BY AND LARGE
SIR,—In reply to Mr. Morison's inquiry, I think that a ship is (or was) said to be sailing "By the wind" when her course made an acute angle with the direction in which the wind was blowing. "Large" when the angle was obtuse. If the angle was exactly ninety degrees (which perhaps would not occur very often) she was said to be "on a beam wina." If her course was the same as the direction of the wind she was said to be "running before the wind," or perhaps "running free."
The Flying Dutchman is the only person known who is believed to have been able to sail his ship directly against the wind, and he does not appear to have imparted his description of this unique operation to anybody else.—Yours very faithfully, R. H. MAIDEN. The Deanery, Wells, Somerset.
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