When thus much had been done, the 19th Article in turn found its
postulate realized, and laid down its corresponding instruction: "If the
admiral and his fleet have the wind of the enemy, and they have
stretched themselves in a line of battle, the van of the admiral's fleet
is to _steer with_ the van of the enemy's, and there to engage with
them." The precise force of "steer with" is not immediately apparent to
us to-day, nor does it seem to have been perfectly clear then; for the
question was put to the captain of the flag-ship,--the heroic Gardiner,
--"You have been asked if the admiral did not express some uneasiness at
Captain Andrews"--of the van ship in the action--"not seeming to
understand the 19th Article of the Fighting Instructions; Do not you
understand that article to relate to our van particularly when the two
fleets are [already] in a parallel line of battle to each other?" (As
TT, F3). _Answer_: "I apprehended it in the situation" [not parallel]
"we were in[1] if the word _For_ were instead of the word _With_, he
would, I apprehend, have steered directly _for_ the van ship of the
Enemy." _Question_. "As the 19th Article expresses to steer with the van
of the enemy, if the leading ship had done so, in the oblique line we
were in with the enemy, and every ship had observed it the same, would
it not have prevented our rear coming to action at all, at least within
a proper distance?" _Answer_: "Rear, and van too." "Steer with"
therefore meant, to the Court and to Gardiner, to steer parallel to the
enemy,--possibly likewise abreast,--and if the fleets were already
parallel the instruction would work; but neither the articles
themselves, nor Byng by his signals, did anything to effect parallelism
before making the signal to engage.

The captain of the ship sternmost in passing, which became the van when
the fleet tacked together according to the Instructions and signals,