Ancient Greece – Timeline
17 May 2025
Timeline of ancient greece Neolithic (New Stone Age) c.7000 BCE Early settlers begin farming in Greece. 3200-2300 BCE Cycladic culture on the
Sailors were always keen observers of the weather. Well, you would be – it’s important when you are moving across water, especially in the days of sail! The problem was that in reports collected, opinions about the wind varied greatly. One captain’s ‘stiff breeze’ was another mariner’s ‘soft breeze’, so some kind of standardised scale was obviously needed.
A high-ranking naval officer, Francis Beaufort, started to develop a scale at the beginning of the 19th century and it was first officially used when Charles Darwin set sail on his famous expedition aboard HMS Beagle in 1831. The captain of HMS Beagle, Robert FitzRoy, who later founded the Meteorological Office, used Beaufort’s system of 13 classifications (0-12) which were based on visual, subjective evidence which everyone clearly understood.
The system continued when powered shipping replaced sail and the scale has also been adapted to suit land conditions. Each level has a description so that people can work out how fast the wind in their local area is blowing. The scale is referred to in shipping forecasts which are broadcast each day on BBC Radio 4 and is widely used by several other countries apart from Britain.
In some countries in Asia, especially China, Taiwan and Vietnam, the scale is extended from 13 to 17. This is to include severe storms that are experienced in this part of the world like typhoons and cyclones.
Why not print off the Beaufort Scale chart which is given below and have a go filling it in? Some of the columns have been completed while others, in the third column, have gaps that you can fill in by doing some research. In the boxes on the right-hand side, produce a small line drawing showing visually what the wind speed is like. You could use drawings showing scenes from the land or the sea like moving trees and plants, damage to houses, waves on the ocean, ships in storms etc.
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Words: John Davis
Timeline of ancient greece Neolithic (New Stone Age) c.7000 BCE Early settlers begin farming in Greece. 3200-2300 BCE Cycladic culture on the
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