Includes bibliographical references (p. 263-277) and index.
Contents:
Introduction September 6, 1996: Hurricane Fran and before -- Beaufort of the Admiralty -- In search of the wind -- The Beaufort scale, and who wrote it, in a general way -- Reverse-engineering the wind -- "Nature rightly questioned, never lies": the Beaufort scale, nineteenth-century science, and the last eighteenth-century man -- Getting the word out: on the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, the dictionary, and how Sir Francis Beaufort slept with his sister -- Taking the measure of the wind: the fabulous beaufortometer -- A picture of the wind: poetry, the shipping forecast, and the search for the North Shields observer -- Observation, a panegyric: on the Beaufort moment. -- Appendix A. Beaufort scale family album -- Appendix B. Explanation of the plate describing the rigging, etc., of a first-rate man of war.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.