Share this: History of the Shipping forecast First issued in 1861 and broadcast on the BBC since 1924, the Shipping Forecast has become a cultural symbol and still serves a vital role providing gale warnings and sea-area forecasts four times a day. The Royal Charter Storm On the night of 25 / 26 October 1859 the British Isles were struck by a severe storm which became known as the Royal Charter Storm. The Royal Charter sank off Anglesey in a major storm on the night of October 25 - 26 1859. Of 500 souls aboard only 29 survived; it was the largest loss at sea of the year and provoked a significant reaction about the need to try and predict storms to prevent ships from leaving port straight into poor weather conditions. From the data which had been collected over the previous years, Vice Admiral Robert Fitzroy felt that he could give warning of approaching storms and designed a system of signals (which were lit at night) designed to give ships in port warning of approaching storms. The signals were hoisted at ports around the coast to warn those both in harbour and sailing past.

The Royal Charter Storm was instrumental in launching the start of the Storm Warning system which was the first attempt at putting into practice the science of Weather Forecasting, which was pioneered and developed by Admiral Robert Fitzroy the founder and first director of the Meteorological Office. The Meteorological Office was founded under the leadership of Admiral Fitzroy in 1854 with the purpose of looking into weather at sea but not forecasting, merely attempting to understand it better with the hope of being able to better safeguard life and property at sea. Self recording anemometers (which measure wind speed and direction) were positioned at various locations around the Atlantic Ocean most used by shipping (the earliest being Bermuda and Nova Scotia in 1859). Log books were also returned from ships travelling to all parts of the world from which data on pressure, sea temperature, currents, winds and various other meteorological data were extracted and collated in hopes of finding patterns and improving understanding of weather at sea. The whole system depended on Telegraph. Observations were sent from locations around the British Isles to the Met Office in London. Using these FitzRoy and his staff issued warnings to the coasts (where necessary) also be telegraph and then the relevant signal was hoisted.

The earliest forecasting system in the world Permission to go ahead was given on 6 June 1860 and the first forecast was given on 6 February 1861. It is believed that this was the worlds first national forecasting system and the Storm Warnings went on to be known as the Shipping Forecast - the Shipping Forecast is therefore thought to be the earliest national forecasting system in the world. After the death of FitzRoy in 1865 the Storm Warnings were stopped in 1866 but there was such public outcry about the inevitable increased loss of life that parliament was forced to restart them in 1867. Since restarting, the shipping forecast has been issued every day, regardless of sea conditions and its basic purpose of saving lives at sea remains unchanged from. The shipping forecast today The Shipping Forecast continues to be issued four times a day covering 31 sea areas around the UK from Southeast Iceland further north to Trafalgar covering the coast of Portugal. It is also updated online on the Shipping forecast and gale warnings . A cultural icon The rhythmic, measured pace and clear diction with which the Shipping Forecast is recorded have without doubt cemented the Shipping Forecast as a cultural icon in the UK.

Many listeners of the forecaster listen simply to enjoy the broadcast than act upon its content. So popular is the forecast it has been quoted in songs by Blur and Radiohead as well as featuring in the works of prominent poets such as Carol Ann Duffy and Seamus Heaney and was prominent in Danny Boyle's London 2012 Opening Ceremony. The Shipping Forecast's consistent broadcasting over nearly a hundred years caused a slight stir of controversy in 2011 when England closed in on retaining the Ashes and Test Match Special cut away to the scheduled Shipping Forecast a matter of moments before the final wicket fell. When the Shipping Forecast was finished its returned to Test Match Special and the game was all over, England had won. Last updated: Jul 16, 2015 11:29 AM BBC News | UK | Shipping forecast loses household name Sunday, 3 February, 2002, 15:32 GMT Shipping forecast loses household name Tha' she goes: Area name now part of radio history A name known to millions of radio listeners after appearing in broadcasts every day for 53 years has passed into history.

Finisterre ranks alongside Dogger, Fisher and German Bight as one of the most distinctive areas of sea included in the BBC's shipping forecast, but from Sunday at noon it will be heard no longer. By working with the meteorological services in other countries we are making it easier for listeners to interpret shipping forecasts Met Office spokesman The huge sector it refers to, off the north western tip of Spain, is being re-named after an international accord was signed by Britain, France, Spain, Portugal and Morocco to co-ordinate the names of their shipping areas. Finisterre - deriving from the Spanish 'finis terre', meaning the end of the earth - is also used by Spain for a different area of sea and they asked Britain to come up with a new name. The Meterological Office decided on FitzRoy after Sir Admiral FitzRoy, the first professional weatherman and founder of the Met Office in 1853. Broadcast by the BBC four times a day, the shipping forecast is crucial for seafarers but its soothing, rhythmic intonation of bizarre names has gained a wider fame and turned it into a British institution Explaining the change, Met Office spokesman Martin Stubbs said: "We operate on an international scale.

By working with the meteorological services in other countries we are making it easier for listeners to interpret shipping forecasts." The accord also means slight changes to the southern boundary of the Plymouth and Sole areas, and the northern boundary of Biscay and FitzRoy. For full details, click on the Met Office website link on the right of this page. See also: Shipping Forecast - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Shipping Forecast Jump to: navigation , search The Shipping Forecast is a four-times-daily BBC radio broadcast of weather reports and forecasts for the seas around the coasts of the British Isles . It is produced by the UK Meteorological Office (part of the Ministry of Defence ) and broadcast by BBC Radio 4 on behalf of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (part of the Department for Transport ). The forecasts sent over the Navtex system use a similar format, and the same sea areas. Because of its unique and distinctive sound, the broadcasts have an appeal beyond those solely interested in nautical weather.

The waters around the British Isles are divided into sea areas, also known as weather areas (see map below) [1] and many listeners find the well-known repetition of the names of the sea areas almost hypnotic, particularly during the bedtime (for Britain) broadcast at 00:48 UK time . It is regarded with affection by many listeners, and in the United Kingdom often arises in general knowledge quizzes and is the butt of many affectionate jokes. There are four broadcasts per day: 00:48 - transmitted on FM and LW . Includes weather reports from an extended list of coastal stations at 00:52 and an inshore waters forecast at 00:55 and concludes with a brief UK weather outlook for the coming day. The broadcast finishes at approximately 00:58, and is followed by a short goodnight message and the National Anthem . 05:20 - transmitted on FM and LW. Includes weather reports from a coastal stations at 05:25, and an inshore waters forecast at 05:27. 12:01 - normally transmitted on LW only.

