Various / 2008-06-22 00:00:00
SEPTEMBER 20.
I am still in command and loving every minute of it. With any other
captain than ours it would be a come-down to resume my place as a
subordinate. But in his case I think that all mourn a little when he is
away.
SEPTEMBER 29.
[Sidenote: New knowledge of navigation and ship handling.]
Oh, it's great stuff, this being in command and handling the ship alone.
Particularly I enjoy swooping down on some giant freighter, like a hawk
on a turkey, running close alongside, where a wrong touch to helm or
engine may spell destruction, and then demanding through a megaphone why
she does or does not do so and so. I have learned more navigation and
ship-handling since being over here than in all my previous seagoing
experience. In the old ante-bellum days one hesitated to get too close
to another ship, even in daytime, far more so at night, even with the
required navigation lights on. Now, without so much light as a glowworm
could give, we run around, never quite certain when the darkness ahead
may turn into a ship close enough to throw a brick at.
However, I am back in the ranks again now, as the captain has come back
and resumed command.
OCTOBER 9.
[Sidenote: Job of an executive officer is thankless.]
You must not be resentful because of things you have gone through,
unappreciated by those perhaps for whom you have undergone them. It is
one of the laws of life, and a hard law too, but it comes to everybody,
either in a few big things or a multitude of little ones.
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