Beyond the Frame 25/
A love letter to a poetic institution and details of a special competition.
What is over 160 years old, never more than 380 words, changes four times a day and is so deeply ingrained in British culture that a proposal to move it by 12 minutes prompted “thousands of letters of outrage, angry newspaper editorials and debates in the British Parliament?”
It is the Shipping Forecast. A tightly-scripted weather synopsis for sea areas around the British Isles, broadcast every day on BBC radio.
The Shipping Forecast for Sunday, 8th September, 2024
The Shipping Forecast
At first listen, the Shipping Forecast makes little sense; a random assortment of unconnected words and numbers, without introduction or explanation, read in a serious, steady, monotone.
When I heard the Shipping Forecast as a child, I assumed it was an oversight, a forgotten relic from the Second World War. I imagined the broadcasts were coded messages to the Resistance operating behind enemy lines. The inclusion of “German Bite” cemented my belief — only much later did I realise it’s actually “German Bight”, the sea area to the west of Denmark.
“German Bight; West Six to Gale Eight, decreasing Four to Six, Thundery Showers, Good, occasionally Poor.”
The two-minute radio broadcast provides mariners with a weather forecast, warning of impending high winds and poor visibility. But the ever-so-British delivery; steady, measured, and almost hypnotic; has attracted a much wider audience, many of whom are unlikely to ever put to sea.
“Viking; Cyclonic, becoming North-Westerly Seven to Severe Gale Nine, occasionally Storm Ten at first, decreasing Five to Seven later. Thundery rain, Good, occasionally Poor.”
The Shipping Forecast has been described as a “lullaby” and “a poetic reverie”.
Mark Damazer, controller of BBC Radio 4 explains:
“It scans poetically. It’s got a rhythm of its own. It’s eccentric, it’s unique, it’s English. It’s slightly mysterious because nobody really knows where these places are. It takes you into a faraway place that you can’t really comprehend.”
“Lundy, Fastnet, Irish Sea, Shannon; North or North-West Four to Six, occasionally Seven until later. Showers. Good, occasionally Moderate.”
As Jo Ellison noted in her Financial Times article, published to mark the centenary of the BBC broadcasts: “As an exercise in creative writing, the forecast is pure poetry: odd, that a project of hard science should now have been enshrined as art.”
Across Britain, the nightly broadcast at 00:48 ritually lulls many people to sleep.
“Poised somewhere between the highest finger beam of moonlight and before the birds start squawking, the forecast is a fixed point for insomniacs, easing the anxious souls into a more somnambulant world.”
There’s even a five-hour compilation of Shipping Forecasts, guaranteed to soothe even the most restless soul into a comfortable slumber.
An Inspiration
The Shipping Forecast has proved to be a generous muse. Literature, poetry, music, art, comedy and even video games have found their origins in the “nightly litany of the sea.”
The Shipping Forecast by Seamus Heaney
“Dogger, Rockall, Malin, Irish Sea:
Green, swift upsurges, North Atlantic flux
Conjured by that strong gale-warning voice,
Collapse into a sibilant penumbra…”
Shipping Forecast Playlist
I’ve compiled an eclectic Top Ten of Shipping Forecast songs for your aural delight. Each track either includes excerpts from the Shipping Forecast or makes reference in the lyrics. There were many, many more songs that could have been included.
I hope you will agree that any playlist which includes Blur’s “This is a Low’ (my personal theme song), and tracks by Radiohead, Tears for Fears, and Thomas Dolby is well worth a listen.
The Shipping Forecast by Mark Power
One of my all-time favourite Shipping Forecast projects is, unsurprisingly, a collection of photographs.
In the 1990s, Mark Power travelled to all of the Shipping Forecast sea areas and produced a beautiful collection of black and white photographs.
The captions for each photograph are the Shipping Forecast given at 6am on the day they were made.
The first two editions of Mark Power’s Shipping Forecast book quickly sold out and became highly sought-after on the second-hand market. Now The Shipping Forecast has been republished in a new, expanded edition.
I have one copy of the new edition, which Mark has kindly agreed to sign and personally dedicate to the winner of this rather special competition.
Competition
After trying — and failing — to invent a clever competition, I’ve concluded that, as so often, simplicity is the best approach.
Leave a comment. That’s it! I’ll include your name in the random draw.
An emoji will suffice, although if you’d like to share your favourite sea area name and explain why you like it, it’s possible that Neptune may bless you with good fortune.
(For the record, my favourite sea area is South Utsire. Why? Because “Utsire” is a word unlike any other and it has that “sibilant penumbra” from Seamus Heaney’s poem.)
Leave a comment for a chance to win a signed, personally dedicated copy of Mark Power’s The Shipping Forecast.
Should you prefer to purchase a copy of The Shipping Forecast for yourself or as a gift for a friend, you can order directly from Amazon.
Finally…
The Royal Photographic Society recently held a contest for members to submit photographs from the sea areas around the British Isles. You can enjoy the winning images on the RPS website.
This New York Times Magazine article entitled, “A Secret for Falling Asleep So Good it’s a British National Treasure” is an interesting read.
If you’re wondering why this week’s newsletter is a little delayed… well, I cannot say. I did listen to several hours of Shipping Forecasts whilst writing this edition and, inexplicably, felt an overwhelming desire to take a lot of naps but, really, it’s a mystery.
I wish you calm seas and fair winds. Go well.
(PS - if you found this edition interesting and want to click the “Like” icon, that would make me happy.)
Beyond the Frame 24/
Adventures in Noise. How to create a one-click Noise-Reduction preset in Lightroom Classic.
This post was such a joy to read and I was already forming a comment before I saw the incentive of the draw for The Shipping Forecast. I love the many reference sand links in your post, all of which I am going to luxuriate in at a slow pace.
My late father served in the Merchant Navy and this influenced his later life when he remained a keen sailor. I was brought up on the Shipping Forecast as we had to quieten when it was on, even if there was no imminent sail planned. It was just important to know. In 1977, my father and three friends decided to sail to Rockall, one of the well known shipping areas, a tiny rock in the Atlantic. They sailed there without the benefits of sophisticated tech but with maritime charts and instruments using celestial navigation. It was something he was incredibly proud of. for the rest of his life I wrote the account of his sail in a blog post the year after his death - https://feistybluegeckofightsback.wordpress.com/2014/02/09/celestial-navigation/
And just to say how much this has resonated, I was recently in Stornoway, reading the work of a poet originally from Harris (Maggie Rabatski) and the following lines in her poem "Two Old Sailors" made my heart stop:
... they drowse over day-late newspapers
dream far horizons
until tomorrow's midday
only the Shipping Forecast
to quicken
the blood."
(From Two Old Sailors by Maggie Rabatski in her collection "Down from the Dance"
Thank you for making my day with your wonderful post.
I don’t know how you write such creative newsletters. This one must have taken you ages but is so worth it. I love the mix of anecdotes, soundclips, music and of course all the fabulous photos. Mark Power’s journey is inspirational and the results makes me want to strive to find a project that I can throw myself into.
Biscay conjures naval battle scenes and wild weather but I think I’d like to nominate Fair Isle for keeping alive traditional crafts.
Thanks for the newsletter and I’ll try the shipping forecast tonight instead of the radio!