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Nautical charts and pubs change nearly as fast as the tide sending each sailing second mate back to kintergarden’s cut & paste lessons each time a new notice to mariners arrives with the ship’s mail. So it may seem ironic that the one chart which hasn’t changed much in over 200 years, was created by am man shipwrecked at age fifteen due to a faulty chart… The Beaufort Scale. Wikipedia tells us:

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 stave (as in musical notation) extends, with one or more half or whole barbs. For example, a stave with 3 ½ barbs represents Beaufort seven on the scale, decoded as 32–38 mph, or a “Fresh Gale”. Beaufort didn’t really invent something new here; rather, he eventually succeeded in getting others to adopt it as a standard when there was no existing standard.

While the information hasn’t changed much (nor has chart most of us are familiar with, shown in the picture above) the way in which the information is displayed can be depicted in a variety of ways. Below is just a sampling, be sure to leave a link to your favorite rendition of the scale in the comments below…. and not, the Beaufort-esque chart for determining the scale of a bar fight, doesn’t count.
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For the full list of gCaptain’s incident photos, CLICK HERE

For most, the notion of a bad time on a luxurious vacation aboard a cruise ship would be eating some bad shellfish at a local port.  For the unlucky passengers aboard the British cruise ship Balmoral, their 10 days of basking in the lap of luxury went awry when the ship encountered 50 ft. seas and 60 mph gale force nine winds.  The Balmoral encountered the rough seas when attempting to transit the Bay of Biscay during a storm.  According to reports, two passengers had to be taken to a hospital in Spain with broken bones.

Pictures Of The Storm – Bay Of Biscay

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We found this interesting YouTube video of ships battling heavy seas and rogue waves. These photos have been provided by SplashVision.com. Here at gCaptain.com we would love to see your interesting photos of ships struggling in heavy seas and/or rogue waves. To submit you photos drop us an email at Tips@gCaptain.com. Thanks..

If you like this post you might also like to take a look at some of these other posts.

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As a young cadet excited about an approaching storm the C/M told me something I find myself repeating; “You can tell the green hands from the old salts by their reaction to an approaching storm. The newbie will say ‘This is going to be fun’ while the old salt is thinking ‘Shit, not another’.

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