USQUE AD MARE
A History of the Canadian Coast Guard and Marine Services
by Thomas E. Appleton

Meteorology

To the services offered to our shipping by way of hydrography and communications, must now be added the forecasting of weather. In 1872, the first minister, the Hon. Peter Mitchell, in making his annual report, observed that:

"Some time ago Professor Kingston, the Director of the Magnetic Observatory at Toronto, a great enthusiast in the study of Meteorology, and a gentleman of high scientific attainments, brought this subject prominently under my notice and suggested the advisability of taking the necessary steps to obtain from the Observatories under this Department and Lighthouse keepers at distant stations, such as Sable Island, Bird Rocks and other exposed places, on the seaboard, as well as at inland Lighthouse stations on the Lakes, a record at stated times of the state of the weather, rain, winds, etc., and to have them forwarded to him for the purpose of inaugurating a thorough system of meteorological observations and rendering the data thus obtained . . . to the commerce and maritime interests of the country."

At the time there were two observatories under the Department, at Quebec and Saint John, N.B., supervised by Commander Ashe RN and Mr. Hutchinson respectively, at which was operated a daily time signal, the dropping of a ball from a prominent mast, by which ships in port could rate their chronometers. These observatories were naturally interested in meteorology, as was a similar one at Montreal, not under the control of the Department, of which the director was Dr. Smallwood, ". . . a great enthusiast for the science." Dr. Smallwood not only operated a time ball for shipping from a site near the Old Custom House, but also furnished the correct time for the signal gun at Ottawa which, under the authority of the Postmaster General, regulated official time in the capital. In Ottawa one can still hear the distant thud of the noon-day gun at Nepean Point which ever since has continued to proclaim the inevitability of government time. Let it also proclaim the services which Professor Kingston and his colleagues gave voluntarily, with little or no remuneration, in the furtherance of a common interest in science.

The recording of daily weather observations had originally started at the Toronto Observatory about 1840 when, on the advice of the Royal Society, the British Government established a post manned by Royal Engineers. In 1853 the observatory was transferred to the Government of United Canada since when, with generous help from private financing, Professor G. T. Kingston had made a study of North American weather systems and the methods by which, in both the United States and Britain, the beginnings of a scientific forecasting service were already in evidence. Realizing that the enormous land mass of Canada presented an unusual opportunity for simultaneous collection of weather statistics, his proposal to the Department involved the use of existing observatories and other organizations with scientific staff, together with satellite stations from coast to coast staffed by unpaid observers, for the accumulation of systematic information.

The Department of Marine and Fisheries obtained a parliamentary vote of $5,000 towards this purpose and seven "Chief Stations" collecting information from about a hundred and fifty "Ordinary Stations" were established throughout Canada. The first vote of money covered only the books and stationery required to commence national operations, the actual reporting being done by volunteer observers drawn from all walks of life to be found in rural and frontier Canada. There were clergymen and retired officers, storekeepers, school and convent teachers, fishermen, lighthouse keepers and many others who, with a natural scientific curiosity and disciplined method, commenced to record the limits of our remarkable climate; of such was a concept of public service which has survived to this day.

By 1887, the Meteorological Service was well established on the lines proposed by Professor Kingston. One of the main problems was that of rapid communications, without which the production of weather forecasts was virtually impossible. Right from the beginning great use had been made of the telegraph where available and, with the completion of the Canadian Pacific transcontinental telegraph in 1887, it was possible to get early information of weather changes originating in the west.

Storm warnings were regularly issued, not only for marine communities, but also in landward areas. In this connection in was reported that:

". . . the system of supplying information of the weather . . . by means of attaching certain signals consisting of metal discs on the railway cars has been perfected to such a degree that these forecasts are now as eagerly sought for by the farmers . . . as are daily probabilities . . . of the cities and towns."

In an age when shipping, farming and indeed all outdoor activity was much more dependent on the weather than it is today, these services were appreciated, and requests were often received for weather forecasts for specific occasions. In this connection Sylvester Bros. of Toronto wrote:

"We take this opportunity of thanking you for the valuable information so often and cheerfully given both by telephone and through the newspapers in regard to the state of weather and more particularly with reference to approaching storms. We know of a large number of vessels and steamers which remained in port during the storms . . . and no doubt a great deal of suffering also life and property has been saved thereby."

In course of time the Meteorological Branch of the Department of Marine and Fisheries took over the seismological services of the Dominion and, in 1887, it established a seismograph at the Toronto Observatory, the first on the American continent. With a rapid extension in the need for meteorological forecasting, the provision of seismographic, magnetic and time information, which had little direct relationship with weather forecasting, became increasingly difficult. On the formation of the Department of Transport in 1936 this responsibility was transferred to the Dominion Observatory at Ottawa which, since establishment in 1905, had been engaged in fundamental work of a similar nature.

At the same time, within the Department, the advent of air transportation was accompanied by an overwhelming need for meteorological support, and weather forecasting was transferred from Marine to Air Services.