Shipyard Page. Example transcription, general questions & answers

[AvastMH]

The basic principle of OldWeather Whaling....
The reason for this project is that it is very hard to automatically sort the navigation and ice (and other specific items) from blocks of text in the hand-written log books. Having those details pulled out and associated by line with date/time/position and page url offers the most effective means of turning text into actionable data that can be sorted in all kinds of ways.


If you have a doubt about an entry you can always come back to this principle, and/or ask for help in this Shipyard page.

Additional information found can typically include the following which are entered on the remarks worksheet.
natural phenomena (volcanoes, kelp, sun spots, auroras)

• the names of other ships seen or visited and which must be recorded
• crew names
• reports of ice from other ships
• whaling details
• other animals seen

Where to start then?

• Transcribing: capturing the log details, and information resources which is a 'must read' before you start transcribing
• Transcribing: managing your recording workbook

Have fun while you work and please do enjoy the help that is always available here from the moderators, in fact from everyone. And do also feel welcome to join in some of the lighter hearted side of OldWeather in the forum found in the Dockside Cafe under Shore Leave.

You will also bump into the OldWeather Arctic project which also extracts weather and ice details from the ships of the US Navy and Coast Guard. Your help with OldWeather Arctic would also be most welcome!

[AvastMH]

Welcome on board the Bark 'California' on voyage from the 4th December 1894 to the 7th November 1895
This ship has a 'twin' log book: California 1894 - 1895 KWM 37 Link to KWM shipyard

Here you will find an example transcription of details
This is also a place to ask questions and request help with oddities in the log
You can bring the ship to life by sharing interesting finds from the log pages and other information about the ship

General help with marking and transcribing whaling logs
Weather and ice records from the whaling ships of the USA which contains the following 'must read' topics...

• START HERE. General outline, the project and how to help
• Transcribing: capturing the log details, and information resources
• Transcribing: managing your recording workbook

Tip: use ctrl+Pgup or ctrl+PgDn to quickly swap between the different worksheets as you move through start, primary, weather, and remarks sheets to record your findings

Treasure trove of information in the Library
Over the years this forum has accumulated a broad spectrum of detailed information which is kept in the Library
Please do take time to visit the Library because it will afford you a great deal of help. However, do feel welcome to ask questions at any time.

Help with images

• If you want to query some text please supply the page reference (the reference changes as you view the middle of a page), and an image of the text if you wish. Help for manipulating/posting images can be found in Posting Links and Images (A Guide). If you have any problems with imaging this is the board to post that question.
• Accessing pale images. The example page used below, opened through the 'Irfan' program, 'color correction' and adjust the brightness, saturation, and gamma correction. You may have your own program for adjusting brightness and contrast. Here are the before and after images using Irfan Click to see them at full size.
  

Names of the crew
Names of the crew and notes of other ships mentioned or visited can also be recorded. For this voyage, a list of Ships Met and the date are very important, so please visit: California, crew and ships met

To find the shipyard pages for other whalers
Link: Find your ship, & the full list of ships logbooks for OWW

Moving through the log pages
You can walk through the log pages in chronological order. All you have to do is increment the number at the end of the link:
rj5_nicholson_97r-0419.html, rj5_nicholson_97r-0420.html, rj5_nicholson_97r-0421.html etc.

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Providence Public Library (PPL) shows two pages per url reference. Open the image below in a new tab to see it full size. The right hand page has been transcribed to help you to be familiar with the writing.
When viewing the archive image you can increase the size by using 'ctr+', and 'ctrl-' to decrease the image.
Thursday August 22nd 1895 to Monday 26th August 1895




Here is a transcription of the page on the right of the image of the log pages above.

Simple transcription	Phrases of text bracketed, ready for columns
Thursday Aug 22nd Still at anchor. At noon got a breeze from the N West, took the anchor and started to the S West among scattering ice. The Alice Knowles, Bear, and a Brig in sight.	Thursday [Aug 22nd] Still [at anchor]. At [noon] got a [breeze from the N West], [took the anchor] and started [to the S West] [among] [scattering ice]. [The Alice Knowles, Bear, and a Brig in sight].
Friday Aug 23rd Lat 69.58 N Long 165.12 W Begins with a fresh breeze from the NNEast. Steering to the South to get out of the ice. At 3 AM got out of the ice, and luffed to the wind to the westward. come in foggy. At 7 AM steered NWest, at 3 PM luffed to the wind heading NNWest saw scattering peices of ice.	Friday [Aug 23rd] [Lat 69.58 N] [Long 165.12 W] [Begins] with a [fresh breeze from the NNEast]. [Steering to the South] [to get out] of the [ice]. At [3 AM] [got out] of the [ice], and [luffed to the wind] to the [westward]. [come in foggy]. At [7 AM] [steered NWest], at [3 PM] [luffed to the wind] [heading NNWest] saw [scattering peices of ice].
Saturday Aug 24th Begins with a light breeze from the NE. wind hauled to the W. SWest heading to the NWest. Saw scattering ice. Spoke the Brig Hidalgo.	Saturday [Aug 24th] [Begins] with a [light breeze from the NE]. [wind hauled to the W. SWest] [heading to the NWest]. Saw [scattering ice]. [Spoke the Brig Hidalgo.]
Sunday Aug 25th Light winds from all points of the compass. Ship near the ice. The Hidalgo in sight.	Sunday [Aug 25th] [Light winds from all points of the compass]. Ship [near the ice]. [The Hidalgo in sight.]
Monday Aug 26th Lat 70.55 N. Long 165.58 W Today light baffling winds, off an on to the ice. Gammed the Brig Hidalgo. At 9 PM breezed up from the E. SEast. Steered off W. SWest.	Monday [Aug 26th] [Lat 70.55 N.] [Long 165.58 W] [Today] [light baffling winds], [off an on to] the [ice]. [Gammed the Brig Hidalgo]. At [9 PM] [breezed up from the E. SEast]. [Steered off W. SWest].

