seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Brazil
seen from China
seen from Hong Kong SAR China
seen from Hungary
seen from Hungary
seen from United States
seen from Canada
seen from China
seen from Canada
seen from United States
seen from Malaysia
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Canada
seen from Russia
seen from China
in hands of narratory
Echoic In the absence of Enucleate Act-ion Exhaling Alphabet Tunicate — word not understood Estray Advised in error Excogitate All Oarlock In hands of Narratory Fate Strewment At sight Riptide Position (Standing) Roam As far as possible Urceolate 2025
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ex The American Bankers Association Code “ABACO” (1951) i-xii, 1-340
all tagged couplets all tagged telegraphic code ditto tagged telegraphic codes
What does "Bismarck Omit leafage buck bank" mean to you?
"In December 2013, a curator and archaeologist purchased an antique silk dress with an unusual feature: a hidden pocket that held two sheets of paper with mysterious coded text written on them. People have been trying to crack the code ever since, and someone finally succeeded: University of Manitoba data analyst Wayne Chan. He discovered that the text is actually coded telegraph messages describing the weather used by the US Army and (later) the weather bureau. Chan outlined all the details of his decryption in a paper published in the journal Cryptologia. [...]
When Rivers-Cofield turned the dress inside-out, she found a small hidden pocket. Many women's dresses of the era had pockets, but this one would only be accessible by hiking up the overskirt. She puzzled over why anyone would make a pocket so inaccessible and thought it might have been used to smuggle messages. Hidden inside, she found two sheets of wadded-up translucent paper measuring about 7.5 inches by 11 inches. The text on each sheet consisted of 12 lines of recognizable common English words—except they made no sense. "Bismark omit leafage buck bank"? "Paul Ramify loamy event false new event"? [...]
With the invention of the telegraph, "For the first time in history, observations from distant locations could be rapidly disseminated, collated, and analyzed to provide a synopsis of the state of weather across an entire nation," Chan wrote in his paper. But it was expensive to send telegrams since companies charged by the word, so codes were developed to condense as much information into as few words as possible.
The challenge was figuring out which code book had been used since, otherwise, it would be nearly impossible to decode the message. Chan perused some 170 telegraphic code books, finally coming across a section about signals used by the US Army Signal Corps that were similar to the pages found in the antique silk dress. Eventually, he realized that the words were codes used by weather stations in the US and Canada to condense telegraph messages about meteorological observations. He relied on old maps to narrow the date to May 27, 1888."
Mysteries remain: who was the owner of the silk dress (a telegraph operator?), and why would she keep these papers in a hidden pocket?
a cargo of rice, and worry
7915 . 20250415
within to load at Chittagong wittiness to load at Ahyab woman to load at Rangoon wonderfulness to load at Bassein — workmanly to load at Ahyeb, Rangoon, Bassein, or Moulmein, one port only, a cargo of rice — worry or on the Continent between H & H both inclusive
printouts surfaced here (couldn’t recall the source, at first), same day as scribble (no connection, so random this living), from Code télégraphique privé d’une maison de commerce impr. de Lemale (Le Havre), 1874
BnF copy (via Gallica) described, excerpted, and linked at : link
whales beginning to arrive
back cover, 90º cw (link) Telegraphic Code between New Bedford, Massachusetts, and San Francisco, California, kept by J. and W. R. Wing. (1883) New Bedford Whaling Museum, via archive.org : link
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Abandon We have arrived all right Abator [Bark] A[dmiral]. Barker arrived Abbess [Bark] Atlantic arrived Abbot [Bark] Fleetwing arrived Abdicate [Bark] John Dawson arrived Abet Whales beginning to arrive Advice Have offer for sperm oil Affable Have offer for whale oil Affair Have offer for whalebone Affirm Think some are selling sperm oil export Afflict Think some are selling sperm oil home use Afford Think some are selling whalebone After Getting along well here Against Your family as well as usual Agent When do you start for home Ahead Start for home in a few days Aid Start for home tomorrow Aim How much whale oil will be sent East in Vessels Air How much whale oil will be sent East in tank cars
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all tagged telegraphic code all tagged telegraphic codes
Tie your bouquet more accurately.
