have one - Is this the
sort of thing that Philip Brohan could request - or should I speak to
Myles Allen about it (though he's pretty busy just now)?
Time to darken ship I think! ;)
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Apparently, the CG and USN run the survey ships that collect the
data, both all created charts and maps are now stored at NOAA Office of
Coast Survey: http://www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/csdl/ctp/abstract.htm
This includes...The
Office of Coast Survey's Historical Map & Chart Collection is a
rich archive of high-resolution images capturing a vast wealth of the
U.S. government's historical surveying and mapping. The collection of
over 35,000 scanned images - covering offshore and onshore sites -
includes some of the Nation's earliest nautical charts, bathymetric
maps, city plans, and Civil War battlefield maps.
Electronic copies are available, by free download, to the public.
http://historicalcharts.noaa.gov/
BACKGROUND
Today's
Office of Coast Survey traces its charting efforts back to 1807, when
President Thomas Jefferson founded the Survey of the Coast. To celebrate
and preserve this long history, NOAA started assembling the collection
in 1995 as a data rescue effort. NOAA continues to preserve charts and
maps produced by NOAA's Coast Survey and its predecessors, especially
the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey and the U.S. Lake Survey (previously
under the Department of War).
This
has to be the best yet for the Aleutian Islands:
http://historicalcharts.noaa.gov/tiled/zoomifypreview.html?zoomifyImagePath=3N8800-96A
It's
an unusual case of bureaucracy being efficient, and not requiring
separate map collections from the Navy, Coast Guard, and NOAA.
Amazing! And we are NOT going to get lost on this voyage!
;D
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That's neat Janet! 8) 8) 8)
Though there is still the
challenge of going from the semi-unreadable variation of the
then-current name with only the most general idea of the location - to -
the place on the modern or historical map ::)
With luck, Craig will already have them in the database before I get there ;D
(though I will go with the policy of also putting in an entry for the place for my ship ;))
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There are days when you want to kiss a stranger :-* - the USGS
Geographic names information service (GNIS) has a search facility. I
gave it a challenge - to find Alexandrovsk which sounds like the sort of
name that will have been changed. It came up with Nanwalek and Nushagak
both with lat. and long. given, and with links to interesting info
about each place - and it's previous names.
This is just so wonderful..I wish we'd had this before:
http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic
DO READ the FAQs especially about saving URLs
HAPPY HUNTING ONE AND ALL ;D ;D ;D
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That's great, Ava. I put in Ounalaska and it came up with UnAlaska, the current name.
I
then tried Ratmanoff Island (from the USRC Corwin log) and it comes up
with Little Diomede Island. If you type the same thing into Google Maps
it goes to Big Diomede Island, which belongs to Russia. Little Diomede
belongs to the US. The Lat/Long I entered into the DB is for
Big Diomede. The Corwin Log shows it just to the east of Big Diomede.
GNIS
will be very useful. You have to be patient as it's not very responsive
and doesn't tell you when it's processing your request.
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Hi Craig,
Yes it's not as simple as one might hope - but the
extra info about the place really helps. There are 2 x
Alexandrovskas..but getting the lat and long and
the other info made it very easy to gather the correct modern place
name. What a relief to have it though! ;D
right info....
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I don't remember Alexandrovska being mentioned in Rodgers' log ???
Did I miss something or did you get the name from somewhere else?
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No panics! I was perusing the maps that were circulated yesterday
and just noticed that name as a reasonably big place that might get
mentioned some time. And if anywhere was going to have a name change, an
old-fashioned Russian jobbie was likely to be it...so I used that as
the perfect tester for the GNIS. ;D
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The 16 July events page notes:
"No lat and long at noon"
So far, there is no lat and long recorded at any time >:(
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Ummmm....in order for there not be any lat or long they must not be on the planet... ::) :o ;D
I
don't suppose they go mushroom picking as well do they? ;D
Next thing they'll be ordering field loads of sheep.
;D ;D
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It seems to me that our log keeper writes fire as "fier" more often than as "fire".
According to my 1928 Websters, it is an obsolete variant of fire.
http://oldweather.s3.amazonaws.com/ow3/USS%20Rodgers/Rodgers_1881/b001of010_0054_1.jpg
He also sometimes uses a line (I use a single dash) in the cloud type field. I think he does this to indicate that the type of clouds can't be determined.
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AAAAGGGHHHH! I just lost 23 entries. I use to work in an
A&E dept - so dumb problems like this really do wind me up...
Everything I've done today has turned a silk purse into a sow's ear.
grump grump grumpety grump.... ??? ??? >:( >:( :-\ :'(
We should have eeked out PhII until PhIII was free of rogue boxes, and to the point where part pages could be retrieved.
grump
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"It seems to me that our log keeper writes fire as "fier" more often than as "fire".
According to my 1928 Websters, it is an obsolete variant of fire."
I didn't notice that it was Websters that you have - that's pretty handy with this lot! My 1922 dictionary is the OED.
Websters always makes me think of Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, and Carmen Miranda - is your's Morocco bound though? ;) ;D
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This conversation set me googling, and I found a free online 1913 Websters Dictionary:
http://www.webster-dictionary.net/
With a good index for looking things up.
And
now that I think of it, the old spelling 'fier' still exists in words
like 'fiery', which will teach me to not make judgments of our
lieutenants spelling ability. ;D
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"It seems to me that our log keeper writes fire as "fier" more often than as "fire".
According to my 1928 Websters, it is an obsolete variant of fire."
I didn't notice that it was Websters that you have - that's pretty handy with this lot! My 1922 dictionary is the OED.
Websters always makes me think of Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, and Carmen Miranda - is your's Morocco bound though? ;) ;D
Leather bound, India paper, and gilded at the top edge of the pages --- bought USED ;)
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This conversation set me googling, and I found a free online 1913 Websters Dictionary:
http://www.webster-dictionary.net/
[but it doesn't include fier ;D]
With a good index for looking things up.
And
now that I think of it, the old spelling 'fier' still exists in words
like 'fiery', which will teach me to not make judgments of our
lieutenants spelling ability. ;D
Good point on fiery.
I'll feel happier about transcribing as written now ;D
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"It seems to me that our log keeper writes fire as "fier" more often than as "fire".
According to my 1928 Websters, it is an obsolete variant of fire."
I didn't notice that it was Websters that you have - that's pretty handy with this lot! My 1922 dictionary is the OED.
