Cooke's Tale 1

　Whenever I visit the observation room of the Bandoh Kobe Science Museum for Youth, I am always in awe of the Cooke 25cm refractor telescope. The reason for this is, of course, that it is one of the rarest telescopes in the world, manufactured by a once prestigious British telescope manufacturer. But the other reason is that a great man who endured so many hardships actually exists there.

　In the next eight articles, I will tell you about the tumultuous life of this telescope.

　The Marine Meteorological Observatory, where the Cooke Telescope was installed, was established on August 26, 1920, on Ujino Mountain (60 meters above sea level) in Kobe, as the only marine meteorological observatory in Japan. The completion ceremony was held on April 15, 1924.

　The first building was designed by architect Setsu Watanabe, and the second by Sutemi Horiguchi.

　The size of the staff exceeded that of the Central Weather Bureau. The total construction cost was about 280,000 yen (about 800 million yen in today's currency), and the entire cost was financed by shipping companies in Kobe and Osaka in proportion to the tonnage of their ships.

　With the outbreak of World War I in July 1914, the shipping industry was in the midst of an unprecedented economic boom. Shipyards were in a rush to build ships, and the ships they built were selling at high prices. Shipping and charter rates soared, and it was said that if you owned a ship, you could always make money. Many wealthy ship owners were born.

　There were also a number of maritime accidents, including the famous Titanic disaster in April 1912. The marine meteorological observatory was a much-needed facility for shipping companies to ensure safe navigation.

　　The postcard above depicts the Marine Meteorological Station in its early days.

　The newspaper of the day reported, "When you see the Oceanographic Observatory floating like a dream in the morning glow near dawn from the deck of a ship coming into port in Kobe, you feel as if you are approaching the Dragon Palace. The newspapers of the time reported. It was an elegant building modeled after the Hamburg Weather Station in Germany.　

　Above is a view of the Marine Observatory in 1922, when the second building was completed.

　On September 1, 1923, the Great Kanto Earthquake occurred. In October 1929, the Great Depression began (which must have hurt the shipping industry as well).

　At such a turning point in history, it is said that "the talk of establishing a marine meteorological observatory would not have materialized even if it had been a year ago or a year later.

　The photo above shows the dome of the Ocean Weather Station, taken during a tour of the Ocean Weather Station of the Toa Astronomical Society on June 6, 1936.　

　This is the Cooke 25cm refractor telescope installed at the newly established Marine Meteorological Observatory. You can see a star-field camera with a Cooke triplet lens mounted on the top of the optical tube.

　The Cooke Telescope has begun its work in Kobe.

(References)

Weather in Hyogo - 100 years of watching the sky and the sea, Kobe Marine Observatory and Ministry of Finance Printing Bureau, 2001

Ocean Weather Observatory and Kobe Collection, by Yoh Nyoumura, Seizando Shoten 2010

Photo Album 150 Years of Kobe, Yasumoto Yamada, Jyurinsha, 2017

Kobe City 100th Anniversary,Kobe City,1989

(Photographs and newspaper articles are from Eitaro Date's Astronomical Photo Album and Astronomical Collecting Album)