The Shipping Forecast

The Shipping Forecast, originally published in 1996, is Mark Power’s illustration of the UK’s Shipping Forecast, broadcast four times a day on BBC Radio 4. Beyond its useful and (at times life-saving)use to mariners it is also listened to by millions of people who tune in across the UK.

The UK shipping forecast covers the waters of Western Europe and separates them into 31 sea areas encompassing the UK, from Dover to Southeast Iceland to German Bight— of which Power photographed all of them,over a period of four years. Each image is captioned with the 0600hr forecast on the day they were taken. This newly edited and revised second edition includes over 100 previously unpublished images. ‘The shipping forecast, of course, exists to save lives. It warns those at sea, or about to put to sea, of approaching storms. But for the majority of us, in Britain at least, its strange, rhythmic language is unashamedly romantic and oddly reassuring, despite forming an image of an island nation perpetually buffeted by wind and waves. It manages to do all this while remaining virtually incomprehensible: the general synopsis at 0 1 00. Low, Southeast Iceland 995 moving slowly southwest, filling 1 00 7 by 0 1 00 tomorrow. Low, Biscay 958, expected Wales 1 00 5 by the same time. Low, Trafalgar 1 00 3, moving slowly east, losing its identity.'