Notes

• Do NOT use the pre-printed date in on the log pages. It was a common practice to use old books to save costs.
• Please see notes in Handwriting Help and Spelling for any curiosities of handwriting.
• There is another hand for the period 11th January to 26th January 1895 inclusive:
  
• A small number of pages are incompletely scanned, or have breaks in the scan (see the next image). We will attempt to correct these 'slips', and those efforts will be posted in this topic.
  Mid July 1895
  

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Here is a transcription of the above log page. Click on the worksheet images below to see them at full size in a new browser tab

Start worksheet
If you discover any metadata in the logbook please enter it on this page. Metadata means 'data about data'. See under 'Weather' at rows 32 and 33. For example, if you see that the temperature is in Celsius or Centigrade, that fact should be transcribed as metadata.

Click on the worksheet images below to see them at full size in a new browser tab.

Start worksheet


Primary worksheet


Weather worksheet


Remarks worksheet



Notes

• 'Civil Time' is noted, and is entered on each START Sheet by 'Notes:'.
• There are three pages with faulty scanning. These are shown below in following posts.
• Please note any comments about the extremity of the weather or ice or experience in the topic Extreme comments from logs. Weather, ice, seas

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Warning: AUTOFILL function between worksheets.
Do not drag and drop the date or time on any of the worksheets because you may disrupt the autofill function.
If you are unsure that the autofill is in proper order you can check by pressing two keys on your keyboard.
You are certainly welcome to ask for help with this action.

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The remainder of this topic is for you. Ask questions and share interesting discoveries with us to make these logs live.

[AvastMH]

Mis-scanned page - reconstructed as far as possible.
14-22nd April inc 1895
http://pplspc.org/nicholson/rj5_nichols ... -0409.html

[AvastMH]

Mis-scanned page - reconstructed as far as possible.
http://pplspc.org/nicholson/rj5_nichols ... -0425.html
Sunday Sept 29th and Friday Oct 4th 1895

[AvastMH]

Partial scan only:
http://pplspc.org/nicholson/rj5_nichols ... -0426.html
Oct 5th to and inc Oct 13th

[AvastMH]

At the start of the log there is a page of calculations:

'How to calculate observations...'
http://pplspc.org/nicholson/rj5_nichols ... -0292.html
http://pplspc.org/nicholson/rj5_nichols ... r-0292.jpg

The references to these have been noted in one of the transcription workbooks.

[Randi]

Finding longitude by the setting sun:
The method outlined above 'longitude by setting sun' does not work -- indeed, I went looking in the old Bowditch and even 'Wrinkles in Navigation' of 1899 just for due diligence but not found, though plenty of warnings about low-level sights (< 10 degrees) and how to correct for refraction using air temp and barometer. I remember the idea seemed reasonable back when I was a young deck officer still mastering the art of celestial navigation, and even tried it out, but of course got no useful result except for some acidic comments from the old man, like if it was that easy why was there even a longitude prize (we were all reading Sobel's 'Longitude' on that voyage). [Kevin]

[AvastMH]

Finding longitude by the setting sun:
The method outlined above 'longitude by setting sun' does not work -- indeed, I went looking in the old Bowditch and even 'Wrinkles in Navigation' of 1899 just for due diligence but not found, though plenty of warnings about low-level sights (< 10 degrees) and how to correct for refraction using air temp and barometer. I remember the idea seemed reasonable back when I was a young deck officer still mastering the art of celestial navigation, and even tried it out, but of course got no useful result except for some acidic comments from the old man, like if it was that easy why was there even a longitude prize (we were all reading Sobel's 'Longitude' on that voyage). [Kevin]

Well remembered - do you think that it might have been this log that raised this response form Kevin please? I do recall seeing something like this at some point (too many log books have floated past my eyes ).

[Randi]

Yup!

A fascinating page of calculations from the Whaler California in 1892. Her logs are impeccable and we even get latitude and longitude on many days.

Instructions to 'Find the longitude by the setting sun':



If I find more of these useful calculations I will add them here

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It turns out (see Kevin's information below) that this is not good - don't use it unless you wish to recreate something like the Bermuda Triangle

[AvastMH]

It's the same logbook. Oh my. That's funny. The book is big and has a few years in it.
Even funnier that it was me that posted it in the first place - well remembered Randi!