17:54 - transmitted on LW only on weekdays, as an opt-out from the PM programme , but at weekends transmitted on both FM and LW. Contents Map of Sea Areas and Coastal Weather Stations referred to in the Shipping Forecast. Here are the sea areas covering the waters around the British Isles : Viking Southeast Iceland The areas were roughly in the shape described above by 1949. Modifications after that include the introduction of Fisher in 1955, when Dogger was split in two. Heligoland was renamed German Bight the year later. In around 1983 the Minches sea area was merged with Hebrides .[ citation needed ] [2] In 1984, the areas in the North Sea were coordinated with those of other neighbouring countries, introducing North Utsire and South Utsire and reducing Viking in size. Finisterre was renamed FitzRoy (in honour of the founder of the Met Office ) in 2002 to avoid confusion with the Spanish area of the same name. [3] Some names still differ; for example, the Dutch KNMI names the equivalent area to Forties after the Fladen Grounds .

In the forecast, areas are named in a roughly clockwise direction, strictly following the order above. However, a forecast for Trafalgar is found only in the 0048 forecast - other forecasts do, however, report when there are warnings of gales in Trafalgar. An extract of the area forecasts Problems listening to this file? See media help . The forecast, excluding the header line, has a limit of 370 words, and has a very strict format [4] : It begins with "And now the Shipping Forecast, issued by the Met Office on behalf of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency at xx:xx GMT today.". This normally follows this strict format, although some continuity announcers may read out the actual date of issue as opposed to the word "today". Gale warnings (winds of force 8 or more, on the Beaufort scale ), if any (e.g. There are warnings of gales in Rockall, Malin, Hebrides, Bailey, and Fair Isle). This sometimes follows the opposite format (e.g. There are warnings of gales in all areas except Biscay, Trafalgar and FitzRoy).

The General Synopsis follows, giving the position, pressure (in millibars ) and track of pressure areas (e.g. Low, Rockall, 987, deepening rapidly, expected Fair Isle 964 by 0700 tomorrow). Each area's forecast is then read out. Several areas may be combined into a single forecast where the conditions are expected to be similar. Wind direction is given first, then strength (on the Beaufort scale), followed by precipitation , if any, and (usually) lastly visibility. Change in wind direction is indicated by veering ( clockwise change) or backing (anti-clockwise change). Winds of above force 8 are also described by name for emphasis, e.g. Gale 8, Severe Gale 9, Storm 10, Violent Storm 11 and Hurricane force 12. (See Beaufort scale ). The word "force" is only officially used when announcing force 12 winds.

[4] Visibility is given in the format Good, meaning that the visibility is greater than 5 nautical miles ; Moderate, where visibility is between 2 and 5 nautical miles; Poor, where visibility is between 1000 metres and 2 nautical miles and Fog , where visibility is less than 1000 metres. When severe winter cold combines with strong winds and a cold sea, icing can occur, normally only in sea area Southeast Iceland; if expected, icing warnings (light, moderate or severe) are given as the last item of each sea area forecast. Examples of area forecasts: Humber, Thames. Southeast veering southwest 4 or 5, occasionally 6 later. Thundery showers. Moderate or good, occasionally poor. Tyne, Dogger. Northeast 3 or 4. Occasional rain. Moderate or poor. Rockall, Malin, Hebrides. Southwest gale 8 to storm 10, veering west, severe gale 9 to violent storm 11. Rain, then squally showers. Poor, becoming moderate. Southeast Iceland. North 7 to severe gale 9. Heavy snow showers.

Good, becoming poor in showers. Moderate icing. And most spectacularly, on 10 January 1993, when a record North Atlantic low pressure of 913 mb was recorded: Rockall, Malin, Hebrides, Bailey. Southwest hurricane force 12 or more. Icing can be a dangerous problem for ships; accurate forecasting can save lives by ensuring crews are prepared With the information provided in the Shipping Forecast it is perfectly possible to compile (and then interpret) a pressure chart for the coasts of North Western Europe. Extended shipping forecasts (0520 and 0048) also include weather reports from a list of additional coastal stations and automatic weather logging stations, which are known by their names, such as "Channel Light Vessel Automatic". These are the Coastal Weather Stations . This additional information does not fall within the 350 word restriction. ( RTÉ Radio 1 broadcasts similar coastal reports for Ireland ). Other maritime countries also use sea area maps but with local variations. For instance, the area that the British forecasts call Dover is referred to by the French as Pas-de-Calais .

[ edit ] Gale warnings In addition, gale warnings are broadcast at other times between programmes and after news; for example That was the news, and now 'attention all shipping', especially in sea areas German Bight and Humber: The Met Office issued the following gale warning to shipping at 2206 today. German Bight, west or northwest gale 8 to storm 10, expected imminent. Humber, west gale 8 or severe gale 9, expected soon. That completes the gale warning. When giving a gale warning the Met Office will indicate a time interval for when they expect the gale to occur. Imminent means that a gale is expected within 6 hours, Expected soon that a gale is expected within 6 to 12 hours and Later in more than 12 hours time. [ edit ] Frequencies The reason for choosing BBC Radio 4 for the Shipping Forecast is not simply because it is a speech-based channel, but also because it broadcasts via longwave on 198 kHz as well as FM , and the longwave signal can be received clearly at sea all around the British Isles regardless of time of day or radio conditions.

For this reason, until 1978 the Shipping Forecast was broadcast on the BBC Light Programme and then BBC Radio 2 , as they broadcast on longwave (200 kHz) and at those times the BBC Home Service and Radio 4 were on medium wave . The frequency changed to 198 kHz in 1989 when frequencies of LF and MF broadcast stations across Europe were changed under the reorganisation agreed in the Geneva Frequency Plan of 1975 [ edit ] Before closedown The last broadcast of the Shipping Forecast at 0048 each day is traditionally preceded by the playing of the musical piece Sailing By , a mellow string arrangement by Ronald Binge . This is only very rarely omitted, generally when the schedule is running late. Sailing By serves as a "buffer" to ensure mildly late running schedules do not impinge on the late forecast, as well as being a vital identification tool - it is distinctive and as such assists anyone attempting to tune in. The forecast is then followed by the National anthem and the closedown of the station for the day, with the BBC World Service taking over the frequencies after the BBC Pips at 0100.

[ edit ] "Mini" shipping forecast, maritime safety The Shipping Forecast should not be confused with similar broadcasts given by HM Coastguard to vessels at sea tuned into Marine VHF Radio Frequencies. HM Coastguard 's Broadcasts can only be heard by vessels or persons using or tuned into marine VHF radio frequencies, whereas the Shipping Forecast can be heard by anyone tuned into BBC Radio 4 . The Coastguard's broadcasts follow the same format as the shipping forecast using the same terminology and style, but the information only normally applies to the area sector or region covered by that particular Coastguard Co-ordination Centre (such as the Bristol Channel , for instance). Announcements of pending broadcasts by HMCG is given on marine Channel 16 VHF and would normally be announced along the lines of "This is Portland Coastguard, Portland Coastguard.... Marine Shipping Safety Information will now be Broadcast on Channel 23.... Portland Coastguard". As with the Shipping Forecast many people from a non-maritime background have been fascinated by this little known and very important service to the extent that they have bought handheld maritime radios purposely to listen to Coastguard Safety and Weather announcements.

