nicholassabalos: O Captain! My Captain! Command-at-Sea is one of the highest and singular responsibi

nicholassabalos:

O Captain! My Captain!

Command-at-Sea is one of the highest and singular responsibilities to be earned by a human being.

Since time immemorial, the skipper, The Captain, of a vessel….surface or subsurface….military or commercial….shoulders an almost-god-like position aboard his or her ship. 

They’re responsible for everything and everyone. Any mistake is their mistake, too….no matter who makes it. Their decisions are final and not to be questioned except under the rarest and most extraordinary of circumstances.

That vessel is under their total and absolute command….

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During my Naval career, I served under a couple dozen different skippers….ranging from those right out of Hollywood Central Casting as the ultimate of professional and admirable ship captains….to a few I often wondered how they ever got to their current position.

This photo and graphic sums up a composite of all those skippers under which I had the honor and pleasure (and dismay, a few times) of serving throughout my sea-going decades.