Websters always makes me think of Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, and Carmen Miranda - is your's Morocco bound though? ;) ;D
Leather bound, India paper, and gilded at the top edge of the pages --- bought USED ;)
What a corker! 8) Lucky you! ;D ;D
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28 July 1881:
Commenced serving out lime juice to Each man aboard
ship. Each man to take daily one ounce. To be taken in the presence of
the officer of the deck. By order of the Comdg. officer.
I guess it wasn't very popular ;)
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It would go down better with a shot of rum. ;D
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some muddled mint... ;D
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You put de lime in de Coconut!
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=aA9OqUuA6a0 ;)
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;D :D ;D
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I may be about to make a real idiot out of myself...but what are we
supposed to be doing with the temperature of the bulb attached to the
barometer please? :-[ :-[ :-[
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Does the attached help or am I missing what you are asking?
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Thanks randi - that's helpful. ;D ;D ;D
____________________________________________________
urbble burbble - rats rats rats....gggnnnhhhhhh..aaaaggghhhh!
Fine - that's just a few corrections to make. >:( >:( >:( ::) ::) ::) :-[ :-[ :-[
slumps into corner feeling a right idiot. - LARGE DARK CLOUD...ONLY SELF TO BLAME. :'( :'( :'(
_______________________________
WILL SOMEONE P L E A S E FIX THE -REVISIT-A-PAGE FACILITY???? PPPLLLEEEAASSEEEE!!!!!!
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:-* :-* :-*
Tutorial writers please take note.
Frankly, even for the RN ships the terminology was less than clear, but then we had examples.
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thanks randi..you're doing a good job. :-*
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:-* :-* :-*
Tutorial writers please take note.
Frankly, even for the RN ships the terminology was less than clear, but then we had examples.
Would
it be helpful to start a thread to capture this kind of information -
what is needed for a revised tutorial, or if it's not going to be
possible to revise the tutorial in time, information which is in some
other fashion made very readily and obviously available to all new
transcribers?
For example, on Manning (the only Phase III ship I've
done so far) there have never so far been any lat/long. But in the
space for that in the log there is quite often a bearing to a
landmark. I expect this makes a lot of sense when they're
basically in coastal waters. I'm putting them in 'place name' with
the bearing. But that's only because I recognize a bearing when I
see one from the earlier phases - if I was coming new to this I'd be
totally baffled because the headings say this is latitude/longitude, but
they don't look like it, and where should I put it? Or even worse
some might think that this is what lat/long do look like and hence be
confused when they get the real thing!
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Good idea helenj - I'll check where it should go.
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Thanks randi - that's helpful. ;D ;D ;D
____________________________________________________
urbble burbble - rats rats rats....gggnnnhhhhhh..aaaaggghhhh!
Fine - that's just a few corrections to make. >:( >:( >:( ::) ::) ::) :-[ :-[ :-[
slumps into corner feeling a right idiot. - LARGE DARK CLOUD...ONLY SELF TO BLAME. :'( :'( :'(
_______________________________
WILL SOMEONE P L E A S E FIX THE -REVISIT-A-PAGE FACILITY???? PPPLLLEEEAASSEEEE!!!!!!
Did you spread the pressure over the two height fields or leave the second blank?
I
think that as long as 2 of the 3 transcribers agree, it is OK. So as
long as leelhat and I have the same numbers yours won't hurt. Since the
numbers aren't too hard to read, we probably will agree. BUT, I need to
double check this.
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Thanks randi - that's helpful. ;D ;D ;D
____________________________________________________
urbble burbble - rats rats rats....gggnnnhhhhhh..aaaaggghhhh!
Fine - that's just a few corrections to make. >:( >:( >:( ::) ::) ::) :-[ :-[ :-[
slumps into corner feeling a right idiot. - LARGE DARK CLOUD...ONLY SELF TO BLAME. :'( :'( :'(
_______________________________
WILL SOMEONE P L E A S E FIX THE -REVISIT-A-PAGE FACILITY???? PPPLLLEEEAASSEEEE!!!!!!
Did you spread the pressure over the two height fields or leave the second blank?
I
think that as long as 2 of the 3 transcribers agree, it is OK. So as
long as leelhat and I have the same numbers yours won't hurt. Since the
numbers aren't too hard to read, we probably will agree. BUT, I need to
double check this.
What
I've been doing is putting barometer height (4 digits) in the height 1
column and barometer ther in the height 2 column. Then temperature
air dry in the air column, temperature air wet in the bulb column, and
temperature water in the sea column. In other words, transcribing
the numbers in order from log box to transcription box. If this is
out of whack, just give a shout and I'll conform. :)
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What
I've been doing is putting barometer height (4 digits) in the height 1
column and barometer ther in the height 2 column. Then temperature
air dry in the air column, temperature air wet in the bulb column, and
temperature water in the sea column. In other words, transcribing the numbers in order from log box to transcription box. If this is out of whack, just give a shout and I'll conform.
Absolutely perfect. If your ship has an aneroid barometer, the second 'height' box gets left blank. :)
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Well it would be interesting to know what the two/three right
situation is - but I'll probably correct them anyway for the sake of
completeness. I think the temp was missing from some early pages - and I
just got into the habit of putting nothing in the height 2 box - then
it didn't occur to me to put a temperature in there. It's a real Homer
Simpson moment. Thank goodness I'm no further on than mid July.
See you lost the captaincy..Lelaht's got quick fingers ;D -
but I guess you time's a bit lost to moderation now ;D
I'm
going to shuffle off and keep kicking my own shins for a while. 'That'll
laarn me' as they say round rural parts hereabout. :-[
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Came across something written by John Muir 'Cruise of the Corwin' At
Plover Bay and St Michael, dated June 1881. No mention of USS
Rodgers, but does describe what it's like there.
http://www.yosemite.ca.us/john_muir_writings/the_cruise_of_the_corwin/chapter_7.html
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Yes, I am looking forward to reading the book. Randi found this link
http://books.google.fr/books?id=v5gBcjZkQ5IC&printsec=frontcover&dq=john+muir&hl=en&sa=X&ei=jwQHUMW4Kcag0QX7zeHCDQ&ved=0CFoQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=corwin&f=false
It's
out of print but I have ordered a used copy for $22. It contains other
writings of Muir, who was the founder of the Sierra Club.
