Note 44 — AQUATIC EXERCISES
Reading edition
That is, athwart or across the waist of the vessel, called a-beam, because it is in the same direction that her beams lay, or at right angles with her keel. Her head is then eight points from the wind.—The wind is said to be abaft the beam, or before the beam, according as the vessel’s head is more or less than eight points from the wind.