The scale was devised in 1805 by the Irish hydrographer Francis Beaufort (later Rear Admiral), a Royal Navy officer, while serving on HMS Woolwich.
The scale that carries Beaufort's name had a long and complex evolution from the previous work of others including Daniel Defoe the century before.
Beaufort was Hydrographer of the Navy in the 1830s, when it was adopted officially and first used during the voyage of HMS Beagle under Captain Robert FitzRoy, who was later to set up the first Meteorological Office in Britain.
In the 18th century, naval officers made regular weather observations, but there was no standard scale and so they could be very subjective – one man's "stiff breeze" might be another's "soft breeze". Beaufort succeeded in standardising the scale.
