by Herman Wouk
“Kept the quartermaster’s notebook, sir.”
“Describe in your own words how it happened that Lieutenant Maryk relieved the captain.”
“Well, he relieved him at five minutes to ten. I noted it in my book-”
“How did he relieve him?”
“He said, ‘I relieve you, sir.’ ”
“Didn’t he do anything else?”
“I don’t remember for sure.”
“Why did he relieve him? What was happening at the time?”
“The ship was rolling very bad.”
Challee looked up at the court in exasperation. “Urban, describe everything that happened in the ten minutes before Captain Queeg was relieved.”
“Well, like I say, we were rolling very bad.”
Challee waited, his eyes intent on the sailor. After a long silence he burst out, “That’s all? Did the exec say anything? Did the captain say anything? Did the OOD say anything? Did the ship just roll in silence for ten minutes?”
“Well, sir, it was a typhoon. I don’t remember too well.”
Blakely leaned forward, scowling over his clasped fingers at the signalman. “Urban, you’re under oath. Evasive answers in a court-martial constitute contempt of court, which is a very bad business. Now think over your answer.”
Urban said desperately, “Well, I think the captain wanted to come left and the exec wanted to come right, or something like that.”
“Why did the captain want to come left?”
“I don’t know, sir.”
“Why did the exec want to come right?”
“Sir, I’m a signalman. I was keeping the quartermaster’s log. I kept a good log even though we were rolling so bad. I didn’t know what it was all about and I still don’t.”
“Did the captain act crazy?”
“No, sir.”
“Did the exec?”
“No, sir.”
“Did the exec seem scared?”
“No, sir.”
“Did the captain?”
“No, sir.”
“Did anyone?”
“I was goddamn scared, sir. I beg your pardon, sir.”
A member of the court, a reserve lieutenant with an Irish face and bright red curly hair, chuckled out loud. Blakely turned on him. The lieutenant began writing busily on a yellow pad. “Urban,” said Challee, “you are the only witness to this whole affair who is not directly involved. Your testimony is of the utmost importance-”
“I wrote everything in the quartermaster’s log, sir; just the way it happened.”
“Logs are not supposed to contain conversations. I am trying to find out what was said.”
“Well, sir, like I said, one wanted to come right and one wanted to come left. Then Mr. Maryk relieved the captain.”
“But the captain definitely did not act queer or crazy in , any way at any time that morning-correct?”
“The captain was the same as always, sir.” Challee yelled, “Crazy, or sane, Urban?”
Urban shrank back in his chair, staring at Challee. “Of course he was sane, sir, so far as I knew.”
“You don’t remember anything that was said by anybody the whole morning?”
“I was busy keeping the log, sir. Except something about coming left or right, and about the storm being bad and all.”
“What about ballasting?”
“Well, there was some talk about ballasting.”
“To what effect?”
“Just talk about whether to ballast.”
“Who wanted to ballast?”
“Well, the captain, or Mr. Maryk, I don’t know which.”
“It’s of the greatest importance that you remember which, Urban.”
“I don’t know nothing about ballasting, sir. All I know is they talked about it.”
“Was the ship ever ballasted that morning?”
“Yes, sir, because I remember I made a note in my log.”
“Who gave the order to ballast?”
“I don’t remember, sir.”
“You don’t remember much!”
“I kept a good log, sir. That was what I was there for.”
Challee turned to Blakely, exclaiming, “I do not believe this witness is heeding the admonition of the court.”
“Urban,” said Blakely, “how old are you?”
“Twenty, sir.”
“What schooling have you had?”
“One year in high school.”
“Have you been telling the whole truth here, or haven’t you?”
“Sir, the quartermaster isn’t supposed to listen to arguments between the captain and the exec. He’s supposed to keep his log. I don’t know why Mr. Maryk relieved the captain.”
“Did you ever see the captain do anything crazy?”
“No, sir.”
“Did you like the captain?”
Urban said miserably, “Sure I liked him, sir.”
“Continue your examination,” said the court to Challee.
“No further questions.”
Greenwald approached the witness platform, flipping the red crayon against his palm. “Urban, were you aboard when the Caine cut its own tow cable outside Pearl Harbor?”
“Yes, sir.”
“What were you doing at the time that it happened?”
“I was-that is, the captain was eating me out-bawling me out-on the bridge.”
“What for?”
“My shirttail was out.”
“And while the captain was discussing your shirttail the ship steamed over its own towline?”
Challee had been regarding the defense counsel with wrinkled brows. He jumped up. “Object to this line of questioning and request the entire cross-examination so far be stricken from the record. Counsel has tricked the witness with leading questions into asserting as a fact that the Caine cut a towline, a material point that was not touched upon in direct examination.”
Greenwald said, “The witness stated he had never seen the captain do anything crazy. I am attempting to refute this. Courts and Boards 282 says leading questions may be freely used on cross-examination.”
The court was cleared. When all the parties returned Blakely said, “Defense counsel will have the opportunity to originate evidence later, and can recall the witness at that time. Objection sustained. Cross-examination thus far will be stricken from the record.”
