Shipping Forecast History

The Shipping Forecast and the wreck of the Royal Charter

If you’re a keen sailor, you’ll know all about the Shipping Forecast. But do you know how it came into being? Its origins are steeped in a dramatic maritime story, one of gold, misfortune, and shipwreck, that helped shape modern weather forecasting.

The Royal Charter was constructed in 1855, the first of a new class of steam clipper. She was also the first iron-hulled clipper to carry auxiliary steam engines, used when the winds were weak or unfavourable. Known as one of the fastest ships of her day, completing the Liverpool-to-Melbourne voyage in under 60 days, she mainly carried emigrants bound for the new Australian colonies. During the 1850s Australian gold rush, she ferried miners and fortune-seekers back and forth, often with her hold laden with gold.

In October 1859, the Royal Charter was homeward bound to Liverpool from Melbourne. On board were about 370 passengers (many successful gold miners), a crew of 112, and several company employees. She carried £322,000 in gold in her hold (worth around £50 million today), and many passengers had more gold sewn into belts and clothing.

As she reached the coast of Anglesey, fierce easterly and north-easterly winds began battering the Welsh shoreline. Captain Thomas Taylor was advised to seek shelter in Holyhead but pressed on toward Liverpool. At Point Lynas, he tried to pick up a pilot, but the pilot boat couldn’t reach the ship. With winds now at storm force 10, the Royal Charter dropped anchor, only for both chains to fail. Her engines could make no headway against hurricane-force winds, and she was driven helplessly toward land.

She grounded briefly on a sandbank, but in the early hours of 26 October, the rising tide lifted her off again, dashing her onto the rocks near Moelfre. Only 39 people survived. Many who perished were said to have drowned under the weight of the gold they carried.

The disaster shocked Britain. A new department had already been set up that year to collect and analyse weather data at sea. Vice Admiral Robert FitzRoy, a pioneering meteorologist and former captain of HMS Beagle (on which Charles Darwin sailed), was then serving as Meteorological Statist to the Board of Trade, the forerunner to today’s Met Office. FitzRoy had installed barometers at ports around the coast to help sailors read the pressure before setting out.

After the Royal Charter tragedy, he began developing charts that could predict weather, the world’s first systematic weather forecasts. In 1861, FitzRoy launched a storm-warning service sent via telegraph to ports around Britain. This became the very first Shipping Forecast, and, except during wartime, it has been broadcast ever since.

Today, the Shipping Forecast is produced by the Met Office on behalf of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency and broadcast by BBC Radio 4, which in 2025 celebrates 100 years of Shipping Forecast broadcasts.

It airs four times daily (GMT/BST): 0048 (FM & LW), 0520 (FM & LW), 1201 (LW), and 1754 (FM & LW during the weekend and LW only during weekdays). Each live broadcast reports on weather and sea conditions across 31 sea areas surrounding the British Isles.
You can listen to the Shipping Forecast on BBC Radio 4, found on FM 92–95 MHz, LW 198 kHz, and on BBC Sounds online or via the app.

Always beginning with Viking and moving clockwise, the Shipping Forecast has become a beloved part of British culture. Its calm, rhythmic delivery has lulled generations of listeners to sleep, whether they’re sailors or landlocked dreamers.

Broadcaster Zeb Soanes, one of the familiar voices of the BBC’s Shipping Forecast, once summed up its enduring appeal:

“To the non-nautical, it is a nightly litany of the sea. It reinforces a sense of being islanders with a proud seafaring past. Whilst the listener is safely tucked up in their bed, they can imagine small fishing boats bobbing about at Plymouth or 170 ft waves crashing against Rockall.”

In recent years, a podcast version called The Sleeping Forecast has emerged, pairing selected excerpts of the Shipping Forecast with ambient and classical music to create a soothing soundscape ideal for drifting off to sleep.

You can find The Sleeping Forecast podcast on the BBC Sounds app or website (just search for “The Sleeping Forecast.”). It’s also available on Apple Podcasts (under BBC Radio 4 programmes), Spotify, Amazon Music, and most other podcast platforms.

Each episode features the familiar Shipping Forecast, read by BBC presenters and accompanied by gentle ambient or classical music – perfect for a calm night’s listening.

“And now the Shipping Forecast, issued by the Met Office on behalf of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, at 0048 today…”

Image courtesy of BBC Weather

Related Articles: HMS Beagle, Robert Fitzroy

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