Story #23 - Four Wind Rose

Story #23 is about Homer’s Four Wind Rose and how it became a symbol at SSM.

To commemorate the twentieth anniversary of Spotts Engineering Associates in 1952, Walter Spotts treated clients to a 14”x18” hand drawn copy of Homer's Four Wind Rose.

Mr. Spotts hand lettered the drawing which shows the evolution of what had become the face of the mariner’s compass from the ninth century B.C. beginnings. Direction was determined by the place from which prevailing winds blew. There were four winds in Homer’s world. Boreas, the north wind, blew from Thrace, a wind that rolled up mighty waves. Norus, the south wind, was a stormy petrel bringing sudden squalls, hence dangerous to navigators. Zephryus, the west wind was often represented as a stormy wind but not by Homer who knew the west, where the climate was temperate and the people prosperous. Eurus, the east wind, was seldom mentioned.

The wind rose of Homer evolved through the centuries and civilizations to the seventeenth century, 32 point compass face familiar in form, if not by names, to modern navigators. Mr. Spotts, captured that evolution and beauty in his reproduction.

This drawing continues to be an inspirational token at SSM. Our Reading office still holds the original in a frame along one of our main hallways. And, throughout the years several reproductions have been in made in honor of both Mr. Spotts and SSM.

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