During the rest of the afternoon Challee called twelve chiefs and sailors of the Caine, all of whom testified briefly and glumly that Queeg had seemed much like any other captain, and had never to their knowledge done anything insane, either before the typhoon, during it, or afterward. The first of these was Bellison. Greenwald’s cross-examination of him consisted of three questions and answers.
“Chief Bellison, what is a paranoid personality?”
“I don’t know, sir.”
“What is the difference between a psychoneurosis and a psychosis?”
“I don’t know, sir.” Bellison wrinkled up his face.
“Could you recognize a neurotic person as such if you encountered one?”
“No, sir.”
To each of the twelve members of the crew, Greenwald put the same three questions and received the same answers. This litany, repeated twelve times, had a cumulating effect of irritation on Challee and on the court. They glared at Greenwald and fidgeted each time he went through the formula.
The court was adjourned after the testimony of the last sailor, Meatball. Maryk and his lawyer walked silently out of the court-martial building together. The last orange rays of a sinking sun were slanting across the bay, and the air was cool and sweet after the stale varnish-and-linoleum smell of the courtroom. They walked to Greenwald’s gray Navy jeep. The gravel walk crunched loudly under their steps. “Have they got us on the run?” Maryk said quietly.
“Who knows?” Greenwald said. “We haven’t gone to bat yet. You know this town. Where can we eat good?”
“I’ll drive.”
Greenwald drank a great many highbal
ls during dinner. He evaded any talk about the court-martial, and filled the conversation with rambling dull information about Indians. He told Maryk that his real ambition had been to become an anthropologist, but he had gone into law out of crusading fervor, figuring that Indians needed to be defended more than to be studied. He said he had regretted the choice often.
He seemed queerer and queerer to Maryk. The exec abandoned hope-with his mind; he was convinced that Queeg, Keefer, and Urban had finished him off in the first day. But he clung to a shred of irrational faith in his strange defender. The prospect of being convicted was so awful that he had to believe in something. The maximum penalty was dismissal and fifteen years’ imprisonment.
CHAPTER 34
The Court-Martial-Second Day, Morning
“Okay, Lieutenant Keith,” said an orderly, opening the door to the anteroom at two minutes past ten.
Willie followed him blindly. They passed through several doors, and suddenly they were in the courtroom, and Willie felt the shooting tingles in his arms and legs that he had felt when the Caine approached an invasion beach. The room was a frightening blur of solemn faces; the American flag seemed gigantic, and its red, white, and blue terribly vivid, like a flag in a color movie. He found himself on the witness platform, being sworn, and could not have told how he got there. Challee’s face was gray and forbidding. “Mr. Keith, were you officer of the deck of the Caine during the forenoon watch on 18 December?”
“I was.”
“Was the captain relieved of command by the executive. officer during that watch?”
“Yes.”
“Do you know why the executive officer took the action he did?”
“Yes. The captain had lost control of himself and the ship, and we were in imminent danger of foundering.”
“How many years have you served at sea, Lieutenant?”
“One year and three months.”
“Have you ever been in a ship that foundered?”
“No.”
“Do you know how many years Commander Queeg has served at sea?”
“No.”
“As a matter of fact, Commander Queeg has served over eight years. Which of you is better qualified to judge whether a ship is foundering or not?”
“Myself, sir, if I’m in possession of my faculties and Commander Queeg isn’t.”
“What makes you think he isn’t in possession of his faculties?”
“He wasn’t on the morning of December 18.”
“Have you studied medicine or psychiatry?”
“No.”
“What qualifies you to judge whether your commanding officer was in possession of his faculties on December 18?”
“I observed his behavior.”
“Very well, Lieutenant. Describe to the court everything about your captain’s behavior which indicated loss of his faculties.”
“He froze to the engine-room telegraph. His face showed petrified terror. It was green. His orders were sluggish and vague, and not appropriate.”
“Is it for the officer of the deck, Mr. Keith, a junior with one year at sea, to judge whether or not his captain’s orders are appropriate?”
“Not ordinarily. But when the ship is in danger of going down and the captain’s ship handling is increasing the danger instead of countering it, the OOD can’t help observing it.”
“Did Captain Queeg foam, or rave, or make nonsensical statements, or insane gestures?”
“No. He seemed to be paralyzed with terror.”
“Paralyzed, yet he issued orders?”
“As I say, the orders were not helping matters, but making them worse.”
“Be specific, Lieutenant. In what way were his orders making things worse?”
“Well, he kept insisting on going down-wind, when the ship was yawing so badly it was broaching to. And he refused to ballast.”
“Refused? Who asked him to ballast?”
“Mr. Maryk.”
“Why did the captain refuse?”
“He said he didn’t want to contaminate the tanks with salt water.”
“After being relieved, did Captain Queeg go violently crazy?”
“No.”
“Describe the captain’s manner after being relieved of command.”
“Well, actually, he seemed better afterward. I think he felt better as soon as he no longer had the responsibility-”
“No opinions, Mr. Keith. Tell the court not what you think, but what you observed, please. What did the captain do?”
