# Obs



## endure (Apr 16, 2007)

Anyone got a prize for sending in your OBS? I've still got a Cassell's dictionary that the Met Office gave me in 1980.


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## Troppo (Feb 18, 2010)

Not a thing.


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## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

Don't start me on that one. Grrrrrr!

John T


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## John Briggs (Feb 12, 2006)

Yep! See attached.


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## richardwakeley (Jan 4, 2010)

I have three. Times Atlas and a Pears Encyclopaedia from Bracknell dating from the 70s in Bluies, and quite a nice certificate from Hong Kong Observatory from the 80s in Jardines. Sorry JT, I know you didn't get a barometer, and Capt JB, you had better keep yours under lock and key if JT is in town.


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## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

I was in the Post Office at Port Douglas, N. Queenslqnd, the other day and they had a working barograph on display, together with their recording of the pressure of Cyclone Yasi in 2011 (it went down to about 930 mb). By the time I got back to the Post Office with a bigger back pack, they'd closed. Bummer!

John T


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## Supercargo (Mar 15, 2014)

I was awarded 'World Atlas & Gazetteer' in 1993 for OBS sent from 'Merchant Premier' and 'Merchant Principal' (Denholm's).


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## Supergoods (Nov 25, 2007)

I still have two of them:
University Atlas 1964 for MV Cornwall in 1964
Abyss 1965 for SS Paparoa in 1966
The second one still has the sticker, although the glue has failed, while the atlas has only the glue marks where it used to be.
The third mates got the books by voyage, the masters got the barographs for a certain number of voyages or years.
Ian


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## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

Correction .... Master's got their barographs by sailing with conscientious officers.

John T


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## M29 (Apr 20, 2007)

trotterdotpom said:


> Correction .... Master's got their barographs by sailing with conscientious officers.
> 
> John T


Yes John.
At the beginning of what turned out to be a 9 month voyage, 3rd mate said to me "have you ever won a met office prize?"
"no" says I.
"Well we'll have to get you one" 
So we went overboard, photgraphing sea birds, flying fish, cloud formations, sea weed etc etc. All Obs sent by me as near time as possible. The obs log was a work of art.
Sure enough, a few months after signing off, a nice Collins Atlas turned up with a sticker in the front "for services rendered etc". Heard later that the mates received similar but that the Old Man got a barometer and he used to complain that me sending the OBS interfered with his listening of the World News on BBC. In fact, he came in the Radio Room one day and ordered me to stop sending!!
Entry in OBS log. "OBS not sent", next entry by 3rd mate "Sparky in a huff!"

Best Wishes 

Alan


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## Troppo (Feb 18, 2010)

Ha ha ha!

I hope you put an entry in the log and asked the OM to sign it...


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## Bill.B (Oct 19, 2013)

Yep. Got the Parks of Canada for Swiftness reporting in 75.
Nice book and a pleasant surprise.
Bill B


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## david.hopcroft (Jun 29, 2005)

Never received anything myself for sending Obs, but seem to remember a barometer arriving at GKZ for the copious amounts we received. 

If it was quiet on 500, and you went out with a 'diddy dah dah diddit' GKZ, you could almost guarantee a Russian would answer offering an OBS. 

At sea I remember 9LL would ask you for the previous 3 or 4 you had.

David
+


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## J. Davies (Dec 29, 2010)

Never :-(((

But on every ship I sailed we got an AMVER cert.


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## MikeK (Jul 3, 2007)

Got the Life Magazine book about ships (!) from the Hong Kong Observatory when serving with Jardines

Mike

Just had a dig round after reading Bill Greig's post below. Still got my copy too ! Life Science Library 'Ships' Bit of paper stuck inside cover says it was presented to me whilst serving as second Officer in the SS Eastern Queen 1968 ! How to feel older in an instant !


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## Bill Greig (Jul 4, 2006)

Got a book "The History of Ships" after a trip on the Heythrop/GRYJ. Still got it.
Bill


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## andysk (Jun 16, 2005)

I got the Cassells dictionary when with B&C, but can't remember which ship I was on at the time, probably one of the Clan R's. I still have it - somewhere !

I remember that one of the better stations on the Europe/SA route was TUA (Abidjan), who always answered on 500, and had good operators.

Never any problems with the OM and the BBC news, only from the lecky who was an amateur, and got very p....d off when I closed him down (a) for causing interference and (b) for disclosing message content to the rest of the squad .....

Andy


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## Rhodri Mawr (Jul 6, 2008)

Never received so much as a "thank you" note even though I spent many hours outside normal watchkeeping hours disposing of the OBS without undue delays.

The selection procedure as to who received an award seemed to be very hit and miss. Some got it - other equally deserving people got nothing.


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## duncs (Sep 8, 2008)

Rhodri Mawr said:


> Never received so much as a "thank you" note even though I spent many hours outside normal watchkeeping hours disposing of the OBS without undue delays.


Ditto!


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## Ron Stringer (Mar 15, 2005)

Rhodri Mawr said:


> Never received so much as a "thank you" note even though I spent many hours outside normal watchkeeping hours disposing of the OBS without undue delays.


I should think that most of us did the same. But to be honest, what else was there to do on the average, non-passenger ship? The R/O was hardly over-worked. So rather than go and read or play cards, what was the chore involved in staying on watch to clear the OBS?

Not to say that I ever failed to complain bitterly when the 2nd Mate (or whoever) brought in the OBS five minutes before the end of the watch!


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## IMRCoSparks (Aug 22, 2008)

Doing a south Pacific cruise on Caronia, we were encouraged to send all OBS messages to KOK, Long Beach as these messages were revenue producers for Mackay Radio - the IMR associated company. 
One of the KOK operators was really on the ball. He must have been interpreting as he typed them down. We got a few queries back, mainly about Lat & Long errors that really used to upset the bridge ( all master mariners) 
And yes, I still use the atlas


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## Stephen J. Card (Nov 5, 2006)

On one four month voyage I was trying to make bit of effort. The rough log was 'rough', but the fair copy was a bit of art. Self, 3/O and C/O did the obs and I then wrote down the fair copy.

For three days the mate was on day work so the master was doing for 4-8. The OM missed obs during on his watch. I was a little piss*d as it was otherwise perfect log.

When writing down the fair log I wrote 'OOW Engaged in Navigation'.

There they were the three missing obs.... 'OOW Engaged'.

Finally on the fourth missing Obs I wrote in comments....

"Captain on watch and NOT engaged in navigation.
Captain NOT interested in Meterology!"

The log went out to the office. To my knowledge the master DID get a barograph.... after left the company he joined the MET OFFICE!!!!


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## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

Ron Stringer: "Not to say that I ever failed to complain bitterly when the 2nd Mate (or whoever) brought in the OBS five minutes before the end of the watch!"

It got better when they scrapped that stupid 2 hours on, 2 hours off tied to GMT rubbish, Ron. Watchkeeping hours were set at ship's local time and had a degree of flexibility so you could organise yourself a bit round traffic requirements. Continental ships had been working like that since the year dot.

Having said that, I didn't worry too much about working past the end of a watch but, as I've said before, my blood boiled at the sight of magazine photos of Masters receiving their Golden Barographs when I knew that often they didn't even know that the ships were doing the observations. 

I bet they weren't aware that OBS messages had a higher priority than those on ships business either, not that most of us took any notice of that.

All in all, it would have been better for my ulcers if the Met Office didn't give out any awards. The system was corrupt as far as I'm concerned.

John T


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## Troppo (Feb 18, 2010)

Obs were part of the job.

I didn't get any special awards for sending QTCs....


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## James_C (Feb 17, 2005)

I've been recording Obs ever since a cadet, taking great care to get cloud types etc correct but have never had a single thank you from the Met Office never mind a prize. Then a few years ago our first trip 3/O starts sending Met Obs in over a period of 6 weeks whilst taking no interest in it whatsoever (I knew he was flogging certain parts of it), and then when he returns home a brand new atlas is waiting for him from the Met Office as a thank you.
I mean where's the justice? I can only hope the reason I've had hee-haw is that a nice barograph will be waiting for me on retirement!


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## Varley (Oct 1, 2006)

You mustn't act so anorak that they will think you already have all the kit!


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## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

I think the Met Office thought it might be an encouragement to people to do the observations and for them to be transmiied and not tossed in the rosie. As far as I know, most folk were quite diligent in their OBS duties, despite the fact that most of them never received any recognition. I do know, from chatting with Met Men, that they considered the ships' reports very valuable.

My beef is that the Old Men who didn't know what an OBS form looked like got all the cudos. 

Troppo, there was an award system of sorts in Australia too but it was small potatoes compared with the UK. 

John T


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## richardwakeley (Jan 4, 2010)

I have another idea about this. The OM may have got his barograph without doing much, but just think about all those years when he was cadet ,3rd mate, 2nd mate and chief mate, doing the obs every watch and got sweet FA unless the sparky was keen on sending them - like me.


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## richardwakeley (Jan 4, 2010)

Do you remember the sea water temperature bucket? We used to be drinking on the prom deck below the bridge wing, and pour hot water or ice into it as the 3rd mate or cadet hauled it up.


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## 5TT (May 3, 2008)

I noticed on one ship that the previous R/O had sent all the OBS to WPB. Curious, I tried to look it up but no such station existed, can only think it must have been Waste Paper Bin.
OBS messages were handy though, one would never call up GKA and ask QRU?, but if I was expecting traffic and the next traffic list was an hour or so away I'd slip them an OBS no matter where in the world I was, that'd get me in the queue if there was anything. Sometimes I'd be lucky and get the traffic straight away, other times it was "R1 QTC2 QRY(whatever) GKD" but at least I had a head start on the mad rush following the traffic list.

