South Eastern Australian Recent Climate History

Meteorological data from historical ship logs

Mitchell Black

Identifying historical ship logs

A catalogue of logs, journals, shipboard diaries, letters, and all

forms of voyage narratives,

1788 to 1988,

for Australia and New Zealand, and surrounding oceans.

Identifying historical ship logs

ABERCOMBY,1838Trading schooner, 143t, J.Butcher: Swan R, 12.2 – Mauritius. Journal by Thomas Mellersh, AJCP M reel 466

“Log of Logs” provides a brief description of the voyage of each vessel (timing, origin / destination) and the type of log recorded.

The different types of logs include:•Captain’s and Masters Log•Exploration Log•Surgeon’s Log•Passenger Journal

Constructing an inventory of ship logs for the Australian / Pacific region

• Identified all ships entering the Australian / Pacific region with AJCP references.

• A number of ships entered the Australian / Pacific region for a short period of time only (e.g. on trading routes or exploration further afield). These logs were noted, however particular focus was given to those ships that remained within the Australian / Pacific region for an extended period of time.

• All AJCP references were entered into a spreadsheet document, recording details including ship name, voyage dates, origin and destination(s).

Ship Name Origin Origin Date Destination Destination Date Journal Type AJCP Reel

AbercombySwan River,

Australia 12/2/1838 Mauritius ? Passenger M 466

Compiled database

336 AJCP references recorded for “Log of Logs” Volume 1:- 19 logs prior to 1800- 244 logs 1800-1850- 67 logs 1851-1988

Identifying a shortlist of logs for examination

• The identified AJCP references were then cross-checked with other archives of International Scientific expeditions

e.g. Clive Wilkinson (UEA): “19C Logbook and Ship Movement Directory”

– This provided additional information (e.g. the likelihood of instrumental data for the different shipping logs)

– A list of ‘more favourable’ ship logs were identified from the identified 336 AJCP Log of Log references

Short-listed shipping logs

Example Shipping Log HM Survey Vessel Bathurst, 1821-1822

An example of the AJCP microfilm contents: record for HM Survey Bathurst, June 1821 – July 1822

9 April 1822 H Th Ba 10 April 1822 H Th Ba Towards Bass Straight 1 Towards Bass Straight 1 2 61.75 30.34 2 61.75 30.26 Lat 41o 43' 11" S 3 Lat 41.7o 7' 57" S 3 Lon 137o 36' 54" E 4 62 30.33 Lon 140o 22' 59" E 4 61.75 30.28 5 5 6 62 30.33 6 61.5 30.28 7 7 8 61.5 30.33 8 62 30.25 9 9 10 62 30.33 10 62 30.25 11 11 12 61.75 30.32 12 61.5 30.24 13 13 14 61 30.31 14 60.5 30.24 15 15 16 61 30.29 16 61 30.24 17 17 18 60.5 30.28 18 61 30.24 19 19 20 60 30.28 20 60.5 30.24 21 21 22 61 30.28 22 60.75 30.27 23 23 24 61 30.27 24 62 30.26

Example Shipping Log – Data Digitization HM Survey Vessel Bathurst, 1821-1822

Digitising Instrumental Data

© Copyright The University of Melbourne 2008