It is probably for the same reasons outlined later in this article about the main shipping forecast that it has such a committed fanbase. [ edit ] Vocal characteristics The Shipping Forecast is intended to be read at dictation speed to aid those who wish to write down the information, although recent changes to the schedule have resulted in generic weather presenters reading the forecast in the early morning, which can mean dictation speed is not always adhered to. Occasionally, mistakes occur. For example on Friday 17 August 2007, the 0520 forecast and data, as read by BBC Weatherman Philip Avery, was in fact that for the previous day, and a special reading of the correct day's issue was given out at 0700 on 198 kHz Longwave, before rejoining the normal FM programming.[ citation needed ] This has occurred on other occasions and, when noticed, a repeat forecast is generally transmitted in a diversion from the advertised schedule. [ edit ] Influences on popular culture Due to its set rhythm, calm enunciation, and evocative names, the Shipping Forecast can sound quite poetic when broadcast. It is perhaps not surprising that it has featured in songs and poetry as a result.

" This Is a Low " on Blur 's album Parklife includes the lyrics: On the Tyne, Forth and Cromarty There's a low in the high Forties The song also contains references to Biscay, Dogger, Thames ("Hit traffic on the Dogger bank / Up the Thames to find a taxi rank") and Malin. Radiohead uses lyrics relating to the Shipping Forecast in its song " In Limbo " to represent a theme of being lost: Lundy, Fastnet, Irish Sea I've got a message I can't read The Young Punx sampled the shipping forecast as read by BBC presenter Alan Smith for their track "Rockall". The shipping forecast forms the entire lyric for the track, both used in its original form (yet rhyming and scanning) e.g. "Tyne, Dogger, German Bight. Humber, Thames , Dover, Wight" and also with the words re-edited into new orders to form new meanings and puns such as "expected to, Rock All, by midnight tonight".

Other popular artists who have used samples of the Shipping Forecast include Andy White who added the forecast to the track "The Whole Love Story" to create a very nostalgic, cosy and soporific sound, highly evocative of the British Isles; Tears for Fears , whose track "Pharaohs" (a play on the name of the sea area "Faeroes") is a setting of the forecast to a mixture of mellow music and sound effects; and Thomas Dolby , who included a shipping forecast read by BBC 's John Marsh on the track "Windpower". "The Good Ship Lifestyle", a track on the album Tubthumper by Chumbawumba , starts out with a listing of the sea areas — in the wrong order, however. British DJ Rob Overseer 's album Wreckage has a final track entitled " Heligoland ," where the Shipping Forecast surrealistically alternates between reporting the weather and the emotional states of an individual. The band British Sea Power entitled a B-side of their Please Stand Up single "Gales Warnings in Viking North". Beck includes a 27-second sample five minutes into the track "The Horrible Fanfare, Landslide, Exoskeleton" on the album " The Information ".

Experimental electronic musician Robin Storey , recording under the name Rapoon , sampled the shipping forecast for the track "Falling More Slowly" on the album Easterly 6 or 7 . The Prodigy sampled a short section of the shipping forecast in their song Weather Experience on their album Experience . [5] Manfred Mann's Earth Band extensively used samples of shipping forecasts as a part of the backing track to "Stranded", from their 1980 album, Chance. The Jethro Tull album Stormwatch features the shipping forecast in between verses of North Sea Oil. It is read by Francis Wilson , a TV weatherman who also reads the introduction to Dun Ringill on the same album. Silly Wizard includes a snippet of a gale warning from the shipping forecast in the closing instrumental of "The Fishermen's Song", which tells of the loss of a fishing boat in a North Sea storm. There is a three-bell change ringing method named "Shipping Forecast Singles". It was composed by Sam Austin and was rung to a peal in 2004 at St John the Baptist, Middleton, Warwickshire . Other three-bell methods by the same composer are named after various shipping areas.

[ edit ] Art and literature The Shipping Forecast has also inspired writing, painting and photographic collections, notably Charlie Connelly 's Attention All Shipping: A Journey Round The Shipping Forecast, Mark Power and David Chandler's The Shipping Forecast, and Peter Collyer 's Rain Later, Good. Their critical and commercial success is a tribute both to the time and energy people are willing to invest in artistic projects inspired by the shipping forecast, and the warmth with which the public regard this regular radio announcement. Seamus Heaney wrote a sonnet "The Shipping Forecast", which opens: Dogger, Rockall, Malin, Irish Sea: Green, swift upsurges, North Atlantic flux Conjured by that strong gale-warming voice, Collapse into a sibilant penumbra. The Carol Ann Duffy poem "Prayer" finishes with the lines: Darkness outside. Inside, the radio's prayer — Rockall. Malin. Dogger. Finisterre. Author Peter James in his novel "Looking Good Dead" has a character (nicknamed "The Weatherman"), a computer geek savant type, who memorizes the Shipping Forecast four times a day.

In encounters with other characters, when he can't think of an appropriate response, he recites the current Shipping Forecast. Sometimes very useful, it is observed. In the book A Kestrel for a Knave and its film Kes , the lead character Billy Casper calls out German Bight after the teacher reads out the name of a pupil called Fisher during the class roll call. Author Barry Hines then has Billy say erroneously that Cromarty follows German Bight. Tail between legs; atmosphere frosty; Spare room: five or six.” In an episode of BBC Radio 4 series Live on Arrival , Steve Punt reads the Shopping Forecast, in which the regions are replaced with supermarket names, eg " Tesco , Fine Fare , Sainsbury ". The sketch ends with the information, "joke mileage decreasing, end of show imminent". Geoff Lloyd 's show on Virgin Radio includes a feature called The Shitting Forecast, in which listeners are invited to call in and say what they have eaten during the day, and their bowel movements are predicted in the style of the Shipping Forecast.

[ edit ] Film and television Terence Davies ' film Distant Voices, Still Lives , a largely autobiographical account of growing up in Liverpool during the 1940s and '50's, opens with a shipping forecast from this period. All the characters in the ITV cartoon The Adventures of Portland Bill were named after shipping areas or coastal weather stations, with two exceptions - Eddy Stone, named after a lighthouse , and Ross, presumably so called as he was the best friend of the character Cromarty (a former Scottish county was called Ross & Cromarty). The same device is used for a group of minor characters in Jasper Fforde's 2001 novel The Eyre Affair . A recitation of the Shipping Forecast by actor Peter Serafinowicz features prominently in the Black Books episode " The Big Lock-Out ". In the BBC TV show As Time Goes By , the housekeeper of the house in Hampshire (Mrs Bale) occasionally mentions the Shipping Forecast. shipping forecast : definition of shipping forecast and synonyms of shipping forecast (English) This article needs additional citations for verification . Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed .

