BAMOS Sep 2020
10 Article
A change in the wind
What a gale meant to Handel , Cook and Beaufort
In Handel ’ s opera Semele first performed in 1744 , Jupiter , king of the gods , sings to reassure his mortal lover Princess Semele :
Where ' ere you walk cool gales shall fan the glade Trees where you sit shall crowd into a shade .
It is an exquisitely beautiful song to words from the poem Summer by Alexander Pope . From the context and the setting , it is clear that the words do not mean that the heroine is likely to have trouble standing in the wind or fear branches from the glade crashing down on her .
Rear‐Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort in 1855 . Image : painted by Stephen Pearce , 1819 – 1904 , National Maritime Museum , Greenwich , UK .
Fifty years later , in 1806 Francis Beaufort , captain of the Royal Navy ship Woolwich , set down in his ship ’ s log a scale of terms he would use to describe wind strength . A ' gentle steady gale ' was number seven in his 13‐point scale of increasing wind force , coming after ' fresh breeze ' and before ' moderate gale '. In 1838 the Admiralty adopted a modified form of his scale for use in the Royal Navy , complemented by descriptions for each wind force , to aid observers in systematically assessing the wind strength . The Beaufort scale was accepted as generally applicable at the First International Meteorological Conference held in Brussels in 1853 .
In the original Royal Navy form of the " Beaufort scale " the first level of gale , a ' moderate gale ' at Force 7 , was defined as that " in which a well‐conditioned man‐of‐war could just carry , in chase , full and by , double‐reefed topsails , jib etc .".
George Frideric Handel around 1726 – 28 . Image : attributed to Balthasar Denner , 1685 – 1749 , National Portrait Gallery , UK
Fortunately , for those of us who do not sail as a man‐of‐war , more general descriptions were developed for both land and sea . In the current version , Force 7 is listed as ' near gale ', covering the wind strength range 28 – 33 knots . For marine use the relevant description is :
" Sea heaps up and white foam from breaking waves begins to be blown in streaks along the direction of the wind ."
On land the corresponding description is :
" Whole trees in motion , inconvenient to walk against the wind ."