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Notes

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Sir Francis Beaufort was the creator of the Beaufort scale for indicating wind force. Beginning at fourteen on a merchant ship of the British East India Company, Beaufort rose, during the Napoleonic Wars, through the ranks to become a Captain in the Royal Navy. He spent his leisure time taking soundings and bearings, making astronomical observations to determine longitude and latitude, and measuring shorelines. In 1829, at the age of fifty-five, Beaufort became the Hydrographer of the British Admiralty, a post he held for twenty-five years, transforming it from a minor chart repository into the finest surveying institution in the world. Some of his charts are still used, two hundred years after he created them.

National Portrait Gallery, London

London

Title

Sir Francis Beaufort

Date

1850

Medium

oil on millboard

Measurements

H 50.5 x W 40.6 cm

Accession number

918

Acquisition method

Bequeathed by Jane, Lady Franklin, 1892

Work type

Painting

National Portrait Gallery, London

St Martin’s Place, London, Greater London WC2H 0HE England

This venue is open to the public. Not all artworks are on display. If you want to see a particular artwork, please contact the venue.

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Artist or maker

Stephen Pearce

1819–1904

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