[3] Entrar y salir—lit. 'to go in and come out,' a technical military expression used of light cavalry. It seems generally to signify short sudden attacks on weak points.
[4] Here follow directions for telling off a fourth of the largest boats in the fleet for certain duties which are sufficiently explained in the section on 'Battle' below.
[5] Unos en pos de otros á la hila—lit. one behind the other in file.
[6] En escuadrones ó en ala. In military diction these words meant 'deep formation' and 'single line.' Here probably ala means line abreast. See next note.
[7] Cado uno de los escuadrones debe ir en ala. Here escuadrone must mean 'squadron' in the modern sense of a division, and from the context ala can mean nothing but 'line abreast,' 'line ahead' being strictly forbidden.
[8] This, of course, refers to fire tactics ashore. The meaning is that a ship, when she has delivered her fire, cannot retire by countermarch and leave her next in file to deliver its fire in turn. The whole system, it will be seen, is based on end-on fire, as a preparation for boarding and small-arm fighting.
[9] Viniere toda junta puesta in ala.
[10] This sentence in the original is incomplete, running on into the next chapter. For clearness the construction has been altered in the translation.
[11] This remarkable evolution is a little obscure. The Spanish has 'y moviendo asimismo los otros del otro bordo, aquellos que tienen sus carretones que andan per cima de cubierta y toldo.'
[12] Versos, breech-loading pieces of the secondary armament of ships, and for aiming boats. Bases were of the high penetration or 'culverin' type.