Ocean weather ships

Welcome to my website about  British Ocean Weather Ships, These were converted Castle Class Frigates - Reporter, Monitor, Adviser, Surveyor, and Converted Flower Class Corvettes Watcher, Explorer, Recorder, Observer.  These ships spent the remainder of their working life in the Atlantic Ocean collecting weather data which was then sent to the Met Office at Bracknell to produce weather forecasts.The introduction of satellites and unmanned bouys to gather data meant the ships were not needed, The ex Flower Class ships were replaced with the ex Castle Class ships around 1960, 2 of these were  scrapped and 2 refitted in 1977, they continued in a reduced role until being scrapped in the early 1980's

The site is dedicated to my father Fredric Brooker who worked on the ships as a Radio Technician,  he passed away in Dec 2009 

The site has been built with kind donations, some items I have gathered myself and others from my father's collection

The aim is to record as much history about the ships and men that worked on them as possible, and to display to all this almost forgotten piece of history.

I initially designed the site to centre around the 4 ex Castle Class ships but as I have come to learn more about the whole weather ship concept I have added info about all the ships from the initial Flower Class ships right up to the the days of the Starella and also some of the foreign weather ships as this gives a fuller picture of the whole Ocean Weather Service.

Use the menus at the side of the page to navigate around the site. Access by clicking on the 3 bars top left

If you have any other material/suggestion/comments about the site please email me (Paul) 

Also if you would like to be informed when the site is updated  then contact me to be added to a mailing list.

Weatherships Facebook page

Click above to go to the Ocean Weather ships Facebook Page

Please respect copyright, where possible I have gained the owners consent to publish material on this site and request you not use this 

material in the public domain without gaining your own consent first.

LATEST UPDATE


04/02/23 Updated      Crew Photos 18, Role 3, Misc 2, Newspapers 2, Surveyor, Memorabilia 3, Crew - Ships Crew, 

Crew - Cooks/Stewards, Crew - Officers

Past Updates to the site

23/05/21 Updated23/05/21 Updated Misc 2, Crew - Ships Crew, Recorder, Crew page 17, Adviser, Reporter, Cumulus II Added Crew page 18, Publications

