Defining the Wind The Beaufort Scale and How

Defining the Windis a wonderfully written account of one man's crusade to learn about what the wind is made of by tracing the history of the Beaufort Scale and its eccentric creator, Sir Francis Beaufort. It's as much about the language we use to describe our world as it is an exhortation to observe it more closely.

Scott Huler is the author of On Being Brown and A Little Bit Sideways: One Week Inside a NASCAR Winston Cup Race Team. His work is heard regularly on National Public Radio. He lives in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Introduction September 6, 1996: Hurricane Fran and Before

1

(10)

Beaufort of the Admiralty

11

(32)

In Search of the Wind

43

(26)

The Beaufort Scale, and Who Wrote It, in a General Way

69

(24)

Reverse-Engineering the Wind

93

(28)

``Nature, Rightly Questioned, Never Lies'': The Beaufort Scale, Nineteenth-Century Science, and the Last Eighteenth-Century Man

121

(30)

Getting the Word Out: On the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, the Dictionary, and How Sir Francis Beaufort Slept with His Sister

151

(33)

Taking the Measure of the Wind: The Fabulous Beaufortometer

184

(27)

A Picture of the Wind: Poetry, the Shipping Forecast, and the Search for the North Shields Observer

211

(25)

Observation, a Panegyric: On the Beaufort Moment

236

(15)

Appendix A. Beaufort Scale Family Album

251

(10)

Appendix B. Explanation of the Plate Describing the Rigging, &c., of a First-Rate Man of War

261

(2)

A Note on the Sources

263

(13)

Primary Sources Consulted

276

(1)

Note on Accuracy

277

(2)

Acknowledgments

279

(4)

Index

283

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Defining the Wind The Beaufort Scale and How a 19th-Century Admiral Turned Science into Poetry

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials