Old Weather Forum

Once again, thank you for welcoming me to the Old Weather Forum. I am a Climate Science student from Brisbane, Australia.

I am undertaking a project digitising old ship weather logs with ACRE. The biggest learning curve for me is interpreting the handwriting and some of the symbols that were used. After a few posts, we decided to create a new topic as I may have a few questions about the 180 logs I am completing.

I appreciate all the future help.
Toby

Hi Everyone.

I am having trouble finding any basic information from the actual ship this log is from in 1892.
"the german ship, Freiburg"

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UkZQzj ... sp=sharing

I have only tried searching Google for this name and other variations. Are there any other places I should look at or methods I should try? I am looking for anything like an image, Wikipedia page, record, newspaper clipping, etc.

Regards,
Toby

I thought I'd tracked her down but the ship I spotted from the 'Ships List' website was built in 1899/1900. That can be a useful site as it includes fleet lists for companies from various countries.
I take it you've looked at the suggestions in the Old Weather Library section for Ships Names.
Another source if you have access is the Lloyd's list of ships which they insured. This can include ships from several countries but the years of interest to you don't seem to be on-line.
Good luck

I had taken a quick look, but the only one I found was the one studentforever mentioned.

The Old Weather Library section for Ships Names she mentions is here.

She could be this ship:
http://www.teesbuiltships.co.uk/view.ph ... l=FREIBURG
https://archive.org/details/HECROS1902S ... ew=theater

Edit: never mind, silly mistake, I had the year 1902 instead of 1892 in my head whilst searching.


Another source for research resources, quite an overlap with the OW library, though, can be found here: https://www.journeyplotter.nl/rl

Okay, so, sometimes you have to take the spelling of a ship name with a grain of salt. We're talking a German ship in 1892, right? I'm pretty sure that's the Friedeburg not "Freiburg." Here's a link

Hi tobesmb
I looked everywhere but the right place to see where I could see the data entry pages for the ACRE project but to no avail.
I am currently living in Australia and maybe interested in the project.

Can you point me in the right direction to learn about contributing to the project (that is when I am not doing OW data)

Stuart

There is a Bremen-registered sailing vessel, Freiburg, J Reitzenstein, Captain, listed for 1891-92. Built 1877.

https://archive.org/details/HECROS1892S ... q=Freiburg

Good job, Caro!

Given that she was formerly Pharos, this may show a picture of her.

Freiburg is mentioned in the Brisbane Courier of 12 July 1892:
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/3544810

Also in the Sydney Morning Herald of 2 July 1892:
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/13844528

Thanks all for your invaluable help, including the Lloyd's list of ships, the Old Weather Library section for Ships Names , and the other resources suggested. All are very helpful for the future.

This forum is fantastic, and I am looking forward to becoming more involved.

Toby

Hi Stuart

You can view the website here: https://www.met-acre.net/

At the moment, it is not available to be set up online. I use a spreadsheet, Google Earth, and an image viewer.

If you want to send me a direct message with your email, I can send it through to my Climate Science teacher, and one of the leaders of this initiative to get some further information to you, and perhaps get you set up.

pommystuart wrote: ↑Fri Jun 16, 2023 8:54 pm Hi tobesmb
I looked everywhere but the right place to see where I could see the data entry pages for the ACRE project but to no avail.
I am currently living in Australia and maybe interested in the project.

Can you point me in the right direction to learn about contributing to the project (that is when I am not doing OW data)

Stuart

Hi Everyone. I am back after taking a short break from my project to focus on my studies at university.

I am having some trouble interpreting some of the handwriting with the following log (still on the Freiburg). Specifically, the general remarks on:
20/5, 25/5, and 30/5.

It's the first time I've seen snow mentioned, very exciting!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UkZQzj ... drive_link

Your help is always much appreciated.

Regards
Toby

20/5 Calms and baffling winds, partly overcast
25/5 Heavy squalls with hail and snow. St. Elmo's lights.
30/5 From 8 PM to 4 Am a gale blowing from South, force 10.

I make the 20/5 as
Calm and baffling winds. partially overcast.
25/5 as
A gale blowing during night. shifting round to WSW
30/5 as
From 8pm to 4AM a gale blowing from South Force 10

(Off the watch the Bathurst 1000 car race on the TV for the next 6 hrs.
161 laps of a mountain circuit at up to 300km/h)

20/5 I'd go with Calms rather than calm and partly rather than partially.
FYI: baffling winds refers to winds of changeable direction.
https://core.ac.uk/reader/11760860

25/5
A gale blowing during night. shifting round to WSW
Heavy squalls with hail and snow. St. Elmo's lights.

It looks to me like both of these lines belong to the 24'th since the second is written at the top of the box for the 25'th rather than on the line.
Or possibly they both apply to both days?


When you need a break from the logs, you might take a look at Weather, sea, and ice terminology

On second reading partly looks better.
I went of course when I went from date to event, I think you are correct with "A gale blowing during night. shifting round to WSW" belonging to the 24th. and Heavy squalls with hail and snow. St. Elmo's lights. to the 25th.

All up not nice weather.

Many thanks to all, once again. I am extremely lucky to benefit from all your experience. I had no idea what St. Elmo's Lights were. That was very interesting to learn. Great explanation here: https://sky-lights.org/2013/03/04/qa-st ... -explained.

Thank you also, for the resources. I will definitely read and use them.

-Toby

Interesting article. Thank you.