Francis Beaufort Rear Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort , KCB , FRS , FRGS , MRIA ( 27 May 1774 – 17 December 1857 ) was an Irish hydrographer and officer in Britain ' s Royal Navy . Beaufort was the creator of the Beaufort Scale for indicating wind force . Biography . Francis Beaufort was descended from French Protestant Huguenots , who fled the French Wars of Religion in the sixteenth century . His parents moved to Ireland from London . His father , Daniel Augustus Beaufort , was a Protestant clergyman from Navan , County Meath , Ireland , and a member of the learned Royal Irish Academy . His mother Mary was the daughter and co - heiress of William Waller , of Allenstown , County Meath . Francis was born at Navan on 27 May 1774 . He had an older brother , William Louis Beaufort and two sisters , Frances and Harriet . His father created and published a new map of Ireland in 1792 . Francis grew up in Wales and Ireland until age fourteen . He left school and went to sea , but never stopped his education . By later in life , he had become sufficiently self - educated to associate with some of the greatest scientists and applied mathematicians of his time , including John Herschel , George Biddell Airy , and Charles Babbage . Francis Beaufort had a lifelong keen awareness of the value of accurate charts for those risking the seas , as he was shipwrecked at the age of fifteen due to a faulty chart . His most significant accomplishments were in nautical charting . Beginning on a merchant ship of the British East India Company , Beaufort rose ( during the Napoleonic Wars ) to Midshipman , Lieutenant ( on 10 May 1796 ) and Commander ( on 13 November 1800 ) . He served on the fifth rate frigate HMS " Aquilon " during the battle of the Glorious First of June , when " Aquilon " rescued the dismasted HMS " Defence " and exchanged broadsides with the French ship - of - the line , " Impetueux " . When serving on HMS " Phaeton " , Beaufort was badly wounded leading a cutting - out operation off Malaga in 1800 ; the action resulted in the capture of the 14 - gun polacca " Calpe " . While recovering , during which he received a " paltry " pension of £45 p . a . , he helped his brother - in - law Richard Lovell Edgeworth to construct a semaphore line from Dublin to Galway . He spent two years at this activity , for which he would accept no remuneration . Beaufort returned to active service and was appointed a Captain ( on 30 May 1810 ) in the Royal Navy . Whereas other wartime officers sought leisurely pursuits , Beaufort spent his leisure time taking sounding s and bearings , making astronomical observations to determine longitude and latitude , and measuring shorelines . His results were compiled in new charts . The Admiralty gave Beaufort his first ship command , HMS " Woolwich " , with the task of conducting a hydrographic survey of the Rio de la Plata estuary in South America . Experts were very impressed by the survey Beaufort brought back . Notably , Alexander Dalrymple remarked in a note to the Admiralty in March 1808 , that " we have few officers ( indeed I do not know one ) in our Service who have half his professional knowledge and ability , and in zeal and perseverance he cannot be excelled " . Marriage and family . He married Alicia Magdalena Wilson . Their son , Francis Lestock Beaufort ( 1815 – 1879 ) later went out to India and served in the Bengal civil service , from 1837 to 1876 . He was for many years judge of the twenty - four Purgunnahs , Calcutta . He was the author of the well - known " Digest of the Criminal Law Procedure in Bengal " ( 1850 ) , and died in 1879 . Alice Beaufort died before 1835 . Francis Beaufort married again in 1838 , to Honora Edgeworth , the daughter of his brother - in - law Richard Lovell Edgeworth and his second wife . ( Francis ' sister Frances Beaufort had married Edgeworth as his fourth wife years in the 1810s . ) Wind force scale . During these early years of command , Beaufort developed the first versions of his Wind Force Scale and Weather Notation coding , which he was to use in his journals for the remainder of his life . From the circle representing a weather station , a staff ( rather like the stem of a note in musical notation ) extends , with one or more half or whole barbs . For example , a stave with 3½ barbs represents Beaufort seven on the scale , decoded as 32 – 38 mph , or a " moderate Gale " . Beaufort did not really develop something new , but he eventually succeeded in getting others