Gale force 10 : the life and legacy of Admiral Beaufort

A biography of Francis Beaufort (1774-1857). Beginning his career with the East India Company, Beaufort joined the Royal Navy in 1790 and rose through the ranks, retiring with the rank of Rear Admiral in 1846 at the age of seventy-two. In 1805, Beaufort devised the first objective measure of wind strength, now known as the Beaufort Scale, officially adopted by the Royal Navy on voyages during the 1830s. He was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1829, was appointed the British Admiralty Hydrographer of the Royal Navy, serving in that position for twenty-six years, and helped to found the Royal Geographical Society. He trained Robert Fitzroy, commander of the Beagle, and in response to Fitzroy's request for a "well-educated and scientific gentleman", Beaufort's enquiries led to Charles Darwin joining the Beagle for her second voyage. Beaufort promoted the publication of reliable tide tables, expanded the British Admiralty Chart Series to some 2000 charts, directed some of the major naval explorations of the time, and played a leading role in the search for the explorer Sir John Franklin. He was knighted in 1848.