02/02/21 Updated  Crew - Met Staff, Crew - Cooks & Stewards, Crew - Comms/Radar, Misc 2, Stories 2, Memorabilia 3, Role 3. Recorder, Adviser, Watcher, ObserverAdded Crew page 1708/01/21 Updated  Crew Comms/Radar, Crew Officers, Crew , Reporter, Adviser & Fitzroy, Crew 16, Crew - Cooks & Stewards, ExplorerExternal 2, Crew Cats, Memorabilia 3.Memorabilia page 2, Crew Photos page 15, Misc 2, Role 3, Surveyor, Recorder, Shipmates Departed, Ships Crew - Met Staff, Added Memorabilia page 3, Crew Photos page 1620/09/19 Updated Ships Crew Photos Page 14, Crew Lists - Officers, Crew Lists - Met Staff, Memorabillia 2, Technical, Observer, Watcher, Newspapers 2, Cumulus 1, Misc 2, SeismicAdded Crew Photos Page 15, Technical page 217/10/17  Updated - Cumulus II, Watcher, Misc 2, Starella, Explorer,Recorder,HMS Marguerite.  Added New page for Weather Explorer Seismic Survey13/08/17  Updated - Crew 14, Docs 4, Memorabilia 2, Starella, Misc 2, Cumulus II, Internal, Crew List, External 2, Cirrus, Explorer, Observer, Watcher, Recorder, Reporter, Adviser/Fitzroy18/02/17  Updated - Crew List, Shipmates Departed, Docs 4, Cruise Data, Reporter,     Added Crew page 1412/07/16  Updated - Shipmates Departed, Cumulus II, Docs 4, Misc 2, Internal, External 2, Crew List, Role 3, Surveyor, Adviser, Added - Crew page 12, Crew page 1317/05/14  Updated Audio/Video, Timeline, Misc 2, Docs 4, Memorabilia 2, Watcher, Crew 10, EventsAdded new pages for Cirrus, Cumulus I & II, Polarfront I, II & III, Starella14/03/14 Updates to Crew 9, Crew List, Other Weather Ships, Surveyor, Misc 2, Role 3, Technical,  Memorabilia 2, External 2, ReporterAdded Docs page 3 & 4, Stories 2, Crew 1022/12/13  Updates to Crew List, Crew 9, Stories, Internal, Surveyor, Articles 2,Other Weatherships05/10/13 Updated Crew List, Added a page for Events & Meetings18/08/13  Updates to Crew 8, Crew List, Reporter, Monitor, Stories, Role 3, Shipmates Departed. Added page for Crew 927/04/13  Updates to Crew List, Crew 7, Technical, Misc 2, Reporter, Watcher, Recorder, Other Flower, Other Weather ships, Explorer, Memorabilia 2, Observer, Cruise DataAdded page for Role 3, External 2, Crew 805/01/13 Updates to Crew List, Crew 6, Shipmates Departed, Model, Other Weather ships, Docs 2, Role, SurveyorAdded pages for WW2 weather Ships, Misc 2, Crew 7. Added a Forum28/09/12 Updates to Memorial, Model, Memorabilia 2, Crew List19/08/12  Updates to Crew List, Crew 5, Crew 6, External, Docs 2, Misc and Memorial pages16/05/12  Updates to Crew 5, External, Crew List, Flower, Misc, Surveyor, Role 2, Stories, Fitzroy, Reporter, Docs 2,Memorabilia 2, InternalAdded Shipmates Departed Page, Crew 6 Page, Watcher, Recorder, Explorer & Observer pages21/03/2012  Updates to Crew 5, Crew List, Flower, Models, Memorabilia 2, Stories, Docs 2, Audio/Video, Other Weather ships, Surveyor, Role 2, Admiral Beaufort, External, Misc27/09/11  Updates to Cruise Data, Docs2, Crew List, Audio/Video, Fitzroy, Flower, Added Crew Page 506/08/11  Updates to Crew List, Other Weather ships, Crew 4, Flower, Memorial, Memorabilia 2,21/05/11 Updates to Crew List, Adviser, Monitor, Stories, Other, Crew 4, Role2, Cruise Data, Added Memorabilia page 2,Added Docs page 2, Added Timeline Page06/03/11 Updates to Crew List, Stories, Role 2, Technical, Reporter, Internal, External, Memorabilia, Misc, Model,  Added Other, Crew4 27/01/11 Updates to Crew List, Crew 3, Other, Role, Memorabilia, Memorial, Added Role 2, Stories, Model03/12/10  Updates to Crew List, Surveyor, Memorabilia, Monitor, Role, Crew2, Flower, External, Misc, Video, Technical,  Added Crew 3 page and Memorial Page10/11/10 Updates to Crew List, Other, External, Surveyor, Adviser, Monitor, Role, Crew 2,Flower,Memorabiia,Added Cruise Data Page23/10/10  Updates to Crew List, Flower, Reporter, Adviser, Monitor, Surveyor, Docs, External, Other19/09/10  Updates to Crew List, Crew 2, Other, Role, Reporter, Monitor, Surveyor, Flower, Memorabilia, Docs, Technical24/08/10  Site moved to new server, Crew 2 and Crew List pages added, some minor updates on other pages16/08/10  Updates to Crew, Role, External, Internal, Other, Adviser, Surveyor, Reporter09/08/10 Added a few more names to Ships Crew photos08/08/10 Updates to Adviser, Monitor, Reporter, Articles, Internal, Ships Crew, Links. 08/08/10 Added new pages for Flower Class Ships & Technical18/06/10 Added a new video and an audio file to Audio/Video page03/06/10 Added a photo to Ships Crew page 30/03/10 New pages for Internal/External photos, Updates to Crew, Adviser, Surveyor, Reporter, Role, Articles & Misc pages13/03/10    Initial publication of site