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OCEAN WEATHER SHIPS
The following short description references the Ocean Weather Service before the advent of satellite
communications. John Van Dyke was a wireless operator and has provided the pictures and text which offer an insight
to this important service to both marine and aviation up to the middle of the last century. It all seems a long
time ago now but there may still be readers who will recall this service and have stories to tell of their own time
being thrown around in their bunk whilst 'on station' in the North Atlantic.
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| JOHN "THE PIPER" WINTER VACATIONING ON MALTA |
John Van Dyke, Amateur Radio calls GM0RYD / 9H1ZY, attended I.C.A.O.college, Bletchley Park
from 1956 to 1957 and was qualifed as Communications Officer. John spent time at Birdlip Radio Station 1957-1958 as
a Transatlantic H.F. Operator and at Prestwick Airport from 1953 to 1959. The job involved Air Traffic Control
work as an Oceanic Operator. His sea time was spent as Radio Operator aboard Ocean Weather Service Vessel "WEATHER
REPORTER", radio call sign MYDN from 1960 to 1975 . He is currently a Member of Royal Naval Amateur Radio Society
and the Malta Amateur Radio League.
While at 'home' in Largs, Scotland during the summer months of May to August his call sign is
GM0RYD. To get away from the often wet climate of Western Scotland he winters on the island of Malta and uses the call
sign 9H1ZY . John's son Gordon and family including two grandchildren are resident in Villa
Rica, Georgia USA. When on a visit to the U.S. John uses the amateur radio call sign prefix W4 during the months
of June and July. John speaks |Gaelic and is an accomplished player of the bagpipes. He is often asked to perform
at various functions on the Island of Malta such as St. Andrew's Day, Burn's Suppers while also teaching young and old
the 'secret' of the pipes.
The "WEATHER REPORTER" and "WEATHER ADVISOR" are pictured below at their berth
at the Ocean Weather Base in Greenock on the River Clyde in the fifties.
The Ocean Weather Service was created in 1947, and employed 10 ships . 4 British,
2 French, 2 Dutch, and 2 Norwegian,
The international Civil Aviation Organisation were the governing body. They decided
to cover the North Atlantic with the following Ocean Weather Stations
European manned stations
4YA... 62North
33 West
4YI....58 North 19West
4YJ. 52 North 20 West
4YK..45 North 16 West
4YM.
was stationed between Norway and the Faroes and was manned by Norwegian Ships.
U.S. and Canada had ships in the Western
Atlantic and Eastern Pacific Oceans.
The stations were established to gather weather information, and to act as Rescue vessels for both Aircraft
and Shipping.
The ship would remain on Station for 23 days, during which time it would launch a radio sonde balloon,
at 0000GMT and 1200 GMT, observing the variations in humidity, temperature and air pressure, this was transmitted to the ship
and transposed for transmission to land stations. At 0600 and 1800 an upper air balloon was launched to record the upper
air winds normally up to a height of 40,000 ft. This information was then transmitted as a CQ on 2 Frequencies simultaneously,
a QSL was received from GFT (Dunstable U.K.) and from NMH (Washington DC.) when on station Alpha
An actual weather
report was transmitted every hour on H.F. and a listening watch on 500KCS gathered the weather observations from passing Merchant
Vessels.
British ships were leased from the Royal Navy and still had some of the armament in place, (not armed) plus an
impressive aerial array, 4 H.F Whips, 2 M.F. wire antennas assorted vertical wires, 2 VHF and 2 U.H.F. Bird Cages!!!
Above, the "OAKHAM CASTLE". She was a typical vessel purchased from the
Royal Navy for the Weather Service having once spent her time escorting merchant ships on the North Atlantic during WW2.
During the Cold War, we were often shadowed by Russian Trawlers!!!
The crew signed articles and
came under the Merchant Navy Shipping Act.
The Meteorological Staff were employed by the Air Ministry and listed as supernumeries.
The
Radio Operators were 6 in number, 2 per watch when on station.
Aeronautical operator
H.F.
North Atlantic
Radio Telephone
V.H.F
121.5 and 126.7 Mcs, manual V.D.F
U.H.F
243Mcs (Military)
Aircraft
flying the Atlantic would request the following information
Ship's QTH , Radar Fix, Winds Aloft, and often a QSP of their
position report via H.F. to Oceanic Control Station either Shanwick or Gander.
Maritime Operator
H.F.
Broadcasts
on the hour Actuals, every Six hours Upper Air Reports. Also responsible for Commercial Traffic.
M.F.