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Leelaht, Google Books as the whole book in free ebook at
[urlhttp://books.google.com/books?id=nzUOirpcsrkC&printsec=frontcover&dq=muir++corwin&source=bl&ots=evfNwho6Lu&sig=smvVe3jUdwckPPL959U1LJscA5k&hl=en&sa=X&ei=TSk4UIGeApStyAHv6YHoDw&sqi=2&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=muir%20%20corwin&f=false]THE CRUISE OF THE CORWIN[/url]
By JOHN MUIR
There's
a little search box in the left sidebar that will show the paragraphs
mentioning the Corwin, and those mentioning the Rodgers, but it won't
download in Kindle format.
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Well
it would be interesting to know what the two/three right situation is -
but I'll probably correct them anyway for the sake of completeness. I
think the temp was missing from some early pages - and I just got into
the habit of putting nothing in the height 2 box - then it didn't occur
to me to put a temperature in there. It's a real Homer Simpson moment.
Thank goodness I'm no further on than mid July. See you lost
the captaincy..Lelaht's got quick fingers ;D - but I guess you
time's a bit lost to moderation now ;D
I'm going to shuffle off
and keep kicking my own shins for a while. 'That'll laarn me' as they
say round rural parts hereabout. :-[
Yes, as long as 2 out of 3 agree the data is considered good.
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Hurrah! - that's good to know!
I had to laugh yesterday when
the map on the 'vessels' page of the Rodger was blank (black)..clearly
their determination not to state any lat/long/places has been
acknowledged by the database (now that's weird ;D ;D ;D).
J
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OK helenj - sorry it took me so long!
Information to include
in Tutorial or Help Documents / Other Ideas :
http://forum.oldweather.org/index.php?topic=3068.msg49547#msg49547
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OK helenj - sorry it took me so long!
Information
to include in Tutorial or Help Documents / Other Ideas :
http://forum.oldweather.org/index.php?topic=3068.msg49547#msg49547
No
problem, just found it and repeated my suggestion, so they're
altogether. Thanks for getting it up and running - we need not to
waste all this useful info!
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The predominant word in the weather reports is 'pleasant'. It dawns
upon me that the Rodgers is probably full of super-relaxed moon-gazing
love-lorn poets sailing aimlessly in the fog of arctic waters.
Awwww. I love them. :-* :-* :-*
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It's late - I need to go to bed -I'm feeling really peckish..and the Rodgers has just bought a load of dried salmon for dog food.
Woof, ruff ruff, howl, woof woof.
tail wag tail wag tail wag.
;D
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Yeah, that did stand out!
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Mmmmmm -with some scrambled egg and toast...ANYWAY...did I read
write about eleven thousand feet of lumber? 23rd July? There were
also 6 cords of wood. The impression I have is that the 11k ft of lumber
are for delivery, and the '6 cords' for firing up the engine..but that
doesn't seem an awful lot - even though they are under sail. Anyone out
there got any thoughts about this? Thanks... :) :) :)
http://oldweather.s3.amazonaws.com/ow3/USS%20Rodgers/Rodgers_1881/b001of010_0059_1.jpg (4 to 8 pm)
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They took on a lot of coal and also some coal oil. I think that is for the engines and cooking.
Perhaps some of the lumber/wood is for repairs or construction?
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Ah - that's interesting. I did wonder about coal and oil. My other
thought, given the age they lived in, is that good Russian deal (a
certain grade of pine) would have been needed for a lot of
construction/house finishing. Are we expecting them to be taking on
commercial enterprises I wonder? Time to find out more about the early
coastguard of the USA I think.
J ;) :D
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Mmmmmm
-with some scrambled egg and toast...ANYWAY...did I read write about
eleven thousand feet of lumber? 23rd July? There were also 6 cords
of wood. The impression I have is that the 11k ft of lumber are for
delivery, and the '6 cords' for firing up the engine..but that doesn't
seem an awful lot - even though they are under sail. Anyone out there
got any thoughts about this? Thanks... :) :) :)
http://oldweather.s3.amazonaws.com/ow3/USS%20Rodgers/Rodgers_1881/b001of010_0059_1.jpg (4 to 8 pm)
I'm
wondering, are they preparing to build a camp north of the timber line
in the arctic? Because then the cords of firewood could be for the
construction party working on land. I notice they also have dog
pens stowed with the lumber, which would support this.
-
Hi Janet,
I think that sounds likely. I did a rough calc - for a
small establishment like Scott's huts - they'd take about 3000 ft (inc
shingles for the roof), so 11k would give you three/four good size
buildings (inc sheds).
It's such a life adventure doing these logs isn't it? :D :D
-
Please tell me that I didn't just read in the section 8 to mrdn:
..Rec'd on board freak wife (600 lbs) Any suggestions folks?
::)
http://oldweather.s3.amazonaws.com/ow3/USS%20Rodgers/Rodgers_1881/b001of010_0060_1.jpg
-
I would guess it's fresh meat, but the writing is terrible. Freak 600 lb wife is still a possibility ;D
-
"Freak wife" has to be one for the mondegreens. ;D
Definitely "fresh" something, but it looks like there's an 'f' or 'p' in it somewhere toward the end.
-
H'mm ...
I suppose as he prefers the spelling "fiers" to
"fires" it could be almost anything. I've considered "Fungi" but 600 lbs
would be a considerable volume, and miss-spelt "Muffin" - that would be
something to see.
-
My guess is "peat maze (600lbs)". :)
-
I had wondered about peat myself, but it isn't his typical p.
-
USS Rodgers - Fate: burned 30/11/1881 :'(
8:45 am the
alarm of fire was given with position of fire from forward.
Attached hose at once and connected steam and main force pumps. Fire
located in lower for hold on port side. Battened down hatches, two
streams of water playing in fore hold. Connected up main boilers
& started fires under main boilers - smoke not allowing donkey
boiler to be fired - broke connection with main steam pipe from donkey
boiler and attached suction hose leading steam in hold. At 11:30 am
broke out kerosine oil from sail-room and placed in poop. At 5:30
pm indications of fire breaking out and smoke driving firemen out of
fire-room, buoyed and slipped chains and made all plain sail heading the
ship toward beach. At 7:30 pm ship touched let go stream anchor and
opened outboard delivery - lowered all boats. At 10.30 pm succeeded by
means of skin boat in attaching a line on shore. At 11:30 pm ordered to
abandon ship, fire having broken out forward and extending rapidly aft.
At 2.20 am Dec 1st landed with all hands and hauled up boats.
Slush ice formed about ship about twenty inches thick, so that ship could hardly force her way through.
-
:'( :'( :'(
-
Writing that out must have broken the Master's heart. I
noticed weather readings stopped at noon, and no one copied in the
junior officer's notes from the rough deck log. Maybe that was his
way of taking full responsibility for it.
