Captain "Rust"

Captain "Rust" I met different Captains before I reached my four stripes. The Englishman shouted in noon: -Chief ! Fucking bloody! Who is knocking so noisy? Do they don’t know that I am sleeping? - Sorry Captain, but we should maintain the superstructure decks. - Let them knock themselves on fore deck. - But there is already chipped and painted. - Fucken shit! Let them chip once again! His contrast was the German captain (sixty years old), who when joining the ship introduced himself to the crew: - Everybody calls me "Captain Rust" ... And after he declared: - Chief, I will de-rust this ship. The ship, how for Her 22 years was in best condition, and Filipinos for some overtime money were chipping the rust even at night. So well, next day captain commenced de-rusting the ship. I saw "Old Man" in the morning breaking the rust on hatch coaming, with rust machine. Work with a machine is hard and terribly noisy. After few hours of keeping of hammers, the arms start to tremble like the drinker’s hands. Unbelievable, but the Captain was working whole day without break. I thought, that it was only a show, but next two days were the same. I could not allow myself, in order to be worse. So I called boatswain, then I ordered him to have another rust machine ready to work, and I began to de-rust on the other side of hatch coaming. "Old Man" was knocking 8 hours and he had 4-hour sea watches, so in order to be best, I was chipping 6 hours, but I had 10 hours of watch yet. Equity, isn’t it? This competition carried on through next few months. At sea, I was working instead of 10 hours, 16 hours daily, for same money of course. My hands trembled and whole my body started trembling from this machine I shivered, but I could not be worse then the Captain.... Every day the "Old Man" measured how much we had chipped, then was calculating rate per hour and affirmed: - Chief, you chipped today 10 cm more... But I did better then you. Of course I thought differently. Every week we established common plan of de-rusting, but soon after beginning of works the captain threw the crew elsewhere to other work. Then I run up to his cabin with question: - Captain!!! Who is Chief officer on this ship, you or I? - Chief, of course you are Chief. - So then why you shift my crew all the time to other work? - Just, because you know I thought that also we could make other job. - Please tell me, what do you want to do finally? Then we established new plan of work and in a few days the whole history happened again. One day he called me to his cabin and showed me lying on his table, big pieces of fat onto 3 centimetres rust. - Look Chief, I have found such fat rust on this ship, and ship owner has to see it. My eyes come onto top from surprise; I haven’t seen such a fat rust anywhere. Thunder hit me, I called in boatswain and I asked, where the "Old Man" had found such rust? - He tore off the wall Chief, and he destroyed whole mess taking out this 22 years rust from behind the wall. I got irritated myself horrible, not enough, that captain demolished whole wall in mess, but he wants to press ship owner yet, that we did not de-rust exactly. I watched, when he went out from his cabin and I threw away these pieces of rust over the board. After a few minutes the Captain cried. - Chief, where is my rust? I run to his cabin, and he howled further. He broke suddenly, he walloped fist into table and wildly looking he waited for my explanation. - What rust? - I asked. - Just this, what laid here on the table!!! I did not see any rust - I answered calmly and I went out from his cabin. Captain's de-rusting has been finished.... After a few months the ship owner sold the ship onto scrap... Capt. W. Grycner