(May 2010) The Shipping Forecast is a BBC Radio broadcast of weather reports and forecasts for the seas around the coasts of the British Isles . It is produced by the Met Office and broadcast by BBC Radio 4 on behalf of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency . The forecasts sent over the Navtex system use a similar format and the same sea areas. The waters around the British Isles are divided into sea areas, also known as weather areas (see map below) [1] There are four broadcasts per day at the following (UK local) times: 0048 - transmitted on FM and LW . Includes weather reports from an extended list of coastal stations at 0052 and an inshore waters forecast at 0055 and concludes with a brief UK weather outlook for the coming day. The broadcast finishes at approximately 0058, and is followed by a short goodnight message and the National Anthem . 0520 - transmitted on FM and LW. Includes weather reports from coastal stations at 0525, and an inshore waters forecast at 0527. 1201 - normally transmitted on LW only.

1754 - transmitted only on LW on weekdays, as an opt-out from the PM programme , but at weekends transmitted on both FM and LW. The unique and distinctive sound of these broadcasts has led to their attracting an audience much wider than that directly interested in maritime weather conditions. Many listeners find the repetition of the names of the sea areas almost hypnotic, particularly during the night-time broadcast at 0048 UK time. Contents Southeast Iceland The areas were roughly as listed above by 1949. Later modifications include the introduction of Fisher in 1955, when Dogger was split in two. Heligoland was renamed German Bight a year later. Around 1983, the Minches sea area was merged with Hebrides . [2] In 1984, the areas in the North Sea were coordinated with those of neighbouring countries, introducing North Utsire and South Utsire and reducing Viking in size. Finisterre was renamed FitzRoy (in honour of the founder of the Met Office ) in 2002, to avoid confusion with the Spanish Finisterre peninsula .

[3] Some names still differ; for example, the Dutch KNMI names the area equivalent to Forties after the Fladen bank. In the forecast, areas are named in a roughly clockwise direction, strictly following the order above. However, a forecast for Trafalgar is found only in the 0048 forecast - other forecasts do, however, report when there are warnings of gales in Trafalgar. Broadcast format An extract of the area forecasts Problems listening to this file? See media help . The forecast, excluding the header line, has a limit of 370 words, and has a very strict format. [4] It begins with "And now the Shipping Forecast, issued by the Met Office on behalf of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency at xxxx GMT / BST today." This normally follows this strict format, although some continuity announcers may read out the actual date of issue as opposed to the word "today". Gale warnings (winds of force 8 or more, on the Beaufort scale ), if any (e.g. There are warnings of gales in Rockall, Malin, Hebrides, Bailey, and Fair Isle). This sometimes follows the opposite format (e.g.

There are warnings of gales in all areas except Biscay, Trafalgar and FitzRoy). The General Synopsis follows, giving the position, pressure (in millibars ) and track of pressure areas (e.g. Low, Rockall, 987, deepening rapidly, expected Fair Isle 964 by 0700 tomorrow). Each area's forecast is then read out. Several areas may be combined into a single forecast where the conditions are expected to be similar. Wind direction is given first, then strength (on the Beaufort scale), followed by precipitation , if any, sea state and (usually) lastly visibility. Change in wind direction is indicated by veering ( clockwise change) or backing (anti-clockwise change). Winds at or above force 8 are also described by name for emphasis, i.e. Gale 8, Severe Gale 9, Storm 10, Violent Storm 11 and Hurricane force 12. The word "force" is only officially used when announcing force 12 winds.

[4] Visibility is given in the format Good, meaning that the visibility is greater than 5 nautical miles (9.3 km; 5.8 mi); Moderate, where visibility is between 2 and 5 nmi (3.7 and 9.3 km; 2.3 and 5.8 mi) nautical miles; Poor, where visibility is between 1000 metres and 2 nautical miles and Fog , where visibility is less than 1,000 m (3,300 ft). When severe winter cold combines with strong winds and a cold sea, icing can occur, normally only in sea area Southeast Iceland; if expected, icing warnings (light, moderate or severe) are given as the last item of each sea area forecast. Examples of area forecasts: Humber, Thames. Southeast veering southwest 4 or 5, occasionally 6 later. Thundery showers. Moderate or good, occasionally poor. Tyne, Dogger. Northeast 3 or 4. Occasional rain. Moderate or poor. Rockall, Malin, Hebrides.

Southwest gale 8 to storm 10, veering west, severe gale 9 to violent storm 11. Rain, then squally showers. Poor, becoming moderate. Southeast Iceland. North 7 to severe gale 9. Heavy snow showers. Good, becoming poor in showers. Moderate icing. And most spectacularly, on 10 January 1993, when a record North Atlantic low pressure of 914 mb was recorded : Rockall, Malin, Hebrides, Bailey. Southwest hurricane force 12 or more. Icing can be a dangerous problem for ships; accurate forecasting can save lives by ensuring crews are prepared With the information provided in the Shipping Forecast it is perfectly possible to compile (and then interpret) a pressure chart for the coasts of North Western Europe. Extended shipping forecasts (0520 and 0048) also include weather reports from a list of additional coastal stations and automatic weather logging stations, which are known by their names, such as "Channel Light Vessel Automatic"; these are the Coastal Weather Stations . This additional information does not fall within the 370 word restriction.

( RTÉ Radio 1 broadcasts similar coastal reports for Ireland ). Other maritime countries also use sea area maps but with local variations. For instance, the area that the British forecasts call Dover is referred to by the French forecasts as Pas-de-Calais . The extended forecast also includes an inshore waters forecast. Boulmer is only included in the closedown version of the reports from coastal stations. Gale warnings In addition, gale warnings are broadcast at other times between programmes and after news; for example That was the news, and now 'attention all shipping', especially in sea areas German Bight and Humber: The Met Office issued the following gale warning to shipping at 2206 today. German Bight, west or northwest gale 8 to storm 10, expected imminent. Humber, west gale 8 or severe gale 9, expected soon. That completes the gale warning. When giving a gale warning the Met Office will indicate a time interval for when they expect the gale to occur. Imminent means that a gale is expected within 6 hours, Expected soon that a gale is expected within 6 to 12 hours and Later in more than 12 hours time.

