The Caine returns to San Francisco, where Maryk and Keith face a court-martial for mutiny. With Keith’s support, Maryk relieves Queeg of command. Concerned that the ship will founder, the officers and crew look to Queeg for guidance, but he appears to be frozen, either by indecision or fear. As they leave without seeing the admiral, an aide tells them that a typhoon is approaching.Īt the height of the storm, which takes place on July 31, 1944, Maryk urges the captain to reverse course into the wind and take on ballast, but Queeg refuses, having received no order from the fleet to change course or to maneuver at will. Arriving aboard Halsey’s flagship, Keefer suddenly backs down, telling the others that Queeg’s actions will just be interpreted as attempts to instill discipline. Despite the small nature of the theft, and the likelihood that the kitchen staff had eaten the missing strawberries, Queeg pushes ahead with his investigation, insisting that a duplicate cabinet key must have been made and used, and demanding an onerous search of the entire vessel to find it.įinally convinced of Queeg’s instability, Maryk asks Keefer and Keith to go with him to personally see Admiral Halsey about the matter. When some strawberries go missing from the officers’ mess, Queeg convenes an elaborate investigation to determine the culprit, recalling an incident earlier in his career when he received a commendation for uncovering the theft of food. Maryk angrily rejects that possibility, but starts a log documenting the captain’s behavior. Keefer, believing Queeg to be paranoid, encourages Maryk to consider relieving Queeg on the basis of mental incapacity under Article 184 of Navy Regulations. Queeg asks his officers for their support, but they remain silent and nickname him “Old Yellowstain,” implying cowardice. Assigned to escort a group of landing craft during an invasion of a small Pacific island, Queeg abandons his mission before he reaches the designated departure point, and instead drops a yellow dye marker, leaving the landing craft to fend for themselves.
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