Weather
cold. Wind fresh from WNW, decreasing to light airs in latter part of
the day. Slush ice formed about ship about twenty inches thick, so that
ship could hardly force her way through.
Having the temp drop from 15F at 1am to 10F at noon means a cold front was coming through. Not good.
I
also noticed that the following pages were blank. They did NOT
use this book to journal the crew's activities and efforts to survive as
a unit. Do sailors know where that journaling was taking
place? I can't believe they'd just drop the ingrained habit of
recording their official actions.
I did walk my JPEG links up to that last page:
http://oldweather.s3.amazonaws.com/ow3/USS%20Rodgers/Rodgers_1881/b001of010_0189_0.jpg
http://oldweather.s3.amazonaws.com/ow3/USS%20Rodgers/Rodgers_1881/b001of010_0189_1.jpg
http://oldweather.s3.amazonaws.com/ow3/USS%20Rodgers/Rodgers_1881/b001of010_0190_1.jpg
(http://oldweather.s3.amazonaws.com/ow3/USS%20Rodgers/Rodgers_1881/b001of010_0189_1.jpg)
-
The weather logging stops at 11 am, only wind was reported, not bar, temps, clouds... more important things to do...
I see I missed a line in transcribing :-[
-
leelaht, I was not trying to improve on your transcription.
It's just after 2 years at OW, I fully grok why ships are 'she' and not
'it'. When one of ours burns and sinks, I almost need to mourn it,
although it's a different feeling than I feel for people. And
that is what I was doing - laying out the visual things to see and note
to say goodbye, and then worrying about its stranded crew and missing
the chance to check up on them. You'll find posts from a number of
transcribers feeling like they lost a friend when they transcribed
their ship being decommissioned or otherwise lost.
Usually, the
weather records on the left page are very sufficient. This time, I
was wondering what the crew was walking into and gave myself that gift.
Your transcription is fine. Good enough to completely hook me into the ship's final story, which is exactly what we want.
-
Hi Janet and leelaht.
Cannot understand the last two paragraphs of the last log page.
They beached and abandoned the vessel. (a fair thing to do if you are on fire)
Last section mentions 'ship could hardly force her way through'.
Through what, if is she is beached?
I
like you am surprised there is does not seem to be a record of that
happened later, after all they did take the log book with them.
Maybe they forgot the ink in all the rush.
-
Last first: from the manner in which the last page was written
and signed off by the master, I'm thinking that log belongs ONLY to the
ship, not the crew. No ship, nothing to log. It surprised
me a bit, but it is consistent with when Otter was dismantled and
scrapped in Hong Kong. The ship was decommissioned at noon, and
that is when the log was formally signed off by the captain no
less. No further record of the officers leaving or the dock yard
taking over, because she was no longer an active navy ship. And
I'm wondering if the Captain's log may be different and continue the
record, as he was still active captain of that crew. But I'm not
likely to travel to the east coast to get a look see at it. Any
experienced sailors, please confirm my guesses.
They beached and abandoned the vessel. (a fair thing to do if you are on fire)
Last section mentions 'ship could hardly force her way through'.
Through what, if is she is beached?
The
last paragraph is simply the weather and sea report required to be
written every watch, only this time it covers the whole day.
"Weather
cold. Wind fresh from WNW, decreasing to light airs in latter part of
the day. Slush ice formed about ship about twenty inches thick, so that
ship could hardly force her way through."
The word "hardly"
meant they managed slow movement - they were sailing all morning
(http://oldweather.s3.amazonaws.com/ow3/USS%20Rodgers/Rodgers_1881/b001of010_0189_0.jpg),
and they did manage to finally ground the ship near the beach at
7:30pm, but 20 inches (50 cm) of slush ice when the winds have reduced
to light airs and the ship has lost its engine room to fire and is
therefore dependent entirely on sail has to be hard going.
My best guesses.
-
Kevin Wood gave us a link for the Jeannette that is equally relevant
to the Rodgers. It is the yearly Navy Report to Congress, those
sections from 1881, 1882, 1883 and 1884 involving "Arctic Expeditions -
The Jeannette, the Rodgers, and the Alliance." THE official summarized
history.
http://www.history.navy.mil/library/online/jeanette.htm
-
Please say 'thank you' to Kevin for us
-
>randi_2 - Re: OCD guide to weather reports. THOSE ARE NEAT
BOXES! Will try my best...... however, how did you place
the two red marker dots and having done so how do you move them down
line by line? I feel I am missing something frightfully obvious.
-
In practice, the red dots are imaginary. And vary some from
page to page, depending on the exact length of your box. But it is
relatively easy.
Draw your first one with the hour showing and
extra margin on the right, and look at what part of the weather columns
the 'ue' in 'refueling' is (that's middle of the entry box.) Next
one, click the bottom printed line of the next hour, a bit to the left
of the marked point, to start the staggering, making that spot the
second "red dot." Third line, click the bottom of the third line
of readings in the original spot. Etc.
It takes a little practice, but there is an easy rhythm to it that makes it easier to do than to describe.
Most
of us end up with a very useful staggered arrangement that is very
practical, but slightly messy. A few of us are so inherently
organized, the stagger arrangement becomes a piece of art. Go for
what works for you. ;D
-
thank you for that and obviously I am trying to run before walking
BUT the huge lesson learned tonight is never again to attempt to move a
box around using the silly little square thing on my laptop. ALL
future transcriptions will be done on the PC sitting at a desk and not
lolling in this armchair with laptop on knee and swearing..............
Good night!
-
(http://www.smileyvault.com/albums/userpics/10001/type-smiley.gif)
;D
-
sbpj,
Caro has a topic Guides for US logs
(http://forum.oldweather.org/index.php?topic=3078.msg49657#msg49657).
There is a lot of useful information there. My instructions for drawing
the boxes are also in the topic:
http://forum.oldweather.org/index.php?topic=3078.msg54202#msg54202
(As you probably realized from Janet's explanation, the red dots were added with the Snipping Tool ;))
-
Water temp is varying between 47 and 57 degrees during day - this is
noted on the Record of Misc Events page too as something exceptional.
