Old Weather Forum

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On the weather page, please enter: date, locations, distances (nautical miles and tenths), courses, and all the weather data in the columns outlined in red in the spreadsheet.
It is not necessary to record State of the Sea.
However, ice mentioned in the weather grid should be transcribed using the magenta Sea column.

On the events page please enter: ice, location information, and sailing information.
Aurorae, volcanic, and seismic activity should be reported in the forum.
The names of US Navy and Coast Guard ships met should be noted. This gives the science team a chance to compare weather readings. You can include all ships mentioned in a single entry without a time or any additional data.
Other events are optional.

One person can do both weather and events (Stream 1), but the system also allows one person to do the weather page (Stream 1) and a second person to do the events page (Stream 3).
Unlike in OW3, where three transcriptions were required for each page, we are doing only one transcription per page.

Every transcriber needs to enter the date.
The date is used to organize the pages.

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See Shenandoah: general for some general background and discussion.
See Shenandoah: examples for a quick introduction to transcribing or a refresher.

See Transcribing Guide to learn how to transcribe the data.
Post in Ask Questions Here or this topic if you have questions.

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I have reserved this year.

I'm starting 1872. The handwriting is so much better than the last half of 1868.

What a change from 1868.

In 1868 they were fired upon in Korea and threw tons of spoiled food overboard along the way.

Now they are starting 1872 at Ville Franche on the French Rivera getting fresh fruits and vegetables delivered to the ship. I looked at photos of Ville Franche on Google Maps. It's such a beautiful city. Most of the buildings appear to be quite old. So it probably looked much the same in 1872 as it does today.

Eat up while you can!

In a previous page from Shenandoah 1868 there was an entry concerning receiving "junk", which I thought was odd, but it was pointed out that "junk" was actually small pieces of rope.

Now I have another entry that seems just as odd from the log page for January 11.

4AM to 8AM

Received in Engineer's department from J. B. Vial 131 lbs of waste.

with the word "waste" underlined in the log. Is this also something other than what it appears to me to be?

J.B. Vial is the merchant who has been making daily deliveries of fresh food and other supplies.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorag ... 21-140.JPG

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/waste
material rejected during a textile manufacturing process and used usually for wiping away dirt and oil
e.g., cotton waste

Randi wrote: ↑Wed Jul 13, 2022 7:46 pm https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/waste
material rejected during a textile manufacturing process and used usually for wiping away dirt and oil
e.g., cotton waste

That would make sense. There would be plenty of uses for that on board.

Just came across this photo of the European fleet at Ville Franche at the time the Shenandoah was there (Jan-Mar, 1872).
https://www.history.navy.mil/content/hi ... 85385.html

January is complete. Uneventful month at Ville Franche, France.

February 4 at Ville Franche, France

8PM to Mid

Starlight and brilliant aurora.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorag ... 21-168.JPG

Isaac Sapp had been confined a couple of times over the past couple of weeks and then on February 9:

4Am to 8AM

Released Isaac Sapp (O.S.) from confinement by order of Com'd'g officer.

4:30PM

called all hands to muster and read a letter from the Navy Department in regard to a medal of honor to Isaac Sapp (O.S. Ex.)

https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorag ... 21-173.JPG

An article abut his Medal of Honor:
https://military-history.fandom.com/wiki/Isaac_Sapp

Rags to riches

The page for February 22 appears to be missing. Page 186 is Feb. 21 and page 187 is Feb. 23. Page 188 is Feb. 24. So unless the log keeper got out of sync with the dates, Feb. 22 must be missing.

It happens, unless they cross the dateline.

Almost missed this entry on February 24.

8AM to Meridian

Lowered whale boat with Brown and Level's patent detaching apparatus, it worked perfectfully.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorag ... 21-189.JPG

I got curious and after several searches finally came across this, indicating that the invention appeared to be a big deal, although I can't find any other references to it beyond several references to the filing of the patent. It was at least important enough for the device to be installed on the Shenandoah.
https://books.google.com/books?id=b_89A ... us&f=false

A transcription of the patent document.
https://patents.google.com/patent/US55053