Speaking of laying claim to questionably habitable rocks, I’ve been reading Erebus by Michael Palin of Monty Python fame. It’s a tale of the ultimately ill-fated journey into the Arctic to try and uncover the Northwest Passage with its sister ship the HMS Terror, a couple of bomb ships constructed in the 1810-1820 era. It also covers their earlier and more successful (or at least survived) Antarctic expeditions to find the southern continent and arrive at the southern magnetic pole. Many of the Arctic and Antarctic names you’ll see on maps were as a result of this bunch and their patrons in the Admiralty - McMurdo Station, Ross Ice Shelf, Barrow, Beaufort and the whole lot of them.
That is one of the traditional functions of the shipping forecast for non-sailors.
Given the 00:48 timetabling, once the shipping forecast is on, it’s definitely time for bed for most middle-aged Radio 4 listeners.
The soothing intonation of the mystic names and formulae serves as a soporific for all but the most degnerate. (/joke)
I also suspect its continued broadcast on national radio is part of a soft power/cultural propaganda effort to keep Britons thinking of the UK as a great maritime power.