Frequencies The reason for choosing BBC Radio 4 for the Shipping Forecast is not because it is a mainly speech-based channel, but because it broadcasts via longwave on 198 kHz as well as FM , and the longwave signal can be received clearly at sea all around the British Isles regardless of time of day or radio conditions. For the same reason, the Shipping Forecast was broadcast in the BBC National Programme until September 1939, and then after the Second World War on the BBC Light Programme (later BBC Radio 2 ) until November 1978: these services all being broadcast on longwave (200 kHz). When BBC Radio 4 took over the longwave frequency from Radio 2 on 23 November 1978, the Shipping Forecast "moved" to Radio 4 – although in fact it stayed just where it always had been, on the long wave. The frequency changed slightly to 198 kHz in 1989 when the frequencies of all LF and MF broadcast stations across Europe were adjusted under the reorganisation agreed in the Geneva Frequency Plan of 1975 .

Before closedown The last broadcast of the Shipping Forecast at 0048 each day is traditionally preceded by the playing of Sailing By , a light orchestral piece by Ronald Binge . This is only very rarely omitted, generally when the schedule is running late. Though occasionally played in full, it is common for only a section of the piece to be broadcast; that section being the length required to fill the gap between the previous programme's ending and the start of the forecast at precisely 0048. [5] More importantly, Sailing By serves as a vital identification tool - it is distinctive and as such assists anyone attempting to tune in. The forecast is then followed by the National anthem and the closedown of the station for the day, with the BBC World Service taking over the frequencies after the BBC Pips at 0100. "Mini" shipping forecast, maritime safety The Shipping Forecast should not be confused with similar broadcasts given by HM Coastguard to vessels at sea tuned into Marine VHF and MF Radio Frequencies. HM Coastguard 's Broadcasts can only be heard by vessels or persons using or tuned into marine VHF and MF radio frequencies, whereas the Shipping Forecast can be heard by anyone tuned into BBC Radio 4 .

The Coastguard's broadcasts follow the same format as the shipping forecast using the same terminology and style, but the information only normally applies to the area sector or region covered by that particular Coastguard Co-ordination Centre (such as the Bristol Channel , for instance). Announcements of pending broadcasts by HMCG is given on marine Channel 16 VHF and would normally be announced along the lines of "All stations. This is Portland Coastguard... Maritime Safety Information will now be Broadcast on Channel 23... Portland Coastguard". A similar broadcast on MF is initially announced on 2182 kHz, with a further frequency specified, e.g. 1770 kHz. It is worth noting here that VHF optimum range is approximately 30 nautical miles (NM), effectively line of sight, whereas MF range is much greater at approximately 150 NM, allowing ships in the Atlantic Ocean and North Sea to receive the broadcast. As with the Shipping Forecast many people from a non-maritime background have been fascinated by this little known and very important service to the extent that they have bought handheld maritime radios purposely to listen to Coastguard Safety and Weather announcements.

It is probably for the same reasons outlined later in this article about the main shipping forecast that it has such a committed fanbase. Vocal delivery The Shipping Forecast is intended to be read with clear diction and at a slow, measured pace to aid those who wish to write down the information. Occasionally, mistakes occur. For example on Friday 17 August 2007, the 0520 forecast and data, as read by BBC Weatherman Philip Avery, was in fact that for the previous day, and a special reading of the correct day's issue was given out at 0700 on 198 kHz Longwave, before rejoining the normal FM programming.[ citation needed ] This has occurred on other occasions and, when noticed, a repeat forecast is generally transmitted in a diversion from the advertised schedule. Influences on popular culture The Shipping Forecast has inspired a number of songs and poems.

Music " This Is a Low " on Blur 's album Parklife includes the lyrics: "On the Tyne, Forth and Cromarty There's a low in the high Forties" The song also contains references to Biscay, Dogger, Thames ("Hit traffic on the Dogger bank / Up the Thames to find a taxi rank") and Malin Head, one of the coastal stations . Blur's early tour film, Starshaped , also features extracts from the Shipping Forecast during the opening and closing credits. Radiohead used lyrics relating to the Shipping Forecast in their song " In Limbo " to represent a theme of being lost: "Lundy, Fastnet, Irish Sea I've got a message I can't read" The Young Punx sampled the shipping forecast as read by BBC presenter Alan Smith for their track "Rockall". The shipping forecast forms the entire lyric for the track, both used in its original form (yet rhyming and scanning) e.g. "Tyne, Dogger, German Bight. Humber, Thames , Dover, Wight" and also with the words re-edited into new orders to form new meanings and puns such as "expected to, Rock All, by midnight tonight".

Other popular artists who have used samples of the Shipping Forecast include Andy White who added the forecast to the track "The Whole Love Story" to create a very nostalgic, cosy and soporific sound, highly evocative of the British Isles; Tears for Fears , whose track "Pharaohs" (a play on the name of the sea area "Faeroes") is a setting of the forecast to a mixture of mellow music and sound effects; and Thomas Dolby , who included a shipping forecast read by BBC 's John Marsh on the track "Windpower". "The Good Ship Lifestyle", a track on the album Tubthumper by Chumbawamba , starts out with a listing of the sea areas — in the wrong order, however. British DJ Rob Overseer 's album Wreckage has a final track entitled " Heligoland ", where the Shipping Forecast surrealistically alternates between reporting the weather and the emotional states of an individual. The band British Sea Power entitled a B-side of their " Please Stand Up " single "Gales Warnings in Viking North". Beck includes a 27-second sample five minutes into the track "The Horrible Fanfare/Landslide/Exoskeleton" on the album The Information .

Experimental electronic musician Robin Storey , recording under the name Rapoon , sampled the shipping forecast for the track "Falling More Slowly" on the album Easterly 6 or 7 . The Prodigy sampled a short section of the shipping forecast in their song "Weather Experience" on their album Experience . [6] Manfred Mann's Earth Band extensively used samples of shipping forecasts as a part of the backing track to "Stranded", from their 1980 album, Chance. The Jethro Tull album Stormwatch features the shipping forecast in between verses of North Sea Oil. It is read by Francis Wilson , a TV weatherman who also reads the introduction to Dun Ringill on the same album. Silly Wizard includes a snippet of a gale warning from the shipping forecast in the closing instrumental of "The Fishermen's Song", which tells of the loss of a fishing boat in a North Sea storm. Shipping Forecast by the composer Cecilia McDowall was commissioned by Portsmouth Festival Choir and conducted by Andrew Cleary. It was first performed in June 2011.

[7] The work combines the poetry of Seán Street, the psalm 'They that go down to the sea in ships', and the words of the shipping forecast itself. There is a three-bell change ringing method named "Shipping Forecast Singles". It was composed by Sam Austin and was rung to a peal in 2004 at St John the Baptist, Middleton, Warwickshire . Other three-bell methods by the same composer are named after various shipping areas. Justin Sullivan , lead vocalist and founding member of New Model Army , put out a solo project album in 2003 called Navigating by the Stars. Featuring a nautical theme, the album samples part of the Shipping Forecast - on Track 03, 'Ocean Rising'. Art and literature The Shipping Forecast has also inspired writing, painting and photographic collections, including collections such as Charlie Connelly 's Attention All Shipping: A Journey Round The Shipping Forecast, Mark Power (of Magnum Photos fame) and David Chandler's The Shipping Forecast, Geoff Saunders' Reports from Coastal Stations, and Peter Collyer 's Rain Later, Good.