By, and by. 48 ₁ Do, does, doing. 49 ₁ Else, where. 54 ₁ Ever. 55 ₁ Where, ever. 92 ₁ Weather. 875 ₁ Whether. 881 ₁ Weather. 885 ₁ Noon. 61 ₂ Nor. 62 ₂ Nobody. 63 ₂ Nothing. 64 ₂ Beacon. 188 ₂ Bow. 189 ₂ Breeze, s. 190 ₂ Baffle, s. d. 191 ₂ Chafe. 230 ₂ Chain. 231 ₂ Channel. 232 ₂ Character, s, ized. 233 ₂ Cold. 247 ₂ Combination. 248 ₂ Communicate, s, d. 250 ₂ Compose, s, d. 251 ₂ Hard, er, ly. 404 ₂ Harden, s, ed. 405 ₂ Havoc. 406 ₂ Hazard, s, ed, ous. 407 ₂ Influence, d. 432 ₂ Ink. 433 ₂ Instance. 434 ₂ Undo, did, done. 604 ₂ What, ever. 631 ₂ When, nce, ever. 632 ₂ Where, ever, of, on. 633 ₂ Wherry. 634 ₂ Tie your bouquet more accurately. 140 ₃
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ex The floral telegraph; or Affection’s signals, by the Late Captain Marryatt [sic]. London : Saunders and Otley, [1850?] Cornell copy, accessible at hathitrust : link
₁ : from Vocabulary, Part I, “One knot to be tied on the string between each number [i.e., flower].” ₂ : from Vocabulary, Part II, “Two knots to be tied before each number.” ₃ : from Vocabulary, Part III, “Three knots to be tied before each number.”
see Daniel Wuebben, “Captain Frederick Marryat and the Floral Telegraph; Or, a Forgotten Coder and his Floral Code,” Victorian Literature and Culture 42:2 (June 2014) : 209-233 : link (no access); link (readable, at least)
uncertain that Marryat is the author, but no matter. Small matters are signs of great things. 303 ₃
umbonulate, umdraengen don’t
Umbonulate Don’t fear — — Umbrageous Don’t fear we are working carefully Umbralabas Don’t fear we are well Umbralada Don’t fear here is no confusion Umbralamos Don’t fear here no cholera — Umdecken Don’t keep — Umdraengen Don’t keep longer Umdrehen Don’t keep privately Umdrehung Don’t keep ready Umdruck Don’t keep share — Umduften Don’t load
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ex Telegraphic Code Prepared by Anundjee Roognathjee (? Anandji Raghunáthji, as listed in Bengal Library catalogue for first quarter, 1897, here), Freight Broker, Calcutta. “Code words taken from The Official Vocabulary by the International Telegraph Office of 1894.” Printed by Narayan Chandra Ghosh at the Criterion Press, No. 115 Amherst Street (Calcutta, 1896) : 203-204 title page, at archive.org National Library of India, Kolkata copy, here
1 of n (from this volume)
jute, 5
17148 Your accounts are puzzling 17149 Your accounts are wrong 17412 Be careful of weights 17413 Be careful of color and roots 17533 Do 17534 Please do
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ex Private Jute Code, compiled by A. C. Sen. Manager, Khetter Mohun Dey & Co. Chandpur. Tipperah. [now Chandpur District, Chittagong Division, Bangladesh]
Bengal Library accession stamp (4 August 1910) now National Library of India (Kolkata) copy, via archive.org
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all tagged jute all tagged wrongs
jute, 6
17662 Landed 17633 Landed in bales 17634 Landed in drums 17665 Landed in loose 17666 Landed per rail 17667 Landed per steamer 17668 Landed per country boat 17669 Landed Goalundo thence by rail to Calcutta 17671 We have landed 17785 See 17786 See about 18276 Nobogram Rope Works and Jute Waste Factory (M. N. Dass & Co, agents)
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ex Private Jute Code, compiled by A. C. Sen. Manager, Khetter Mohun Dey & Co. Chandpur. Tipperah. [now Chandpur District, Chittagong Division, Bangladesh]
Bengal Library accession stamp (4 August 1910) now National Library of India (Kolkata) copy, via archive.org
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all tagged jute all tagged landings