“Well, he stayed in the wheelhouse. Several times he tried to resume command.”
“In an orderly, sensible way, or in a wild, raving way?”
“The captain was never wild or raving, either before or after being relieved. There are other forms of mental illness.”
“Tell us about some others, Mr. Keith.” Challee’s tone was coarsely sarcastic.
“Well, little as I know about psychiatry, I do know-well, for instance, extreme depression and vagueness, and divorcement from reality, and inaccessibility to reason-things like that-” Willie felt that he was stumbling badly. “Besides, I never said Captain Queeg issued rational orders that morning. They were rational only in so far as they were phrased in correct English. They showed no awareness of reality.”
“In your expert opinion, as ship handler and psychiatrist, that is? Very well. Are you aware that Captain Queeg has been pronounced perfectly rational by professional psychiatrists?”
“Yes.”
“Do you think these psychiatrists are also mentally ill, Lieutenant Keith?”
“They weren’t on the bridge of the Caine during the typhoon.”
“Were you a loyal officer?”
“I think I was.”
“Were you wholeheartedly behind the captain, or antagonistic to him, at all times prior to 18 December?”
Willie knew Queeg had appeared on the first day, but he had no idea of what the testimony had been. He calculated his answer carefully. “I was antagonistic to Captain Queeg at certain isolated times. Otherwise I maintained a loyal and respectful attitude.”
“At what isolated times were you antagonistic?”
“Well, it was usually the same basic trouble. When Captain Queeg oppressed or maltreated the men I opposed him. Not very successfully.”
“When did the captain ever maltreat the men?”
“Well, I don’t know where to begin. Well, first he systematically persecuted Gunner’s Mate Second Class Stilwell.”
“In what way?”
“First he restricted him to the ship for six months for reading on watch. He refused to grant him leave in the States when there was a grave crisis in Stilwell’s family life. Maryk gave Stilwell a seventy-two-hour emergency leave and he returned a few hours over leave. And for all that the captain gave Stilwell a summary court.”
“Wasn’t Stilwell tried for sending a fraudulent telegram?”
“Yes, and acquitted.”
“But the summary court was for fraud, not merely for being AOL?”
“Yes. I’m sorry, I spoke hastily.”
“Take your time and be accurate. Do you think reading on watch in wartime is a negligible offense?”
“I don’t think it warrants six months’ restriction.”
“Are you qualified to pass judgment on matters of naval discipline?”
“I’m a human being. In Stilwell’s circumstances, the restriction was inhuman.”
Challee paused for a moment. “You say Maryk gave Stilwell a pass. Did Maryk know that the captain had denied leave to Stilwell?”
“Yes.”
“Are you testifying, Mr. Keith,” the judge advocate said, with the air of having stumbled on something unexpected and good, “that Maryk, as far back as December ’43, deliberately violated his captain’s orders?”
Willie became rattled. It hadn’t occurred to him that he would be disclosing this injurious fact for the first time. “Well, I mean it was my fault actually. I begged him to. I wa
s morale officer, and I thought the man’s morale-in fact, I think his present mental collapse is due to the captain’s persecution-”
Challee turned to Blakely. “I ask the court to warn this witness against answering with immaterial opinions.”
“Stick to facts, Mr. Keith,” growled Blakely. Willie shifted in his chair, and felt his clothes all clammy inside. Challee said, “We now have your testimony, Mr. Keith, that you and Maryk and Stilwell connived to circumvent an express order of your commanding officer, a whole year before the typhoon of 18 December-”
“I would do it again, given the same circumstances.”
“Do you believe loyalty consists in obeying only such orders as you approve of, or all orders?”
“All orders, except irrational persecution.”
“Do you think there is no recourse in the Navy against what you think is irrational persecution, except disobedience of orders?”
“I know you can forward a letter to higher authority-via the captain.”
“Why didn’t you do that in this case?”
“I had to sail with Queeg for another year. The important thing was to get Stilwell home.”
“It’s an unlucky coincidence, isn’t it, that the same insubordinate trio-Maryk, Stilwell, and yourself-combined in the deposing of your captain?”
“Stilwell and I just happened to be on duty when the captain went to pieces. Any other OOD and helmsman would have done the same.”
“Maybe. Now, please tell the court any other instances of oppression and maltreatment that occur to you.”
Willie hesitated for several seconds, feeling the weight of the court members’ unfriendly looks like a pressure on his forehead. “Maybe you can make them all sound silly and trivial here, sir, but at the time they were serious. He cut off the movies for six months just because he wasn’t invited to a showing by mistake-he cut off the water at the equator because he was annoyed by the detachment of an officer-he called midnight conferences on insignificant details with department heads who were standing a one-in-three deck watch. And he forbade sleeping by day so there was no chance to catch up on sleep-”
“We’ve had a lot of testimony on that sleep business. The officers of the Caine certainly wanted their sleep, war or no war, didn’t they?”
“I said it’s easy to poke fun at these things. But it isn’t easy to conn a ship in formation in a rain squall when you’ve been up for seventy-two hours with maybe four hours’ consecutive sleep.”
