The Shipping Forecast January 10th 2025
We celebrated the 100th anniversary of this slightly geeky but well-loved British institution, which after centuries of maritime disasters finally made safety at sea a priority. We delved into all aspects of its history and discovered that Admiral Robert FitzRoy is considered the real father of the Shipping Forecast and weather forecasting in general, for his work which began as early as 1854. Anne explained all the terms, so we are now aware of the difference between veering and backing winds and we are more familiar with the wind measurements on the Beaufort Scale. On a large-scale map we managed to pinpoint all 31 sea areas covering the waters around the British Isles. Gill told us “Sailing By” is the short piece of light music composed by Ronald Binge in 1963, which is used before the late Shipping Forecast on BBC Radio 4. We heard a recording of Murray Lachlan Young’s amusing poem, The People’s Shipping Forecast, an unusual take on the nautical bulletin, and Jenny gave us two examples of historical events, the Spanish Armada and the D Day landings, in which history would have changed forever but for the sea and weather conditions at the time.
Two books about the Shipping forecast
