There's an interesting note in Commodore Marr's book (The Queens and I) about how the severity of the weather conditions were gauged prior to the introduction of recent meteorological forecasting and other technological advances.
For example, on Aquitania, '... there was one little triangle just abaft the knightsheads which remained dry. except in very bad weather, and it was usually assumed that as long as you could see the dry spot on the forecastle there was no need to reduce speed. Another distinctive feature of this elegant ship was her four funnels...they were very useful in describing the thickness of the fog...it was either a two-funnel fog, or a three- or four funnel-fog depending on how many could be seen from the bridge...'
On QE2, especially in her early days of service, were there similarities there, too?
Perhaps there were particular areas of the ship - or other means of detecting more detailed information about the weather?