I've logged this under events - is there any point in noting this to the
scientists? See 8am to meridian and 6 to 8 pm
http://oldweather.s3.amazonaws.com/ow3/USS%20Rodgers/Rodgers_1881/b001of010_0070_1.jpg
Thanks,
Joan
-
The computer will note it for them. and they know how to check the pages. :)
-
This happened on the Corwin when the vessel approached the mouth of
the Yukon river.
http://forum.oldweather.org/index.php?topic=3002.msg49863#msg49863
See Philip's comments following this post if the Rodgers situation is similar.
-
Thanks Janet.
Craig - what a memory bank! I am in awe...she has,
at the end of that day, reached St Michael's so has just gone through
the waters of the Yukon delta. It sounded like she was going through
streams of meltwater - especially with the bottom samples showing gray
sand (and clearly undulating). That's very satisfying.
-
How should I enter the proportion of cloud when it just shows what is either 11 or a " ?
http://oldweather.s3.amazonaws.com/ow3/USS%20Rodgers/Rodgers_1881/b001of010_0083_0.jpg
(http://oldweather.s3.amazonaws.com/ow3/USS%20Rodgers/Rodgers_1881/b001of010_0083_0.jpg)
-
Hi Stuart - I think that the '11' is actually a zero. There are a
number of log keepers around who write '0' using two strikes of the pen.
It sometimes results in '11' appearing to have been written. Have a
look at this page just a couple of days on - early morning, especially
the 9 o'clock readings - barometer readings ending in '0' also start to
look like '11':
http://oldweather.s3.amazonaws.com/ow3/USS%20Rodgers/Rodgers_1881/b001of010_0086_0.jpg
His '2' gets pretty eccentric too!
-
Ta.
will do.
-
I agree with Joan; I have seen that too.
Take a look at the 11am water temperature.
Also, 0 makes the best sense.
-
I wonder if it could be a 9 as per what it looks like at the 01:00 on the next page.
http://oldweather.s3.amazonaws.com/ow3/USS%20Rodgers/Rodgers_1881/b001of010_0084_0.jpg
(http://oldweather.s3.amazonaws.com/ow3/USS%20Rodgers/Rodgers_1881/b001of010_0084_0.jpg)
-
Some of them look a bit like 9's, but not all. Also, with of, od, and om, 9/10 clear sky seems unlikely.
I would eliminate 11 because 11/10 clear sky doesn't make any sense.
However, the rule is that, after listening to our words of wisdom, you have to decide what you
see. This is a difficult case. Like Joan, I think they are 0's, but if
you think they are dittos, 9's, or 11's, that is what you should put.
-
Some of them look a bit like 9's, but not all. Also, with of, od, and om, 9/10 clear sky seems unlikely.
I would eliminate 11 because 11/10 clear sky doesn't make any sense.
However, the rule is that, after listening to our words of wisdom, you have to decide what you
see. This is a difficult case. Like Joan, I think they are 0's, but if
you think they are dittos, 9's, or 11's, that is what you should put.
Gulp! I'm not sure I ever wanted to be this grown up! ;)
Good luck Stuart! ;)
-
Just to mention that, for some reason, the log keeper notes the start of October 1881 as 1882:
http://oldweather.s3.amazonaws.com/ow3/USS%20Rodgers/Rodgers_1881/b001of010_0130_1.jpg
-
Found this while looking for Jeannette related stuff:
Proceedings
of the California Academy of Sciences June 6th 1881
(http://international.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=mtfgc&fileName=39416//mtfgc39416.db&recNum=0&itemLink=r?intldl/mtfront:@field%28NUMBER+@od1%28mtfgc+39416%29%29&linkText=0)
- includes reception given to the Captain and officers of the US
Steamer Rodgers
-
That looks interesting - when I get fine mins I'll have a trawl through it... 8) :D
-
Baro entry error 10pm reads 39.37 should be 29.37
http://oldweather.s3.amazonaws.com/ow3/USS%20Rodgers/Rodgers_1881/b001of010_0152_0.jpg
(http://oldweather.s3.amazonaws.com/ow3/USS%20Rodgers/Rodgers_1881/b001of010_0152_0.jpg)
Also same day 24 Oct 1881
Commences & until 4 AM. At 3.20 saw a very vivid Meteor in the N'd & Wd.
Whilst looking for which meteor it may have been I came across this.
http://www.phenomena.org.uk (http://www.phenomena.org.uk)
-
Couldn't trace the meteor. I wonder if it's in some Russian archive somewhere? :-\
-
St Lawrence Bay, Siberia.
Final port of call for the Rodgers.
(http://content.lib.washington.edu/cgi-bin/getimage.exe?CISOROOT=/alaskawcanada&CISOPTR=2474&DMSCALE=100.00000&DMWIDTH=802&DMHEIGHT=638.04947916667&DMX=0&DMY=0&DMTEXT=&REC=1&DMTHUMB=0&DMROTATE=0)
-
Even 25 years after the Rodgers, the place looks very desolate.
-
4th Nov 1881.
'Engaged in making the ship snug'
They looked after the ships in those days. ;)
-
St Lawrence Bay, Siberia.
Final port of call for the Rodgers.
I
laughed at both buildings - how small St Lawrence is! THEN I noticed
the shanty town of TENTS..obviously because it get's so warm up there
who could possibly sleep inside? :o :o
There must have been a hot trade in hot water bottles up there...bbbbbrrrrr
Then again the Rodgers would probably have warmed it up nicely on the night of the the 30th Nov if she'd hung around. ::)
-
http://oldweather.s3.amazonaws.com/ow3/USS%20Rodgers/Rodgers_1881/b001of010_0135_1.jpg
8 am to Meridian
Wind blowing in squalls. Pleasant Weather. ::) ::)
What are they putting in the water on the Rodgers (happy poet pills?)? they really are the jolly rodgers come what may.
-
I don't know, I've been out on a March day that has very pleasant
spring weather and is celebrating it by brisk squalls of wind getting
your attention so you appreciate the bright balmy feel. Good Kite
weather.
-
Oh yes indeed - good kite weather - I love kites
-
I've been told to 'go fly a kite' several times!!! ;D
-
;D ;D ;D
-
Of course!! Haven't we all? ;D
-
Nov 17th 1881
Ensign Hunt comes back to the ship saying that the dogs could not drag sledges with 7 days provisions on board.
Next day he sets out with 10 days provisions and trade articles.
Dogs must have trained well over night. :o
-
or they might have come up with more dogs and/or another sledge. ;)
-
No mention made re that.
And how is things in your neck of the woods Janet?
-
Maybe someone showed him how to release the sled brakes.
Nov 17th - less than two weeks left then?