to adopt it as a standard when there was no existing standard . In 1811 – 1812 , shortly after reaching ' post ' rank ( i . e . being promoted to Captain ) , Beaufort charted and explored southern Anatolia , locating many classical ruins . An attack on the crew of his boat ( at Ayas , near Adana ) , by Turks interrupted his work and he received a serious bullet wound in the hip . He returned to England and drew up his charts . In 1817 he published his book " Karamania ; or a brief description of the South Coast of Asia Minor , and of the Remains of Antiquity " . In 1829 , at age 55 ( retirement age for most administrative contemporaries ) , Beaufort was appointed as the British Admiralty Hydrographer of the Navy . He served in that post for 25 years . Beaufort converted what had been a minor chart repository into the finest surveying and charting institution in the world . Some of the excellent charts the Office produced are still in use today . During his tenure , he took over the administration of the great astronomical observatories at Greenwich , England , and the Cape of Good Hope , Africa . Beaufort directed some of the major maritime explorations and experiments of that period . For eight years , he directed the Arctic Council during its search for the explorer , Sir John Franklin , who was lost during his last polar voyage to search for the legendary Northwest Passage . As a council member of the Royal Society , the Royal Observatory , and the Royal Geographic Society ( which he helped found ) , Beaufort used his position and prestige as a top administrator to act as a " middleman " for many scientists of his time . Beaufort represented the geographers , astronomers , oceanographers , geodesist s , and meteorologists to that government agency , the Hydrographic Office , which could support their research . Beaufort trained Robert FitzRoy , who was put in temporary command of the survey ship HMS " Beagle " after her previous captain committed suicide . When FitzRoy was reappointed as Commander for what became the famous second voyage of the " Beagle " , he requested of Beaufort " that a well - educated and scientific gentleman be sought " as a companion on the voyage . Beaufort ' s enquiries led to an invitation to Charles Darwin , who later drew on his discoveries in formulating the theory of evolution he presented in his book " The Origin of Species " . Overcoming many objections , Beaufort obtained government support for the Antarctic voyage of 1839 – 1843 by James Clark Ross for extensive measurements of terrestrial magnetism , coordinated with similar measurements in Europe and Asia . ( This is comparable to the International Geophysical Year of our time . ) Beaufort promoted the development of reliable tide tables around British shores , inspiring similar research for Europe and North America . Aiding his friend William Whewell , Beaufort gained the support of the Prime Minister , Duke of Wellington , in expanding record - keeping at 200 British Coast guard stations . Beaufort gave enthusiastic support to his friend , Sir George Airy , the Astronomer Royal and noted mathematician , in achieving a historic period of measurements by the Greenwich and Good Hope observatories . Beaufort retired from the Royal Navy with the rank of Rear Admiral on 1 October 1846 , at the age of 72 . He became " Sir Francis Beaufort " on being appointed KCB ( Knight Commander of the Bath ) on 29 April 1848 , a relatively belated honorific considering the eminence of his position from 1829 onward . Beaufort ' s extant correspondence of 200 + letters and journals contained portions written in personal cipher . Beaufort altered the Vigenère cipher , by reversing the cipher alphabet , and the resulting variant is called the Beaufort cipher . The deciphered writings have revealed family and personal problems , including some of a sexual nature . It appears that between 1835 and his marriage to Honora Edgeworth in November 1838 , he had incestuous relations with his sister Harriet . His diary entries , in cypher , show that he was tortured by guilt over this . He died on 17 December 1857 at age 83 in Hove , Sussex , England . He is buried in the church gardens of St John at Hackney , London , where his tomb may still be seen . His home in London , No . 51 Manchester Street , Westminster , is marked by an historic blue plaque noting his residency and achievements . Beaufort , like other patrons of exploration , has had his name given to many geographical places . Among these :