Evening star., 1952-09-20
XII.

XII.
Capt. Grace, a fierce looking
old officer with square face and
heavy white eyebrows. accepted
the envelope offered by the cap
tain of the Caine and motioned
him to a yellow wooden chair be-
side his desk. Queeg, natty as
his bulbous figure permitted in
gabardine khakis. sat with his
fingers laced tightly together 10
his lap.
Grace put on heavy black
rimmed glasses and read the doc
ument. Then he deliberately re-
moved his glasses and showed the
report aside with the hairy back
of his hand. He inhaled on his
enormous black pipe and puffed
up a volcanic cloud from the hiss
ing bowl. Unsatisfactory" he
said. looking straight at Queeg.
The commanders lower lip
trembled. May I ask why. sir?"
Because it says nothing I
didn't know before and explains
nothing I want explained"
Queeg unconsciously began to
roll imaginary balls between the
fingers of both hands.
IT gather" Grace went on,
that you divide the blame
among your exec, your first lieu
tenant, your chief boatswain's
mate and your predecessor. Capt.
de Vriess."
"Sir. I accept full responsibility
for everything" Queeg said has
tily. I'm well aware that the
mistakes Of subordinates are no
excuse for an ofncer. but simply
reflect on his ability to lead. And
as for my predecessor. why, sir,
I am cognizant that the ship
spent q very long time in the for
ward area and I have no COM
Iplaints about the ship, but facts
are facts and the state Of training
is definitely not up to snuff, but
have taken steps which will quick
ly remedy that situation, and
So"
why didn't you recover the
target, commander"
"Sir. as I state in my report the
chief boatSwain's mate seemed to
have no clear idea how to 60 about
it and my officers were equally
vague and uncertain and failed to
Igive me precise information, and
a captain has to lean on his sub
ordinates to some extent, it's in
evitable. And I judged that. it
} was more important for the Caine
to report back to base for such
further duty as might be assigned
instead Of wasting time in futile
complicated maneuvering. If this
decision was erroneous it is regret
ted, but that was my decision"
Hell, man, there's nothing
complicated about recovering a
target" Grace said irritably
you can do it in half an hour
DMS's out here have done it q
dozen times. Those damn things
cost money. God knows where
that target Is now. The tug we
sent out can't find it,"
I'm not commanding that tug
sir" Queeg said with a sly little
smile at his hands.
Wants Frank Talk.
Grace screwed up his eyes and
lpeered at Queeg as though he
were in a very poor light. He
raped the ash out of his pipe
against a horny palm into a heavy
glass ashtray. "See here, Com
mander," he said in a pleasanter
tone than he had hitherto used,
II understand how you feel about
your first command. You're
anxious to make no mistakes-it's IS
lonly natural. I was that way my
self. But I made mistakes. and
lpaid for them. and gradually grew
into a fairly competent officer
Let's be frank with each other
Commander Queeg, for the sake
Of your ship and. If I may say so
your future career. Forget that
this is an official interview. From
here on in everything is OF the
record"
Queeg's head was sinking down
between his shoulders, and he re-
garded Grace warily from under
his eyebrows.
Between you and me-" Grace
said, you didn't try to recover
that target because you just
didn't know what to do in the
situation. Isn't that the truth?'
Queeg took a long. leisurely puff
at his cigarette.
IF that's the case, man." said
Grace in a fatherly way, "say SO
and let's both put this incident
behind us. On that basis I can
understand it and forget it. It
was a mistake. a mistake due to
anxiety and inexperience. But
there's no man in the Navy who's
never made a mistake"
Queeg shook his head decisively.
reached forward, and crushed out
his cigarette. "No. Captain, I as
sure you appreciate what you
say, but I am not SO stupid as to
lie to a superior officer, and /
assure you my first version Of
what happened is correct and I do
mot believe I have made any mis-
take as yet in commanding the
lCaine nor do I intend to, and.
as I say. finding the caliber of my
ofacers and crew to be what it is,
II am simply going to get seven
times as tough as usual and bear