-
;D ;D ;D
-
Grimly I just got to the 8th October when Berry sets a party on land
- including Master Putnam - who comes to a sticky end when he is caught
on an ice floe and everyone else has to watch him floating out to sea
(despite valiant attempts at saving him) - never to be seen again.
:-\ :(
-
And how is things in your neck of the woods Janet?
Averagely
cold for January, and our snow drought has temporarily broken.
After a new record of 335 days without a full inch of snow, we had a
light snowfall this morning that dropped 1.1 inches (3 cm). Hoping
there will be more - the water level in the Lakes has reached an all
time low, 24" (62 cm) below average. Actual harbors are starting
to dry up.
-
I think The Rodgers is now completed.
-
Congrats on completing your voyage!! :)
Rodgers has reached
the rounded-up-100% point, I was just given another page to transcribe,
Oct. 1st, 1881. She needs a finishing push into the harbor.
-
or they might have come up with more dogs and/or another sledge. ;)
Nov 17th 1881
Ensign Hunt comes back to the ship saying that the dogs could not drag sledges with 7 days provisions on board.
Next day he sets out with 10 days provisions and trade articles.
Dogs must have trained well over night. :o
See below!!!
-
Congrats on completing your voyage!! :)
Rodgers
has reached the rounded-up-100% point, I was just given another page to
transcribe, Oct. 1st, 1881. She needs a finishing push into the
harbor.
Me too Janet - looks like we might be the last two (so presumably they are still collecting 5 transcriptions for this one?)
-
Just tried to get to a page and nothing came up - just a blank page
that looked like it was going to show an image - but no image appeared.
THEN again - I've just been installing a new internet hub so it may be
that it's a case of the hub settling down? I'll try
again in an hour.
-
Just got back from coffee, and its fine at this side of the
pond. Transcription page came up immediately. Hope your side
fixes itself. :)
-
Working again now, thanks Janet. ;D I think that I was up
against a load of bored teenagers playing games, and the rest watching
for the sports scores - sigh! ::)
-
It is the weekend, and you are in a university town (as I am.)
That many kids and single adults around does things to all kinds of
schedules. 8)
-
I'm still picking up pages - 19th October now for those interested to know. ;D
-
A moment of seasonal significance (20th Oct 1881) :
"reported that the Whaler stopped for water - also reported all the whalers leaving the Arctic"
http://oldweather.s3.amazonaws.com/ow3/USS%20Rodgers/Rodgers_1881/b001of010_0148_1.jpg
Merid to 4pm
The
Rodgers, expecting to be in the arctic for winter snugs down by
building a reading room for the men, and a smoking room. It's like a
London gentlemen's club!
-
Instructions from the Navy Hydrographic Office in 1890.
-
WOW! that's fascinating Kevin. Never crossed my mind that there
could be a rule about the date you leave the arctic. I guess it's like
banning swimmers from a rip tide beach - who wants the dangerous job of
saving them? Apart from the obvious (i.e. risk of death) I wonder what
the penalty was for staying so far North - did they get fined? I might
investigate. I guess after the travails of the 1870's/80's the Govt had
probably had enough of expensive, heroic, rescues. :-X :-\
-
Most probably, the punishment was the withdrawal of all possible
help the week after their deadline. "We have told you what is safe
and what to do; we are going to respect our own safety rules. If
you get stuck in the ice, there won't be any vessels near to break you
free, unless you sit and freeze there for the month it takes to sail an
ice-breaker in."
I know of a friend of a friend who is impossibly
rich and had his own private plane. He got stranded on an
Aleutian island having run out of fuel, only find no fuel stores
there. The Air Force did indeed fly barrels of fuel in for him,
and charged him for the cost of the fuel plus the shipping expenses of
running a long flight for no other reason. I think it worked out
to something on the order of $1,000 per gallon. ;D
-
Alas, didn't prevent many whalers from getting frozen in and having
to be rescued by the BEAR Overland Expedition two years later. There was
also a note in the Pacific Coast Pilot that suggested the insurance
policies of ships still in the Bering Sea after some date (Oct. 15?)
would be invalidated.
-
Alas,
didn't prevent many whalers from getting frozen in and having to be
rescued by the BEAR Overland Expedition two years later. There was also a
note in the Pacific Coast Pilot that suggested the insurance policies
of ships still in the Bering Sea after some date (Oct. 15?) would be
invalidated.
I've never yet seen a rule that granted everyone enough common sense to understand that the risks applied to them,
not just everyone else. And I've never yet known a person -
myself included - who didn't sometimes fall into that trap of
over-confidence.
-
Here is the link to the full Report on Ice and Ice Movements in the Bering Sea and Arctic Ocean (1890):
http://archive.org/details/reporticeandice00simpgoog
It lacks the map appendix but I may have them and will post them later.
-
I think it worked out to something on the order of $1,000 per gallon. ;D
'Just desserts!' ;D ;D ;D
-
Here is the link to the full Report on Ice and Ice Movements in the Bering Sea and Arctic Ocean (1890):
http://archive.org/details/reporticeandice00simpgoog
It lacks the map appendix but I may have them and will post them later.
Very
interesting, Kevin! The report was apparently printed in 1890 but
it contains references to the second Corwin voyage of 1895 (page 14).
In
any case, it was too late for the Jeannette. I wonder how much research
De Long did into the currents in the Arctic ocean before they sailed?
Probably there was little known then about the conditions north of
Wrangell Island but some information about being trapped in a floe must
have been. On page 21 the report talks about the vicinity of Herald
island:
A
vessel once caught in the pack in this vicinity is carried off to the
northward and westward, and it is only a question of time that she will
be broken up and sunk by the working and grinding of the ice.
-
They no doubt prepared as best they could, but the little good
information available was likely overwhelmed by speculative geography,
such as Silas Bent's 'On the Thermal Pathways to the Pole'
http://books.google.com/books?id=QYwqAAAAYAAJ&lpg=PA31&ots=mSmSoqEA2h&dq=Silas%20Bent%20thermal%20pathways&pg=PA40#v=onepage&q=Silas%20Bent%20thermal%20pathways&f=false
-
If imagination wasn't that wonderfully fertile, no one would want to
explore the unknown. I can see why they wanted the scientific
expedition better now, I'd thought they knew they would be studying
solid ice.
