Old Weather Forum

---

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.

---

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.

Tracker
Spreadsheet
File Upload
Transcription Status

https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorag ... 29-004.JPG

Mercurial Barometer, Manufactured by Green of New York, is placed in Captain's Office near a gunport
that is often open when at anchor. Its cistern is 8 feet above the water level.

The Psychrometer is in a lattice work box which hangs against the bulkhead under the poop and is,
altogether, in a favorable position for giving accurate results.

Type: Other
Subtype: Instruments

I'll reserve 1879 unless there are any objections.

They all yours!!!

I'm feeling foggy and misty about this entry on p. 42. I get that it's cloudy and misty, but is there a third letter? Was it extra mmisty? Was he jostled by a wave?



The Events page for that time says "weather foggy and misty during the first part of the watch."

(Also, I don't know how reliable he is in general. The Events page for the Midnight-0400 watch says "Heavy dew" and yet there's no "w" in the State of the Weather column. Harumph.)

I would just put cm and put down the extra letter to an inattentive log keeper.

I'll go with "cm" and leave a transcriber's note for some future interpreter to enjoy.

Thank you!

Thank you for being careful!

Apparently Shenandoah hit something in the North Atlantic around 0100 on the 17th of October, 1879; p. 51. But I can't read what it is!

Any suggestions, anybody?



(note the heavy roll...I don't know the roll period, but 53 degrees is pretty uncomfortable)

I wonder if it was supposed to be odd swell ?

Perhaps it was miss-copied from the original.

---

Or perhaps they really mean old as in the result of an earlier weather event?

It looks like old swell to me, too. A puzzle, but that's not unheard of in these old logs.

Thank you for looking at it! I'll chalk it up to "things that went bump in the night."

After fifty-two days' journey from New York, the USS Shenandoah arrived in Rio de Janeiro on December 1 with some outstanding business to attend to. Three busy days later, after celebrating Emperor Pedro II's birthday by using up twenty-one two-pound saluting charges, and various diplomatic visits by the officers, a loose end needed to be tied up.

general court martial in the case of Private Wm Osterman US.M.C. Tried for sleeping on post while sentry over prisoner. Found guilty and sentenced to be placed in solitary confinement on bread and water on board US Flag Ship Shenandoah for the period of two months. Every fourth day to be placed in double irons and allowed to air on the spar deck under a sentry's charge from 8 am until sunset and on that day to be furnished with full rations, To lose all pay which may become due him during the period of his confinement, amounting to twenty six dollars, and to be deprived of liberty on shore for the period of one year.

Harsh!

But then the benevolent Comdr in Chief eased Private Osterman's punishment.

Sentence in the above case is approved by the Comdr in Chief. That part of sentence relating to loss of pay is hereby remitted as are also nine of the twelve months deprivation of liberty on shore.

Let this be a lesson to all of you!

Aye Aye, Sir! I will endeavor to remain awake at all times.

Deprived of shore leave for one year sounds really harsh. I'm glad the Comdr in Chief gave him a break.

On Lakawanna I had someone deprived of liberty for two years and I wondered if that was an error in the log. Looks like it wasn't.

I've been working on earlier years of the the Shenandoah and the punishments have been similar. There were many cases where the Commanding Officer removed the pay penalty, while approving the rest. This must be a precedent that continued to be followed.

The punishments always seem so severe relative to the crimes, and yet don't seem to be a deterrent. I keep seeing the same men placed in irons over and over.

Did Navy ships have their own unique precedents? If so, how interesting that it wasn't uniform.

Your lot had it easy.

On Jamestown they used the cat and the colt^†.
Thoughtfully, they had a special cat for the boys.
Despite official changes in the rules (Brief History of Punishment by Flogging in the US Navy), they hadn't totally changed their ways on Jamestown even by 1877.

---

^†COLT. A short piece of rope with a large knot at one end, kept in the pocket for starting skulkers.
From The Sailor's Word-Book, by Admiral W. H. Smyth, 1867

You're right: By 1879 things were pretty slack aboard Shenandoah.

As they were in soundings off Montevideo on December 17th, one guy--another Marine--was court-martialed for leaving his post and found not guilty.

At 10:15 call all hands to muster and read the findings and sentence of a Summary Court Martial in the case of Paul Schultze Private U.S.M.C. accused with deserting post. Specifocations not proven and the accused not guilty. He was then restored to duty.