Evening star., 1952-09-26
The Caine Mutiny
BY Herman Wouk

an Wouk
Friendship, on this point, no
longer means anything to me.
That's the straight dope"
Keefer listened with a grave,
tense face; only there was a tinge
|of mockery in the wrinkling OF
his eyes. AYE aye. Steve" he
said quietly and went out through
the drawn curtain.
Maryk'S Medical Log.
It became known among the
officers, shortly after the ship left
Funafuti in a convoy to Noumea
that Steve Maryk had taken to
writing late at night.
Actually. he had begun a record
of the captains eccentricities and
expressions. labeled Medical Log
on 1t. Comdr. Queeg." He kept it
locked in his desk safe. Aware
that the captain possessed a rec
ord Of the combination. Maryk
quietly opened the lock late one
night and reset the dials. He
gave sealed envelope containing
the new combination to Willie
Keith with instructions to open
it only in case Of his own death
or disappearance.
During the months that fol-
lowed the log swelled to a
voluminous record. BY being sent
to Funafuti the Caine had fallen
into the clutches of the South
west Pacific command, the
Seventh Fleet. and it began a
grinding, nerve-rasping tour OF
monotonous escort duty.
During this captivity Capt
Queeg became more irascible. sc.
cluded and strange. When HI
emerged from his cabin he usually
performed some minor outrage
that was written down in Maryk'
log. He incarcerated sailors ant
put officers under hack; he cut of
water. he cut off coffee, and whe1
the movie operator neglected II
send him word that a perform
lance was starting he cut of movie
for the entire crew for six months
He made endless demands fol
written reports and investigations
Once he kept all the officers sit
ting in session for 48 hours, try
ing to find out which mess boy
had burned out a Slick (they
never found out and he an.
Inounced a 20-point cut in every
body's fitness rating). He de-
Iveloped a settled habit of sum.
moning officers for conferences II
the middle Of the night. Tn,
equilibrium of declared hostility
between himself and the ward.
room, established by his speech
after the Stilwen court-martial
came to seem the normal way O.
life for the officers. They av.
eraged four or five broken hour.
of sleep each night. A gray mis-
Of fatigue settled over theil
minds. They were jumpy, easily
moved to quarrel and more scared
and sickened with every passins
week by the everlasting buzz O.
the wardroom phone and the mes.
sage, Captain wants to see vol
in his cabin And all the time
Maryk doggedly kept adding tt
his secret log.
Early in June they were
rescued from the treadmill deliri-
um of 7th Fleet duty. The opera.
ton order for the invasion OF
Saipan arrived aboard. and the
Caine was assigned to the screen
of the main body of attack trans
ports.
An hour before dawn Of the in
vasion day, with the night fading
to blue and Saipan beginning tc
show on the horizon, a bumped
black shape, Willie was surprised
to find himself badly scared. II
Inundated him to be afraid, ap.
preaching his second combat ex.
perience. when he had been SC
valorously carefree the first time
His innocence was gone. The
flame and noise and ruin anc
falling figures of Kwajalein hac
penetrated to his bones anc
viscera even while he had hum.
med Begin the Beguine.
The Caine was sent to an anti
submarine patrol sector as soon a.
the invasion got under way, an,
there it steamed endlessly in /,
f1gure-eight path several thousant
yards long. Twelve other ship
moved in unison with it, back ant
forth at 10 knots. in a protectiv,
tanning curtain around the trans
ports anchored close to the beach
It seemed like a safe place, ant
Willie's spirits improved as tn,
hours passed. His morale stiff
fened when he observed tina
Queeg was really shutting from
one side of the bridge to tn
other so as to remain sheltere,
from the beach. There was n,
mistaking it this time. because tn
ship kept reversing course ever,
few minutes; and regular as clock
work. each time it presented a ney
side to Saipan. Queeg would com
strolling around to the seawart
wing. This gave Willie a dearl,
cherished chance to display hi
contempt for the captain by doin,
exactly the opposite. He sense,
that the sailors were noticing
Queeg's conduct; there was a 10
Of sly grinning and muttering
Willie ostentatiously moved to tn
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