Letter from the Meteorological Office to Captain Belding

Maker Meteorological Office

Date1 May 1892

Object number00017735

NameLetter

MediumInk on paper

DimensionsOverall: 325 x 200 mm, 0.006 kg

ClassificationsEphemera

Credit LineANMM Collection

Terms

DescriptionA handwritten letter to Captain R Belding from the London Meteorological Society dated 1 May 1892. The letter advises Captain Belding that his log of the ATLANTIC voyage to the west coast of South America had been submitted to the council and their appreciation of his efforts. After his service aboard the ATLANTIC, Captain Belding became captain of the well-known clipper ship THOMAS STEPHENS.HistoryAlthough little is known about the British Captain Raustin Belding personally, he had a successful career as a sea captain and became known in maritime circles as captain of the popular vessel THOMAS STEPHENS which became one the fastest and most admired passenger vessels of its day. Belding does not appear to have captained the vessel until the early 1890s and became most renowned for saving the ship not once, but twice. On 24 December 1894 the THOMAS STEPHENS sailing from Barry for Esquimalt, was dismasted off Cape Horn but managed to arrive at the Falkland Islands. But Captain Belding, outraged at the estimated cost of repairing the vessel at Port Stanley, decided instead to make towards Cape Town under jury rig and indignation only. After successfully arriving and undertaking by now urgent repairs, Belding sailed for Esquimalt, British Colombia, and arrived 271 days after departing Barry Harbour in Britain. After being sold to the Portuguese Government in 1896, Captain Belding was requested to sail the THOMAS STEPHENS to Portugal. En route the ship caught fire and witnesses claim the vessel was only saved by Captain Belding’s actions. Portugal was so relieved their latest investment had arrived safely that they gave Captain Belding a service of plate and a Portuguese Order. SignificanceWhile ships log typically recorded events on board and the navigation of a ship, they had a wider use in the early decades of meteorology. Logged information on tides, weather conditions and astronomical readings from all parts of the globe could be then be compiled together. This information provided meteorologists with a wider and more accurate picture of the world’s seasonal weather, assisting countless sailors and navigators.