Shenandoah (1868): links, questions, comments, coordination, ...

[ggordon]

September is complete. Ship sailed back to Hiogo, Japan, where it has been very quiet compared to the time there at the start of the year. Men have been transferring from other ships for passage home. So maybe we will be moving on soon.

[Michael]

[ggordon]

October is complete. Ship sailed from Hiogo to Nagasaki, Japan, and then on to Hong Kong. A Ship's Writer came on board in Nagasaki for passage back to the U.S. The log keeper's handwriting is so awful I was hoping that the new Writer might take over that responsibility, but no such luck. It's been slow going trying to decipher this log keeper's handwriting.

[Michael]

I’m glad you got October done. Sorry about the handwriting, though.

[ggordon]

I'm going to cease making people entries for the remainder of this year, unless a different log keeper takes over, or I see anything of particular interest. The main reason we are optionally transcribing people events is to support people searching our forum. However, the handwriting of this particular log keeper is so bad that I have little confidence in my transcription of many of the names. Searches of the forum will fail if the transcription is wrong.

I want to support these searches, but trying to decipher the handwriting is significantly slowing me down. I feel it is more important to forge ahead with capturing the weather data, particularly when the transcription of the people events is of questionable value.

It is my intent to resume transcribing people events when I get to a log with a different log keeper.

[Randi]

Sounds sensible.

[Michael]

I only enter data about people if I found it interesting.

[ggordon]

The first half the year was fine. The log keeper then had the most beautiful legible handwriting. Transcribing the people entries went fast. But I'm spending far too much time on them since the current log keeper took over.

[ggordon]

Based on navigation data in the log, the Shenandoah crossed the equator on November 29, but oddly there is no explicit mention of the crossing in the log. The ship is headed for Java.

[Michael]

[ggordon]

November is complete. The ship left Hong Kong and is approaching Batavia (Jakarta), Indonesia.

[ggordon]

On December 1 arrived at Batavia (Jakarta), Indonesia on the island of Java.

1:00 fired a national salute of 21 guns, with the Dutch Flag at the fore, which was returned from the fort
on shore
2:00 Saluted the Rear Admiral with 13 guns, the Dutch flag at the fore & jib up, which was returned from
the Flagship gun for gun.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorag ... 12-180.JPG

[Michael]

[ggordon]

At 3:50 AM on December 12, between Indonesia and the Cape of Good Hope:

a brilliant meteor shot across the heavens.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorag ... 12-191.JPG

[Michael]

[ggordon]

December and 1868 are complete.

After a brief stop in Batavia (Jakarta) to take on coal, most of the month was spent crossing the Indian Ocean headed for the Cape of Good Hope.

[Randi]

Well done!

[Michael]

I'll be away for five days, and I will start working on the voyage after I return...

[Michael]

As Gordon surmised, I'm having fun with the Ping Yang River. I found a great map, and the Asiatic Pilot: East coast of Siberia, Sakhalin Island and Korea. I added the location for Febigers Channel, for no other reason than he was the Captain of the Shenandoah.

Ch'odo-sudo 38.52028 124.93556

I'll send all the new places to Matteo when this voyage is completed.

[Michael]

The voyage for 1868 with many thanks to Gordon. The handwriting was very nasty and, it is to his credit that he succeeded. You can see a plot of the voyage here and, for more detail, you can download the KML file and view it with Google Earth. There were a number of people mentioned here and here.

These are the weather statistics for this voyage:

• 8775 records for DirT
• 8781 records for Kts
• 4415 records for Baro
• 4427 records for Attd
• 4481 records for Dry
• 4468 records for Wet
• 1109 records for Water
• 8772 records for Weather
• 8772 records for Clouds
• 8714 records for Clear

There were 62714 weather records for Shenandoah in 1868.
Shenandoah travelled a total of 11978 miles.