making the other fellow come to you was known as keeping the wind gauge. Choundas could not operate against the principal sea-lanes to and from Canton from LEEWARD. He had to be up to WINDWARD, from which he could strike and then dance away if he ran into some ship stronger than he was. I hope I have related the limitations and advantages of wind position in
The harbor I invented at Spratly Island was a right bastard-easy to get into with a southeast trade wind, almost impossible to exit-and I hope I showed how near Lewrie was to losing
I could get into a lot more detail shown on the sketch of a full-rigged ship-what the braces, lifts, jears, and halyards did and all that-but that would take an entire book in itself. Let me recommend, instead, 'the' guide: John Harland's
Speaking of the Napoleonic Wars… there's Alan Lewrie, bound for the Bahamas after a few months' rest ashore. I expect that he shall have a rather peaceful time of it during his three-year commission. That should put him back in England, should he outrun any more irate husbands or furious daddies, in 1789. Just in time for…
… but as they used to say at summer camp when they shooed us off to our cabins so the counselors could cavort with the girls across the lake, 'That's a story for another night's campfire.'