History
The Beaufort Scale was created in 1805 by Sir Francis Beaufort as a qualitative measure of wind condition effects on the sails of his ship. Thirteen classes, from 0 to 12, determined the number of sails to hoist.
At force 0 all sails would be raised with just enough wind to give steerage. At 6 half his sails would be up, and at 12 all sails would be down as conditions were too severe for canvas sails to withstand them.
In 1906, the descriptions were changed to describe how seas behaved under different wind conditions.
The Beaufort Scale
What It Looks Like
This is what the sea looks like at various wind forces. Scroll down to see the effects of wind at increasing forces. Note that these photos are only intended to be approximate representations. We think, for example, that you would see more ‘white horses’ (breaking white tops of waves) in a force 4