= Adrian +


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## Shipbuilder (Jun 30, 2005)

I got books every year for the last 13 years of sea service! I guess it was long service that got the awards more than anything else. In most years the POO (principal observing officer) and the captain got nothing! In 32 years at sea, I never sailed with a captain who got a barograph. If they got anything at all, it was a book, similar to what I got!B\)
In my final year, the funny thing was that they stuck an OBS satcom on the bridge and the deck officers took OBS every watch and sent them themselves - I was not involved at all, but I still got my prize at the end of it!(Jester)
Bob


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## sparks69 (Dec 18, 2005)

The best thing about OBS was being able to look into a girl's eyes and tell weather........


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## MikeK (Jul 3, 2007)

richardwakeley said:


> Do you remember the sea water temperature bucket? We used to be drinking on the prom deck below the bridge wing, and pour hot water or ice into it as the 3rd mate or cadet hauled it up.


One dark night in the China Sea, I hauled in the bucket (old canvas type) and nearly filled my shorts when the torch revealed a gleaming silver beasty coiled in the bottom ! Turned out to be a live flying fish about 8 inches long, which was duly launched from the bridge wing in a high altitude test flight ! Naturally a note was made in the OBS book.


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## BeerSailor (Oct 18, 2006)

I received four books, Atlas, Dictionary, Pear's Encyclopaedia and The Wreck Detectives. Three of these were while on 'Westmorland' over 6 voyages so makes you wonder whether the Met Office kept records of awards. NZS were very keen on OBS reporting but when the fleet was absorbed into P & O interest seemed to fade and missing reports or flogging them from the comfort of the chartroom became more frequent.


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## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

sparks69 said:


> The best thing about OBS was being able to look into a girl's eyes and tell weather........


 Chris, you old romantic. Something better than a barograph!

John T


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## MikeK (Jul 3, 2007)

trotterdotpom said:


> Chris, you old romantic. Something better than a barograph!
> 
> John T


Certainly tell if the pressure was rising !(Smoke)

Mike


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## Varley (Oct 1, 2006)

5TT said:


> I noticed on one ship that the previous R/O had sent all the OBS to WPB. Curious, I tried to look it up but no such station existed, can only think it must have been Waste Paper Bin.
> OBS messages were handy though, one would never call up GKA and ask QRU?, but if I was expecting traffic and the next traffic list was an hour or so away I'd slip them an OBS no matter where in the world I was, that'd get me in the queue if there was anything. Sometimes I'd be lucky and get the traffic straight away, other times it was "R1 QTC2 QRY(whatever) GKD" but at least I had a head start on the mad rush following the traffic list.
> 
> = Adrian +


My first Director (a family firm, cheaper to dole out directorships than a manager's salary) used to annoy his secretary by putting discards into his 'out' basket marked WPB instead of just binning them. A Commander RN (Retd) one wonders if it didn't come from the Navy with him. A later in***bent had the habit of picking things out of the WPB unless they were torn up, admonishing for discarding first without ruining.


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## M29 (Apr 20, 2007)

Hi
We spent a long time in the Pacific trading between Japan and USA/Canada west coasts.
When contacting JCS with QTC's, he would ask if you had OBS. You would always get priority from him if you had an OBS on hand to send.

Best Wishes

Alan


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## marconiman (Jun 21, 2007)

Never received anything despite many hundreds sent. Always made sure they went. On N Atlantic run sent mainly to American CG, always appreciative as another N-- call sign would offer to take obs and did not keep you waiting, probably as Bracknell not involved no record from that vessel hence no prizes.

Remember one occasion on Dart Atlantic in particularly heavy weather plain language was added to the effect that waves were in excess of 90 feet, the code 0-9 being insufficient.


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## Naytikos (Oct 20, 2008)

On Inverbank we got caught in a cyclone while proceeding from Honiara to Noumea. The french met. office in New Caledonia asked for frequent reports so I got the mates to do an observation every three hours and wake me up to send it. (Radio room and cabin were across the alley from the chartroom). This went on for around 30 hours, the cyclone went off to annoy someone else and we arrived in Noumea.
Next day the master appeared waving a piece of paper the agent had just given him: 'what does this say, Sparks?'
It was a nice letter, in french, on headed notepaper thanking THE SHIP for the weather reports which had enabled the local authorities to track the storm etc, etc. I had it in my hand long enough to read and translate; the next time I saw it, it was framed and hanging on a cabin wall; not my cabin!


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## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

Can't beat the facts of life, Naytikos. You should have told him it said: The Captain is a fat badtard.

John T


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## McCormack_Robert (Nov 25, 2014)

Ron Stringer said:


> I should think that most of us did the same. But to be honest, what else was there to do on the average, non-passenger ship? The R/O was hardly over-worked. So rather than go and read or play cards, what was the chore involved in staying on watch to clear the OBS?
> 
> Not to say that I ever failed to complain bitterly when the 2nd Mate (or whoever) brought in the OBS five minutes before the end of the watch!


I had an arrangement with 2nd Mates - get the OBS to the Radio Room before the end of my watch and I would draw the weather map for them. (Worked every time, before the introduction of weatherfax.)
Robert.


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