Their critical and commercial success is a tribute both to the time and energy people are willing to invest in artistic projects inspired by the shipping forecast, and the warmth with which the public regard this regular radio announcement. Seamus Heaney wrote a sonnet "The Shipping Forecast", which opens: "Dogger, Rockall, Malin, Irish Sea: Green, swift upsurges, North Atlantic flux Conjured by that strong gale-warming voice, Collapse into a sibilant penumbra." The Carol Ann Duffy poem "Prayer" finishes with the lines: "Darkness outside. Inside, the radio's prayer — Rockall. Malin. Dogger. Finisterre." Author Peter James in his novel 'Looking Good Dead has a character (nicknamed "The Weatherman"), a computer geek savant type, who memorises the Shipping Forecast four times a day. In encounters with other characters, when he cannot think of an appropriate response, he recites the current Shipping Forecast. In the novel A Kestrel for a Knave and its film adaptation Kes , the lead character Billy Casper calls out German Bight after the teacher reads out the name of a pupil called Fisher during the class roll call.

Author Barry Hines then has Billy say erroneously that Cromarty follows German Bight. Radio South Utsire, North Utsire, Sheerness, Foulness, Eliot Ness : If you will, often, eminent, 447, 22 yards, touchdown, stupidly. Malin, Hebrides, Shetland, Jersey, Fair Isle, Turtle-Neck, Tank Top, Courtelle: Blowy, quite misty, sea sickness. Not many fish around, come home, veering suggestively. That was the Shipping Forecast for 1700 hours, Wednesday 18 August." The BBC Radio 4 monologue sketch show One features a number of Shipping Forecast parodies, written by David Quantick and Daniel Maier , such as the following, originally broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Thursday 21 February 2008 : "And now with the time approaching 5 pm, It's time for the mid-life crisis forecast... Forties; restless: three or four. Marriage: stale; becoming suffocating.

Tail between legs; atmosphere frosty; Spare room: five or six." In an episode of BBC Radio 4 series Live on Arrival , Steve Punt reads the Shopping Forecast, in which the regions are replaced with supermarket names, e.g. " Tesco , Fine Fare , Sainsbury ". The sketch ends with the information, "joke mileage decreasing, end of show imminent". On the broadcast at 0048 on Saturday 19 March 2011, the area forecasts were delivered by John Prescott to raise awareness of Red Nose Day 2011 , a charity event organised by Comic Relief . The format then reverted to the BBC continuity announcer Alice Arnold for the reports on coastal areas. On delivering the area forecast for Humber, Prescott (who had represented the parliamentary constituency of Hull East for almost 40 years before retiring) slipped deliberately into his distinctive East Yorkshire accent - "'Umber - without the 'H', as we say it up there". Comedienne Marti Caine listed the Shipping Forecast as one of her eight records when she made her second appearance on Desert Island Discs on 24 March 1991.

[8] Film and television Terence Davies ' film Distant Voices, Still Lives , a largely autobiographical account of growing up in Liverpool during the 1940s and '50s, opens with a shipping forecast from this period. In an episode of the BBC sitcom Keeping Up Appearances , a soon-to-be-sailing Hyacinth Bucket calls over the telephone for an advance shipping forecast, even though the yacht she and husband Richard are to visit is moored on the Thames near Oxford. All the characters in the ITV cartoon The Adventures of Portland Bill were named after shipping areas or coastal weather stations, with two exceptions - Eddy Stone, named after a lighthouse , and Ross, presumably so called as he was the best friend of the character Cromarty (a former Scottish county was called Ross & Cromarty). The same device is used for a group of minor characters in Jasper Fforde 's 2001 novel The Eyre Affair . A recitation of the Shipping Forecast by actor Peter Serafinowicz features prominently in the Black Books episode " The Big Lock-Out ". In the BBC TV show As Time Goes By , the housekeeper of the house in Hampshire (Mrs Bale) regularly mentions the Shipping Forecast.

Mentioned briefly in the film Kes (see Art and Literature section above). A recording of part of the forecast is played over the opening and closing credits of Rick Stein 's 2000 TV series Rick Stein's Seafood Lover's Guide. The Shipping Forecast is heard in the November 2011 BBC 2 TV production "Page Eight" . At 48:25 in the production, as Johnny Worricker (Bill Nighy) drives through London, you can hear on the car radio "...North Utsire northerly becoming cyclonic 4 or 5..." As Johnny continues to drive listening to the South Utsire forecast, he passes Big Ben which shows the time 0152. Online The Shipping Forecast is published online by the Met Office and the BBC . The daily 0048 forecast is available online via BBC iPlayer . In 2008, an unofficial Twitter feed was created.

See also The Shipping Forecast: a Map of Britain's Splendid Isolation | Big Think The Shipping Forecast: a Map of Britain's Splendid Isolation March 21, 2016 by Frank Jacobs The general synopsis at midday: High west Sole 1028 expected east Sole 1019 by midday tomorrow. Low southern Portugal 1010 losing its identity. The area forecasts for the next 24 hours. Viking, North Utsire: Northwesterly 4 or 5, occasionally 6 at first. Moderate or rough. Occasional rain. Good, occasionally poor. The Shipping Forecast is quite possibly the most British thing ever. It’s quirkier than cricket, defiantly old-fashioned and ceremonial, and as reassuringly regular as Big Ben. Produced by the UK’s Meteorological Office, it's broadcast four times a day by BBC Radio Four. But it is more than mere maritime meteorology. For over 90 years, the Shipping Forecast has been a punctual reminder of Britain’s island status – a declaration of geopolitical detachment expertly disguised as a weather bulletin. Splendid isolation masquerading as shifting isobars.

And as such, one of the greatest examples of classic British understatement. If that isn’t an oxymoron. South Utsire: Northwesterly 5 or 6. Moderate or rough. Occasional rain. Good, occasionally poor. Forties, Cromarty: Northwest 4 or 5, occasionally 6 at first. Moderate, occasionally rough in northeast Forties. Rain or drizzle, fog patches developing. Moderate or good, occasionally very poor. Listing the weather conditions in 31 sea areas surrounding the British Isles, the Shipping Forecast is read out at 5.20 am, 12.01 pm, 5.54 pm and 00.48 am. The first and last broadcasts of the day also include reports from additional weather stations and inshore waters forecasts. The last one also includes an outlook for next-day weather across the UK itself. Forth, Tyne, West Dogger: Westerly or northwesterly 4 or 5, occasionally 6 at first. Slight or moderate. Fair. Good. East Dogger, Fisher, German Bight: Northwesterly 5 or 6. Moderate, occasionally rough.

