I came across this book yesterday at a thrift store. Close to the Wind: The Beaufort Scale by Peter Malone. It's a lovely introduction to the Beaufort scale of wind speed/intensity developed by Captain Francis Beaufort of the Royal Navy in 1810 and used by mariners ever since. I believe it is a true living book. The author tells of each level of speed of the wind through the journal entries/letters written home to his sister by a 12 year old boy , William, on the ship as it journeys across the Atlantic. The illustrations are lovely. Each two page spread has the text with small vignette drawings on the left side, and across from that on the right a full page, full color illustration. At the end is a two page biographical sketch about Beaufort, a sketch of a typical ship of the early 1800s with explanations about its structure and sails, and a map of William's Journey. If you have anyone interested in shipping, I highly recommend this book. It would go nicely with old Ironsides by Weitzman and other books about ships of the late 1700s/early 1800s.