-
Don't know if these details need to go to the scientists:
Sudden drop in Therm Attchd readings at 8 am & disruption in barometer reading at that time:
http://oldweather.s3.amazonaws.com/ow3/USS%20Rodgers/Rodgers_1881/b001of010_0151_0.jpg
No reason for these changes in misc events....
http://oldweather.s3.amazonaws.com/ow3/USS%20Rodgers/Rodgers_1881/b001of010_0151_1.jpg
-
I don't think we need to notify them, I think the numbers are
self-explanatory, the "29.nothing" will automatically be
red-flagged. I'm thinking either someone propped the door open to
see what happens to the readings and make the readings closer to
outdoors. Whoever was reading them every hour probably hated the
idea.
-
Seems odd though Janet. they are just making the ship more snug for
winter quarters - when it appears that the barometer gets evicted (back
in early October the therm attchd was 70F+). I reckon it's due to the
new reading/smoking room being built..perhaps the barometer has been
moved into a new section of unheated boat?
-
That makes sense - a warm reading room is preferred to a warm barometer. ;)
-
Wow - it's blowing a near-hurricane and they're steaming on the anchor. Is there a comment the next day?
-
yes there is Kevin:
Commence to 4 am: Used Engine to relieve chain - going four (4) bells
at strongest puffs.[...] Barometer very unsteady
going from 42 to 28 in 20 mins.
(It'd
have your ears popping at that rate?!? ;D ;D) On the whole
they do seem to have suffered very blustery weather over the last week -
they've also just taken down the top rigging and yards etc for the
winter.
-
By the way, at Point Barrow the temperature increased 43 degrees F
during a 100+ mph gale in the winter of 1881 or 82, and so much sand and
gravel was in the air that 'no living thing could stand before it'. So
really big temperature swings are not unheard of in this region...
-
Largest leap in wind speed in one hour that I've seen (29/10/1881 at 2 am) 0 to 9:
http://oldweather.s3.amazonaws.com/ow3/USS%20Rodgers/Rodgers_1881/b001of010_0157_0.jpg :o
-
01/11/1881: http://oldweather.s3.amazonaws.com/ow3/USS%20Rodgers/Rodgers_1881/b001of010_0160_1.jpg
Meridian to 4 PM: Put up Anenometer. Registered 50 miles per hour at 4 PM
----------------------------------------------
No more details than that I'm sorry to say. :-\ then again it's clearly The New Toy: ::) ::)
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Anenometer registered 50 miles per hour at 6 PM
-
http://oldweather.s3.amazonaws.com/ow3/USS%20Rodgers/Rodgers_1881/b001of010_0131_1.jpg
(http://oldweather.s3.amazonaws.com/ow3/USS%20Rodgers/Rodgers_1881/b001of010_0131_1.jpg)
Last line of log reads "~ blink on starboard beam between 9+11 P.m. Barometer rising."
What's
the first word in that sentence? It's three letters and the last two
could be 'el' but I can't figure out something for the first letter that
makes sense in context.
In the same log, Meridian to 4 pm. "Got
cast in 17 faths water. Water resembled a shoal. but got more water than
onstal of it- Grey sandy bottom in discolored water."
I read a word there as 'onstal', but that's not really a word, is it?
Rodgers
logkeeping is a bit stream of consciousness. A big leap from the
simple, uncreative ways of the Concord crew that I've gotten used to.
-
The three letter word looks to me like 'ice' - though what an 'ice blink' is I have no idea!
And I also read 'onstal' and am equally convinced it's not a word at all ....
-
Ice blink (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_blink) is apparently a thing! Thanks, learned something today :)
-
Me too! Whether I'll ever be able to remember what it is is another question. :D
-
I did that page too - never found out what 'onstal' was - can't help
thinking this was someone not concentrating on what they were
writing. Did get Ice blink though.
-
Ice blink (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_blink) is apparently a thing! Thanks, learned something today :)
There's
a photo of it in my Sea Ice Types
(http://forum.oldweather.org/index.php?topic=3432.0) list. When I
found the picture, I thought is had been photoshopped. :)
-
I forgot about that - great picture - it does look weird.
-
'Water Sky' is something of an opposite of ice blink, the other word didn't translate for me either.
They
also saw several flocks of auks http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auk. I was
hoping they were great auks but those turns out are N. Atlantic (and
already extinct c. 1844).
If someone would like to post (or
PM) the ship's position I could see if there is a MODIS satellite
picture showing what the sort of discolored water they're seeing looks
like today....
-
Hi Kevin,
She sets off from Herald Island on 30th Sept, and
fetches up on 5th October at Cape Serdze-Kamen. The page referred to is
the 3rd October.
-
You picked the WRONG ship for that question ::)
According to
the logs
(http://oldweather.s3.amazonaws.com/ow3/USS%20Rodgers/Rodgers_1881/b001of010_0130_0.jpg,
http://oldweather.s3.amazonaws.com/ow3/USS%20Rodgers/Rodgers_1881/b001of010_0132_0.jpg)
on the previous and following days, their location is "Arctic Ocean".
I never saw a lat/long reading when I was doing Rodgers ::) ::) ::)
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'Water Sky' is something of an opposite of ice blink, the other word didn't translate for me either.
I never heard of Water Sky - is my photo that, and what color is Ice Blink? I'm not surprised if I got them confused.
They
also saw several flocks of auks http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auk. I was
hoping they were great auks but those turns out are N. Atlantic (and
already extinct c. 1844).
If someone would like to post (or
PM) the ship's position I could see if there is a MODIS satellite
picture showing what the sort of discolored water they're seeing looks
like today....
Here
is a couple, but there is a problem with location. The weather
page gives the only location as "Arctic Ocean" or nothing at all.
The comments page says several times "following coast" but fails to say which coast. I've never seen a ship with that little sense of where they are, all the others at least gave landmarks.
http://oldweather.s3.amazonaws.com/ow3/USS%20Rodgers/Rodgers_1881/b001of010_0129_0.jpg
http://oldweather.s3.amazonaws.com/ow3/USS%20Rodgers/Rodgers_1881/b001of010_0129_1.jpg
http://oldweather.s3.amazonaws.com/ow3/USS%20Rodgers/Rodgers_1881/b001of010_0131_0.jpg
http://oldweather.s3.amazonaws.com/ow3/USS%20Rodgers/Rodgers_1881/b001of010_0131_1.jpg
Hi, Randi - you beat me to it. :)
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Yeah, my guess is about two days sailing WNW of Serdze-Kamen, which was apparently the crew's best guess as well.
From
the sighting of the river to landfall and dropping off Master Putnam
they travelled for two days at ca 5 knots tacking NE and SE against the
wind. So anywhere between 50-150 nm along the coast from Serdze-Kamen.