Fair then occasional rain, fog patches later. Moderate or good, occasionally very poor later. Much of the Forecast’s charm derives from the – literally – outlandish names of the sea areas listed in the bulletin. The names derive from sandbanks (e.g. Dogger, Bailey), estuaries (Forth, Thames, Shannon), islands or islets (Wight, Rockall, Utsire), towns (Dover), or other geographic features (e.g. Malin Head, Ireland’s northernmost point). Humber, Thames: West or northwest 4 or 5. Slight or moderate. Mainly fair. Good. Dover, Wight, Portland, Plymouth: Variable 3 or 4. Slight. Fair. Good. One is named FitzRoy, after the captain of HMS Beagle, Britain’s first professional weatherman and the founder of the Met Office. The southernmost region, Trafalgar is only mentioned standard in the last forecast of the day.

The regions are always listed in the same order, starting north with Viking, between Scotland and Norway, and then proceeding in a roughly clockwise direction: Viking, North Utsire, South Utsire, Forties, Cromarty, Forth, Tyne, Dogger, Fisher, German Bight, Humber, Thames, Dover, Wight, Portland, Plymouth, Biscay, Trafalgar, FitzRoy, Sole, Lundy, Fastnet, Irish Sea, Shannon, Rockall, Malin, Hebrides, Bailey, Fair Isle, Faeroes and Southeast Iceland. Biscay: Northeast 4 or 5, increasing 6 at times. Slight or moderate. Fair. Good. Southeast Fitzroy: Northerly or northeasterly 5 or 6, occasionally 7 at first. Moderate or rough. Showers. Good.

The map shown here also lists the coastal weather stations mentioned in the Shipping Forecast: (1) Tiree, (2) Stornoway, (3) Lerwick, (4) Fife Ness, (5) Bridlington, (6) Sandettie Light Vessel Automatic, (7) Greenwich Light Vessel Automatic, (8) Jersey, (9) Channel Light Vessel Automatic, (10) Scilly Automatic, (11) Valentia, (12) Ronaldsway, (13) Malin Head A few others are mentioned only in the 00:48 broadcast: Boulmer, Milford Haven, Liverpool Crosby, Machrihanish Automatic, among others. Northwest Fitzroy: Northeasterly 4 or 5 becoming variable 3 or 4. Moderate. Rain later in west. Good. Sole: Variable 3 or 4, becoming southerly 4 or 5 in west. Slight or moderate. Rain later in west. Good. One of the Shipping Forecast’s attractions to others than fishermen and sailors is its poetic effect, the result of its very strict format and an arcane terminology, only intelligible to the initiated.

Each bulletin begins with exactly the same opening line, and follows the same structure. Preceded by gale warnings if necessary, a General Synopsis gives the position, pressure in millibars and track of pressure areas. Then follows the forecast for each of the 31 areas, sometimes with some areas grouped together if they have the same outlook. Each of these lists wind direction and strength, precipitation if applicable, and visibility (‘good’ for more than 5 nautical miles, ‘poor’ for less than 2 nm, and ‘fog’ for less than 1,000 metres). The whole thing never exceeds 370 words. Lundy, Fastnet, Irish Sea: Westerly 4 or 5 at first in east Lundy, otherwise variable 3 or 4. Smooth or slight, occasionally moderate in Fastnet. Fair. Good. Shannon, Rockall: Southerly or southwesterly 4 or 5, occasionally 6 in west. Slight or moderate, becoming moderate or rough. Rain later in west. Mainly good.

The gap between Radio Four’s last programme of the day and the final Shipping Forecast, at 48 minutes past midnight, is plugged with as much as necessary of ‘Sailing By’, an orchestral piece by Ronald Binge, otherwise famous for his arrangements for Mantovani. The repetitive waltz helps sailors find the right frequency. For the many landlubbers tuning in to the last Shipping Forecast of the day, the cozy number signals that it’s almost time to turn in for the night. Malin: Southwest 4 or 5. Slight or moderate. Mainly fair. Good. Hebrides: West 5 or 6, backing southwest 4 or 5. Moderate. Occasional drizzle. Good, occasionally poor. Thousands use the day’s last forecast as a lullaby. Adding to its hypnotic, soporific effect is the fact that it’s read out at a deliberately slow pace, to allow seafarers to make notes. The strange place-names and the weird jargon give the Shipping Forecast a magical shine. And perhaps they give the thousands tucked away safe in their beds pause to think about those out at sea at that very moment, in the dark, listening to the same bulletin.

The forecast is followed by God Save the Queen, after which it’s exactly 1 am, and BBC World Service takes over. Bailey: West backing south or southeast 5 or 6, decreasing 4 for a time. Moderate. Occasional rain. Good, occasionally poor. Fair Isle, Faeroes:West or northwest 4 or 5, occasionally 6 at first, becoming variable 3 or 4 at times later. Mainly moderate. Occasional rain, fog patches developing. Moderate or good, occasionally very poor. The Shipping Forecast has made a huge mark on music, literature and the wider culture. It inspired songs by Jethro Tull, Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, Wire, Blur, Radiohead, Tears for Fears, British Sea Power, Beck and the Prodigy, among others, and it was used in the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics. Nobel-prize-winning poet Seamus Heaney wrote a sonnet called ‘The Shipping Forecast’, and British Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy mentions “the radio’s prayer” in one of her poems.

The programme is used in books, films, tv series, and has been parodied countless times (once as ‘The Shopping Forecast’, listing UK supermarkets instead of sea regions). Southeast Iceland: Cyclonic becoming easterly or southeasterly 4 or 5, increasing 6 or 7 later in west. Moderate, occasionally rough. Occasional rain. Good, occasionally poor. Trafalgar: Cyclonic 4 in southeast, otherwise northerly 5 to 7. Slight or moderate in southeast, otherwise moderate or rough. Thundery showers. Good, occasionally moderate. Here is BBC Radio 4’s Shipping Forecast page. Quoted text is that of the Shipping Forecast issued by the Met Office at 16.25 on Monday 21 March 2016, retrieved here from the Met Office website . Map of the sea regions by Emoscopes, found here on Wikimedia Commons . Update 27 March 2016: changed the composer's name from Ronald "Ronnie" Biggs, whose fame derives from his participation in the Great Train Robbery. Thanks Aneel for pointing out the error!