Guarding
500Kcs, Broadcast Warnings to shipping, and the normal Commercial Traffic
Guarding 2182Kcs and 3023kcs (Military)
Updating
the position co-ordinates on the NDB radiating between 370 and 380kcs according to Station
In the late 50's, jet aircraft made their appearance crossing the Atlantic in 6 or 7 hours using Radio Telephone
for the position reports and Air traffic advisory No R.O.
Radioteleprinting came on line between
Control Centres.
Redundant Communications staff were either posted as Teleprinter Operators or were made redundant.
I
was made redundant in 1959 and joined the Ocean Weather Service in 1960. I joined the "Weather Reporter"/MYDN ex- H.M.S. Oakham
Castle, a Castle Class Corvette built in 1944
of 1,200 tons length 252 feet , and took part in the Battle of the Atlantic.
I
remained in that service until once again redundant in 1975. (the demise of morse key operated radio was ongoing)
For
much the same reason, The Jet aircraft were using sophisticated navigational equipment, and they were more reliable from a
engineering point of view than the propeller driven aircaft.
Weather Observations were now sent directly to GFT (Central
Forecasting Office U.K.) by either Fax or RTTY. .
Life aboard an Ocean Weather Station was
for the most part routine, except when we received mail courtesy of R.A.F Coastal Command. The Shackleton Aircraft
performed weather observations over the Eastern North Atlantic, and mail ws collected at their base, it was dropped in a canister,
with a drogue parachute attached, it survived the impact, I am glad to say.
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| OCEAN WEATHER SHIP W/T OFFICE |
The busiest station was Ocean Station Juliet, it was on the transatlantic shipping lane, and a favoured
route of the commercial aircraft.
Quietest, and coldest was Ocean Station Alpha, although we did get involved with
the Cod War in the 70's, Broadcasting Warnings to to trawlers in the vicinity of the Icelandic Waters.
My personal
story
I was 1957-9 a Communications Officer at the Oceanic Control Centre at Prestwick , Scotland.
Operating mostly
C.W. The aircraft in those days carried an R.O. and position reports and weather information were exchanged.
Flight
information, between Oceanic Airways Control Areas, Prestwick MBY. Gander VFG, New York WSY, and Iceland TFW also to the South.
Santa Maria CSZ were carried out on various C.W. frequencies depending on conditions.
We had several alerts concerning aircraft, the propeller driven aircraft were prone to engine failure, and
if one engine went out, would either divert or return to point of departure, a close raio watch would be kept in this case.
We
had two ditching , both involved single engined aircraft.
Firstly anAmerican Sabre Jet, on flight from Texas to Norway.
A
flight of six departed for the crossing, they had to take on fuel in flight, the last re-fuelling took place about 100nm south
of the Station, One of the aircraft was unable to achieved re-fuel and ditched.
Normally the Ocean Station
would be alerted whenever a flight of this nature was to take place, it did not happen.
An alert was eventually received,
and a Rescue Aircraft from the U.S.A.F. base at Santa Maria in the Azores arrived on scene and located the downed pilot.
Unfortunately,
his ejection from the plane was not successful causing his emergency beacon to become damaged, thereby extending the rescue
to 12 hours, and the pilot died of exhaustion.
The next Rescue was more successful, although it had it's hairy moments.
A
flight of four single engined aircraft, on a delivery flight from Gander VFG to South Africa via Santa Maria CSZ, The flight
had originated from Los Angeles LAX, and had re-fueled at Gander for the crossing.
On first contact only three aircraft
appeared on the radar screen, and the O.S. was informed that the fourth aircraft was 30 minutes flying time behind.
The
fourth aircraft made contact, but did not appear on the screen, Radio Contact was very scratchy on VHF, The Pilot was
quite confident that he was on track, ater being informed that he was on the qrong heading.
Radio contact was lost, and
an hour lagter the Alert came out from O.A.C. that the aircraft was overdue at Azores.
The ship immediately headed South,
and a rescue aircraft from Santa Maria located the flight. And decided due to the fuel situation, the best course was
to head for the Ocean Station.
The flight had compass failure, and was guided to the ship. Where a foam flare
path had been laid in readiness.
However the pilot ditched 20 nm short of the flare path, ater having trouble
opening the canopy ready for ditching.
On arrival the ships launch was able to go alongside the dinghy and the pilot
was rescued without even getting wet, he was grateful of course, but slightly disappointed when he realised, he would be a
guest of The Queen until we docked in Greenock Scotland 10 days later.
Our commercial traffic tally went up considerably
for that voyage!!!! (He was a professional airline pilot on vacation)
Two ships remained after 1975, carrying 3 Meteorologists
and one Radio Officer
The Service was terminated in 1980, by which time the Weather Satellites were in orbit, Forecasting
the weather had entered another stage.
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