Caine Mutiny, The - Herman Wouk [82]
“Jesus,” Willie heard Maryk mutter to the exec, “a wild man from way back.”
“Shifty as hell, though,” Gorton murmured. “How about the way he dodged that grounding report? De Vriess would never have dared-”
“Why the hell didn’t he get his stern out before we left the Moulton? Wind on the beam outboard-”
“Christ, Steve, first time out-give him a chance-”
That afternoon Willie interrupted his coding to write off a letter to May, the last before the start of the voyage. He filled it with warm affectionate descriptions of how badly he missed her, and he praised her doughty persistence in going to Hunter College. He felt impelled to write something about Queeg, though up till now he had remained purposely vague about life on the Caine.
Our new captain is a rather strange man, like most of these regular officers, but I think he’s just what the ship needs. He’s a strict perfectionist and a hard taskmaster, and pure Navy through and through. Yet at the same time he has a remarkably pleasant disposition. He seems to be a very daring seaman, maybe a little inexperienced, but full of zip. All in all I think the Caine has had a wonderful change in luck, and I expect my spirits are going to improve accordingly. I’ve really been pretty low ...
A radioman knocked at his open doorway. “Pardon me, Mr. Keith. Action from ComServPac. Just come over the harbor circuit.”
“Sure, give it here.” Willie went to the coding machine and broke the despatch. A written report is desired explaining grounding of Caine this morning in West Loch. Include explanation of failure to report grounding via despatch to this command.
Willie had very little desire to face Captain Queeg with this unpleasant message, but there was no way to avoid it. He brought the decode to the captain’s room. Queeg was sitting in his underwear at the desk, working over a pile of official mail. When he read the message he sat upright with a loud squeak of the swivel chair. He stared at the sheet for a long time while Willie tried to think of a good excuse to sneak out of the room.
“Fussy so-and-so, this ComServ Pac, hey, Willie?” Queeg looked at him sidewise.
“Wonder how he got the dope, sir-”
“Hell, nothing hard about that. Damn mustang on that tug just skipped on home and reported the whole thing. First useful duty he’s performed in a month, no doubt. I might have thought of that-” Queeg picked up the balls from his desk and rolled them rapidly, eying the despatch. “Well, hell, he wants a grounding report. We’ll give him a grounding report. Spruce up, Willie, and stand by to deliver it by hand. Seems to have his pants on fire for some reason.”
“Aye aye, sir.”
Riding to the ComServPac building on the yard bus an hour later, Willie’s curiosity about the grounding report became too strong for him. The manila envelope was closed only by a flexible metal clasp. He glanced from side to side in an automatic guilty gesture; none of the passengers were watching him. He slid the report out of its envelope on his lap and read it.
Grounding of USS CAINE (DMS 22) in West Loch, 25 September 1943-Report on.
1. Subject vessel ran slightly aground on mudbank in subject area on subject date at 0932. It was floated off by YT 137 at 1005. There were no casualties or damage.
2. The reason for the grounding was failure of the engine room to respond in time to engine orders telegraphed from the bridge.
3. This command has recently been relieved. The state of training aboard is believed to warrant a drastic drilling program to bring performance of crew up to proper standards. Such a program has been instituted.
4. It was intended to submit a grounding report in full tomorrow morning by messenger. Report was not made by despatch to ComServPac at the time because help was at hand, damage was nil, and the matter appeared to be disposable