Update 11 January 2017: Many thanks to Janos Vargha for sending in this news item about this artwork by Jane Tomlinson, awarded the John C Bartholomew Award for Thematic Mapping by the British Cartographic Society. Strange Maps #774 Feb. 7 2002 4:33 PM So Farewell Then, Finisterre A familiar place is lost at sea. The news generated a flurry of stories and editorials. A leader in this week's Observer raised the prospect of thousands of people in Britain in mourning. The BBC's Web site posted an obituary and made reference to 30 surviving siblings. It was another of those episodes in which a seemingly minor alteration can mean so much. There was to be a change to the Sea Area Map for the Shipping Forecast, which means a lot to many people who have nothing to do with shipping. The name "Finisterre" for an area of the Atlantic Ocean close to the Spanish coast was abolished. But why such a commotion over the name of a stretch of water? Advertisement It's not true that a fascination with the seas is uniquely British.

The success of The Perfect Storm and The Shipping News (at least in book form) reveals a latent pull of Atlantic gales and tales on the American side as well. What is missing elsewhere, though, is a national institution that allows the imagination to go to work with the seas four times a day. This is, of course, the BBC Radio 4 's Shipping Forecast. It lasts for about eight minutes and offers gale warnings and forecasts for a huge swathe of water off northwestern Europe. The last broadcast of the day begins at about 12.50 a.m. and is particularly evocative because it's preceded by a wistful piece of music called "Sailing By" and followed by the national anthem. The highlight of each broadcast is when the conditions in all the sea areas are read out. As many fans, including Seamus Heaney , have remarked, there's something intensely comforting hearing about the diabolical weather in sea areas Forties, Tyne, Dogger, or German Bight while sitting in the safety of one's home. Finisterre refers to a large area off the northwest coast of Spain. The name is similar to a region of northwestern France, but there is no connection between the two.

The fatal blow for "sea area Finisterre" came when Spain, which uses the same name to refer to an entirely different stretch of ocean, requested that Britain give up using it for its own purposes. (A reminder of past acrimony between the countries lives on in the name of the adjacent sea area of Trafalgar.) Reluctantly, the British agreed, and the area they previously called Finisterre was given a new name—Fitzroy. The naming of a sea area after a person rather than a geographical feature is a novelty, but if anyone has earned the right to a have one named after him, it is surely the founder of Britain's Meteorological Office, Admiral Robert Fitzroy. He was captain of Charles Darwin's ship, HMS Beagle, on its voyage round the world voyage. Robert FitzRoy (Author of Barometer and Weather Guide) edit data Vice-Admiral Robert FitzRoy RN was an officer of the Royal Navy and a scientist. He achieved lasting fame as the captain of HMS Beagle during Charles Darwin 's famous voyage, FitzRoy's second expedition to Tierra del Fuego and the Southern Cone.

He was a pioneering meteorologist who made accurate weather forecasting a reality and created systems to get weather information to sailors and fishermen for their safety. He was an able surveyor and hydrographer. As Governor of New Zealand, serving from 1843 to 1845, he tried to protect the Maori from illegal land sales claimed by British settlers. In 1863 FitzRoy was promoted to Vice-Admiral due to seniority, but in the coming years internal and external troubles at the Meteorological Office, financ Vice-Admiral Robert FitzRoy RN was an officer of the Royal Navy and a scientist. He achieved lasting fame as the captain of HMS Beagle during Charles Darwin 's famous voyage, FitzRoy's second expedition to Tierra del Fuego and the Southern Cone. He was a pioneering meteorologist who made accurate weather forecasting a reality and created systems to get weather information to sailors and fishermen for their safety. He was an able surveyor and hydrographer. As Governor of New Zealand, serving from 1843 to 1845, he tried to protect the Maori from illegal land sales claimed by British settlers.

In 1863 FitzRoy was promoted to Vice-Admiral due to seniority, but in the coming years internal and external troubles at the Meteorological Office, financial concerns as well as failing health, and his struggle with depression took their toll. On 30 April 1865, Vice-Admiral FitzRoy committed suicide by cutting his throat with a razor. FitzRoy died having exhausted his entire fortune (£6,000, the equivalent of £400,000 today) on public expenditure. When this came to light, in order to prevent his wife and daughter living in destitution, his friend and colleague Bartholomew Sulivan began an Admiral FitzRoy Testimonial Fund, which succeeded in getting the government to pay back £3,000 of this sum ( Darwin contributed a further £100). Queen Victoria gave the special favour of allowing his widow and daughter the use of grace and favour apartments at Hampton Court Palace, until her death. FitzRoy's book Sailing Directions for South America led Chilean hydrographer Francisco Hudson to infer the possible existence of a sailing route through internal waters from Chiloé Archipelago to Straits of Magellan.

He was the first to realise that the Isthmus of Ofqui made this route impossible. A memorial to FitzRoy is erected atop a metamorphic outcrop beside the Bahia Wulaia dome middens on Isla Navarino, in the Chilean part of Tierra del Fuego archipelago, South America. It was presented in his bicentenary (2005) and commemorates his 23 January 1833 landing on Wulaia Cove. Another memorial, presented also in FitzRoy's bicentenary, commemorates his Cape Horn landing on 19 April 1830. Mount Fitz Roy (Argentina–Chile, at the extreme south of the continent), was named after him by the Argentine scientist and explorer Francisco Moreno . It is 3,440 m (11,286 ft) high. The aboriginals had not named it, and used the word chaltén (meaning smoking mountain) for this and other peaks. Fitzroy River, in northern Western Australia, was named after him by Lieutenant John Lort Stokes who, at the time, commanded HMS Beagle (previously commanded by FitzRoy).

The South American conifer Fitzroya cupressoides is named after him, as well as the Delphinus fitzroyi, a species of dolphin discovered by Darwin during his voyage aboard the Beagle. Fitzroy, Falkland Islands and Port Fitzroy, New Zealand are also named after him. The World War II Captain class frigate HMS Fitzroy (K553) was named after him, as was the weather ship Admiral Fitzroy. In 2010 New Zealand's National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research named its new IBM supercomputer "FitzRoy" in honour of him. On 4 February 2002, when the shipping forecast sea area Finisterre was renamed to avoid confusion with the (smaller) French and Spanish forecast area of the same name, the new name chosen by the UK's Meteorological Office was "FitzRoy", in honour of their founder. FitzRoy has been commemorated by the Fitzroy Building at the University of Plymouth, used by the School of Earth, Ocean and Environmental Science. In 2005, a novel entitled This Thing of Darkness by Harry Thompson was published.

The novel's plot followed the lives of FitzRoy, Darwin and others connected with the Beagle expeditions, following them between the years of 1828 and 1865. It was a nominee on the long list for the 2005 Man Booker Prize. ...more

Question: Which UK shipping forecast area is named after the founder of the Meteorological Office?
Answer: Fitzroy