Look at Life - North Atlantic Ocean - Weather Ships - April 1965
This video is another Look at Life Documentary from Volume 1 - Transport - and features the Weather Adviser - a UK Weather ship from April 1965.
In all conditions, special ships maintain a constant scientific watch on the weather.
History of the Weather Adviser
The Weather Adviser started life as HMS Amberley Castle and was launched on 27 November 1943. Built by S.P. Austin and Son Ltd in Sunderland she was commissioned on 24 November 1944.
She was taken over by the Air Ministry in November 1959 and then converted to Weather Advisor in 1960 at Blyth, Northumberland. She was commissioned and renamed Weather Adviser by Lady Sutton, wife of the then Director General of the Meterorological Office on 22 September 1960 at Greenock.
Weather Adviser was converted at Manchester Dry Docks Co to Admiral Fitzroy in 1976. The Refurbishment consisted of improvement to accommodation, provision of a new fully equipped modern bridge structure, the fitting of a completely new galley, conversion of the ships electrical power supply from dc to ac, automation of the boiler controls, installation of a new upper wind finding equipment and the complete re-equipping of the communications installation.
On 14 March 1977 Adviser was recommissioned and named Admiral Fitzroy by Mrs J Walsh, wife of the Provost of Greenock. She sailed from Greenock on her first duty to station Lima on 20 March 1977.
She was withdrawn from service in 1981 and scrapped in 1982.
When compared to the cost of unmanned weather buoys, weather ships became expensive, and weather buoys began to replace United States weather ships in the 1970s. Across the Northern Atlantic Ocean, the number of weather ships dwindled over the years. The last two British frigates were retired from ocean weather service by 11 January 1982, but the international agreement for weather ships was continued through 1985.
The International Agreement had 4 remaining weather ships across the Northern Atlantic. The 2 British Frigates had been refurbished (Adviser and Weather Reporter) as there was no funding available for new weather ships. Two other UK weather ships had retired.
Because of high operating costs and budget issues, the weather ship R was recalled from the Bay of Biscay before the deployment of a weather buoy for the region. This recall was blamed for the minimal warning given in advance of the Great Storm of 1987, when wind speeds of up to 93mph caused extensive damage to areas of Southern England and Northern France. The last weather ship was Polarfront, and run by Norway. Polarfront was withdrawn from operation on 1 January 2010.
Despite the loss of designated weather ships, weather observations from ships continue from a fleet of voluntary merchant vessels in routine commercial operation, whose number has decreased since 1985.
(I can remember whilst at sea sending in regular weather reports. They were sent daily whilst at sea - but I can't remember how many times per day).