Chapter VI

After Baltimore

The Denison returns to sea and Harry to his routine of studying six hours a day and four-hours on the bridge on Bob Smith’s four to eight sunrise watch.

He soon realizes, six hours a day—the academy’s recommended minimum daily study time—is not keeping up with the assigned work. With concern growing that he may flunk out at exam time, Harry begins studying in earnest, leaving his quarters only for necessaries and his bridge watch.

Bob Smith now being his only contact, except for visits to the bridge by Chief Lindstromm and the moments with John Carol on the 0800 hours change of the watch …

Needing a break from his studies, this one evening Harry takes up his diary and heads up a new page “Shipboard Characters” and writes …

Bob Smith has turned out to be more than a nice guy; he’s taken a real interest in my welfare, he has even taken to filling me in on background info about the Denison officers and crew and on what’s going on aboard ... And then there’s Mate Lindstromm. He’s a quiet learned man and not at all like the captain. He says he’s from Rotterdam, but the ship’s scuttlebutt has it he’s a German and once captained his own ship … a German passenger liner; only top of the line captains are assigned to passenger liners. He strikes me as being a man that would succeed in any field he chose. His home is New Jersey now. He’s known as “Will” to a limited few, present company excluded, Mr. Mate to the rest of us. Above deck he’s second in command, below deck its Chief Engineer Timothy, Tim, O’Sullivan who runs the engine room.

The Mate is the busiest man aboard, yet as soon as the Denison settled into her sea routine, he took me under his wing and, on my watch with Mr. Smith, when Smithie is busy taking his star sights and mapping the ship’s position, the mate takes the time to teach me on the art of celestial navigation; in his light German accent he’s introduced me to the morning navigational stars and where, in the heavens, they are. He introduced me too, to the workings of the sexton, the navigator’s principal tool in sighting the stars and measuring their arc to the horizon and thereby the ship’s global position; he’s given me his old sexton to practice with. This should put me ahead of my class in this area of study. It’s all pretty neat and a welcome relief from the ways of Captain Larsen.

Then there’s Mr. Levin … Sheldon Levin … the name, for some reason, suits him … I can’t figure Levin or his red-top quartermaster, Quinn. They are more than unfriendly … something going on there, as if they got a thing for me. I don’t know. They make me uncomfortable …

Well, gotta get back to the books. Signing off for now.

----------------

The 0800 hours change of the watch finds Bob Smith and John Carol in conversation. “John, about the mate’s attentiveness to our Harry, it’s understandable; he had a son a lot like Harry … lost the boy early on, to the war … as for Sheldon, he seems to resent the special treatment shown our cadet by the mate; he’s giving our boy a hard time on many fronts … he’s just naturally a little twisted.”

“Yeah, its that damn superiority complex he carries around.”

“Between you, me, and the lamppost, John, I’ve got this imaginary dog I call Sheldon who I kick now and again. It can be very medicinal … works wonders for my mood. It’s like my own voodoo doll.

John Carol looks hard at the second mate. “Strange you should say that … I’m not suppose to tell … he made me swear to keep it secret.” The junior third mate moves closer to Bob Smith and cuffs his hand to Bob’s ear. “Sheldon has his own little voodoo sideshow. You didn’t hear it from me. I don’t want to get on anybody’s wrong side, especially a guy who’s got a doll that look like me that he sticks pins in.”

Finished with Harry’s morning navigational lesson, Mate Lindstromm leaves the bridge. Harry sees the two huddled officers in conversation and approaches.

Bob Smith warmly puts his arm about his cadet and takes him aside. “How’s it going, Harry? Keeping it all in perspective?” He gives Harry a playful tug drawing him in.

Harry flashes an appreciative grin.

“Harry, as for the captain, captains aren’t suppose to be anybody’s friend. And ours has been at it for a long time now and he paid his dues in the forecastle, too, so he’s gotta be a little tough-skinned and crusty and, perhaps, a little resentful of anyone who can do it in four years.

“Unlike most of his cut, it—the sea—hasn’t turned him to drink, that’s to be admired of this man, but there is talk,” Bob Smith flashes a big kidding grin, “our captain never takes his hat off because he’s hiding a half-pint under it … mind you just for emergencies. So let’s cut him some slack on the rascal side.”