To
their defense, not sure there are a lot of landmarks to note in the
area. On the other hand it doesn't help that they seem to consider the
native settlements as local fauna. When they set up the camp for Putnam,
the fact that there were "a great many natives" present is mentioned
with about the same interest as a walrus and some whales.
I never heard of Water Sky - is my photo that, and what color is Ice Blink? I'm not surprised if I got them confused.
http://nsidc.org/arcticmet/basics/phenomena/water_sky.html (http://nsidc.org/arcticmet/basics/phenomena/water_sky.html)
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That's a very interesting web site Olems! I read this:
http://nsidc.org/arcticmet/quickfacts/mirage_mistakes.html because I
seem to recall something about possible mirages on the forum the other
day.
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OK, ice blink is white, not yellow as some sources stated. And
water sky is dark. So what was that yellow glare in my found
photo?
(https://www.t-mobilepictures.com/myalbum/thumbnail/photo61/e2/06/baf592bcd368__1352653222000.jpg?tw=0&th=720&s=true&rs=false)
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Well, I've never seen ice blink that dramatic looking. Usually a
white glare on the horizon like the NSIDC example. Not to say it
couldn't look like that...but...where is the sun?
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I don't know. I'd seen captions where someone said ice blink
was yellow, so I went with this NASA pic. Olems' page gave me more
authoritative pictures so I just changed them. Part of what
happens when a totally urban landlubber is trying to illustrate the
arctic wilderness. I'm really glad to have an expert here. :)
These are the pics now in use from Olems site:
(http://www.cosmik.com/oldweather/12_sea_ice-ice_blink_white.jpg)
(http://www.cosmik.com/oldweather/27_sea_ice-water_sky.jpg)
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That's
a very interesting web site Olems! I read this:
http://nsidc.org/arcticmet/quickfacts/mirage_mistakes.html because I
seem to recall something about possible mirages on the forum the other
day.
I
was thinking of that too - a mirage
(http://forum.oldweather.org/index.php?topic=3338.msg60394#msg60394) was
mentioned as an explanation for "A faint gleam of sunlight was
visible in Northern horizon at 1 and 2 AM. And at 4 a ruddy tint was to
be seen on horizon to NNE. " (http://forum.oldweather.org/index.php?topic=3338.msg60317#msg60317).
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Here is the best satellite view of the area the Rodgers was
in...very, very few clear passes this time of year (in fact this is in
November 2011). Confirms my own experience with cloudy/foggy weather
here and suggests no surprise there are so few positions given in the
logbook. You can see lots of (dis)colored water though, from various
sources.
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Looks cold.....bbbbrrrrrr! Thanks for the view :D
The discoloured water fascinates me though.
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Looking at the pattern of discoloring, I'm guessing the rivers
continue out into the sea as strong currents. Very interesting.
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River discharge is a common reason for discolored water, though
where it ultimately goes depends on the wind. Often the Yukon discharge
joins the Alaska coasta current and flows northward through Bering
Strait. The Mackenzie discharge plume, on the other hand, sometimes
blows East, sometimes West. There can be a mix of plumes of different
age superimposed on each other, so to speak. I think this is the case on
the Siberian coast where alongshore currents are frequently
wind-driven. Phytoplankton blooms are another cause, especially in the
spring. http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=588
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Just finished 15th Nov for those waiting to decommission The Rodgers.
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Reality finally comes to rest in the heads of the lovelorn sailors of the Rodgers:
4 to 8 pm: Very disagreeable weather
8 to midnight: A severe night
http://oldweather.s3.amazonaws.com/ow3/USS%20Rodgers/Rodgers_1881/b001of010_0176_1.jpg
It MUST have been bad for them to complain (well it was squally snow in 30+ mph winds - I would have complained ::))
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Storms tipping over the line into being a genuine blizzard are always worthy of complaint and respect. :)
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The poets have a natural phenomena moment:
Very brilliant and grand display of the aurora - the brightest part in the NW.
The light extended from the E. to W. by N., and to the zenith - The light
was so bright at times that objects could be seen at some distance more
distinctly than during the brightest moonlight - the stars were particularly bright -
The light would pass over the heavens like waves, the outer edges of which were of
dark blue color & would then run into each other like waves seen in shoal water.
http://oldweather.s3.amazonaws.com/ow3/USS%20Rodgers/Rodgers_1881/b001of010_0182_1.jpg
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Lovely!
Would you please give me the page link?
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Oopsie - forgot that: ::)
http://oldweather.s3.amazonaws.com/ow3/USS%20Rodgers/Rodgers_1881/b001of010_0182_1.jpg for 24/11/1881
It's
in the Rodgers phenomena list in Natural Phenomena page 23:
http://forum.oldweather.org/index.php?topic=384.msg61038#msg61038
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Rodgers has achieved VAL!! She is finished and in final harbor.
Arfon says he will be working on being sure the other ships will go to VAL when completed, Rodgers has been so set manually.
(It is the weekend. :) )
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The Rodgers gets mentioned at the start of this article, as her misadventure triggered the expedition.
13th August 1886 - http://oldweather.s3.amazonaws.com/ow3/final/USRC%20Bear/vol065/vol065_108_1.jpg
Sent an officer to the station and brought off Ensign Howard and one man of the Stoney Expedition.
While
checking to confirm the names I found an acticle
(http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Popular_Science_Monthly/Volume_33/July_1888/Arctic_Alaska#top)
written by Ensign Howard about the expedition. The Rodgers (as Lieut.
Stoney was one of her officers), Jeannette and Corwin also get a mention
but not the Bear which is a bit mean if they are giving him a lift
home!
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Very, very excited to be looking through this page from the New Bedford Whaling Museum:
http://www.whalingmuseum.org/learn/research-topics/overview-of-north-american-whaling/whales-hunting
to
find the reference to 'Steaming to the Arctic....The first American
steam whaler, the Mary and Helen, sailed from New Bedford in 1879' which
rang a distant bell. After a few seconds it came to me - The Mary and
Helen was bought by the US Navy in 1881 to find The Jeannette, and was
renamed The Rodgers.
So excited to recall this!
It's sad fate is not mentioned in the whaling pages needless to say. :)
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An interesting story about a note in a bottle (from 1981):
https://www.nytimes.com/1981/04/06/world/letter-in-bottle-recalls-lost-chapter-in-arctic-exploration.html
One of the Rodgers' 'message in a bottle' is found. Thanks for posting this Kevin :)