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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Beaufort Scale
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A method for measuring wind force at sea. Still in use today, it was devised in 1805 by the captain of HMS Woolwich, Francis Beaufort (1774–1857), as a means of making his log entries more consistent. His yardstick was the amount of sail his ship could carry at each step on a wind scale from 0 to 12. Verbal descriptions of the sea later became the internationally accepted basis for the scale, from 0 (Calm – 'like a mirror') to 12 (Hurricane – 'air filled with foam and spray, sea completely white with driving spray').
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