Weather gage be the boat without the weather gage, especially just before the start or when the boat to leeward can point higher into the wind. "Gauge" and "gage" are often used as alternative spellings. To the extent that there is a difference, a "weather gauge" can be a form of meteorological instrumentation for measuring weather quantitatively, such as a rain gauge, thermometer, anemometer, or barometer. A "gage" is a challenge, and hence an entry into battle, though the word is more commonly embedded in the word "engage". Weather gage The weather gage (sometimes spelled weather gauge) is the advantageous position of
Letter of marque were sometimes used to describe the vessels used to pursue and capture prizes. In this context, a letter of marque was a lumbering, square-rigged cargo carrier that might pick up a prize if the opportunity arose in its normal course of duties. In contrast, the term privateer generally referred to a fast and weatherly fore-and-aft rigged vessel, heavily armed and heavily crewed, intended exclusively for fighting. Marque derives from the Old English "mearc", which is from the Germanic *"mark-", which means boundary, or boundary marker, which is derived from the Proto-Indo-European root "*merǵ-", meaning boundary, or border. The French "marque"