The Navigator

It happened over 60 years ago in the South Pacific during the Second World War. A young ensign was fresh out of Midshipman’s School where he had been studying a specific type of mathematics – Spherical Trigonometry. Naval officers needed to know this type of math so they could figure out their position on the globe before Global Positioning Satellites were invented.

So one night while not on duty, the young ensign was practicing his skills from the deck of the ship. He used an instrument called a marine sextant to determine the angle of the stars relative to sea level. The readings were then used to plot the position of the ship. What he found was that his coordinates did not match those that were officially posted. In other words, the ship was off course – significantly.

He took this information to the ship’s navigator who responded by explaining that the ensign must be wrong. He did not appreciate being called into question and accused him of insubordination. The ensign accepted the scolding.

It turned out that the captain liked to show the young officers that he was “one of them”. Over mess the next evening he commented that his door was always open. So the young ensign approached him with the situation. The captain suggested that they meet on the deck later that evening so that he could dust off his own sextant and they would see why there was a discrepancy. They did and based on what they found, they went immediately back to the ship’s navigator.

The captain explained, “Young Ensign Lyon here seems to think that the ship is off course”. Immediately, the navigator - a lieutenant - interrupted and apologized for his subordinate for bothering the captain with his foolish claim. He assured him that it would not happen again.

The captain replied that he was sure that it wouldn’t because “the interesting thing is … the ensign is right”. The lieutenant reminded the captain that he was the ship’s navigator and therefore the ensign’s judgment could not supersede his own. At which point the captain corrected him noting that he was the navigator – past tense. The new navigator would be Ensign Lyon here. “But sir, he can’t be the navigator of a whole convoy of ships as an ensign.” To which the captain responded by removing one of the lieutenant’s bars and placing it on my father’s lapel promoting him to the rank of Lieutenant Junior Grade.

The captain concluded the conversation noting that “I don’t need another yes man. I need someone who’ll tell me like it is, whether it’s what I want to hear or not.”

Alas, each of us is like the captain. We occasionally need someone to point out what we may not want to see so that we can get ourselves back on course.