whether they come in a close body or in line ahead,[5] and whether
they are disposed in square bodies or in a single line,[6] and whether
the great ships are in the centre or on the flanks, and in what
station is the flagship; and all the other considerations which are
essential to the case he should take in hand.

By all means he should do his best that his fleet shall have the
weather-gage; for if there was no other advantage he will always keep
free from being blinded by the smoke of the guns, so as to be able to
see one to another; and for the enemy it will be the contrary, because
the smoke and fire of our fleet and of their own will keep driving
upon them, and blinding them in such a manner that they will not be
able to see one another, and they will fight among themselves from not
being able to recognise each other.

Everything being now ready, if the enemy have made squadrons of their
fleet we should act in the same manner in ours, placing always the
greater ships in one body as a vanguard to grapple first and receive
the first shock; and the captain-general should be stationed in the
centre squadron, so that he may see those which go before and those
which follow.

Each of the squadrons ought to sail in line abreast,[7] so that all
can see the enemy and use their guns without getting in each other's
way, and they must not sail in file one behind the other, because
thence would come great trouble, as only the leading ships could
fight. In any case a ship is not so nimble as a man to be able to face
about and do what is best.[8]

The rearguard should be the ships that I have called the supports,