Sometimes you are done a favor when you don´t expect it. Sometimes by someone who you would least expect.
I was still sailing as a Cadet when this happened. The ship was the ´African Patriot´, a WWII C-2 operated by the United States Lines out of NY. We were outward bound sometime in early winter.
I was in my bunk when someone shook me awake. I nearly brained myself getting up when I saw that it was the Captain. He told me to get dressed and go down to one of the crew quarters rooms, then left.
I arrived about four or five minutes later and he was standing out side the door. A couple others were around. The room was dark except for the light from the passageway. He pointed to door and said, "Go in and talk to ´John´."
I had no idea what was up, but went into the room. As I recall there were four bunks, but only one was occupied.
"Hey, Cadet, what´s up?" came from that one. Still trying to figure out what was going on, I started to make small talk. It went back and forth a couple times, when ´John´ said,"Hey,There it is again."
"There´s what?" I asked.
"Can´t you hear it? There it is again."
I had honestly heard nothing, but what with all the ship noises, maybe I was missing something. I told ´John´ so.
"You can´t hear that scratching from the other side of the bulkhead?" He asked, and pointed to a spot right behind his bunk. Being a believing soul, I leaned close in toward the bunk, but could still hear nothing. I could see the Captain standing outside taking it all in.
"I still can´t hear it. What is it supposed to be?" I asked ´John´.
"Spiders." He said, "Spiders at least a foot across." "They have been trying to get me." "Don´t worry though, as long as I have this steel bulkhead I´ll be OK."
The fact that the doors to both rooms, and the passageway were wide open did not seem to register with him.
"They tried before. I think that I saw them a couple times too." "I don´t know how they got on the ship."
Thinking I could defuse the situation, I told him I would look in the next room and see if I could "Take care" of things for him.
I went out past the Captain, gave him a puzzled look, thumped around in the next room, and came back.
I told ´John´ that there was nothing in the next room now.
"Yes there is." He said, "You just can´t see them. I could see them if I went in, but then they might get me." "Can´t you hear the scratching?" I told him that they must not be loud enough for me to hear.
"Well, that´s OK. It doesn´t really matter. As long as the bulkhead is here they can scratch all night. They can´t get through."
Stuff like this went on for several minutes more. ´John´ seemed perfectly lucid. If the subject matter were different, it would have been just a "chat". Strangely, I didn´t feel that it was a "put-on".
Finally, I made some excuse and left the room. Out side, I went over to the Captain, and asked him what was going on. He, in turn, asked me if I had any idea what I had just seen. I said that I thought that there was something wrong with ´John´ but that I didn´t know what. Was he "nuts"?
I was told that, in a way, he was "nuts", but that it had taken him a long time and a lot of money to get that way. "He is having an attack of the DTs." "He may have been a boozer for years, like a lot of these guys." "He probably sobered up enough to ´make´ the ship at sailing, and now is in withdrawal." "Take a good look, and remember what you see." "This is an occupational hazard for ALL sailors, and you´re seeing it when your just starting out."
He sent me back to quarters so I could get a little sleep, or maybe to think about ´John´ for a while.
The Captain was never "chummy" or "social" with me while I was on the ship. He was very professional. I don´t remember whether we shipped ´John´ home from the next port or if he came around and rode out the voyage. I do know that the Captain cared enough about his crew to take the time to show a young Cadet something that he thought he might need to see.

I think he had a good point to make. Interesting story kpbosun. Thanks for sharing.

Jelli