from Articles of War, Section II

The coastline edges to the edge of our chart. We move on a central, generous blue. Wind high, ocean plain smack tonnage our bow plows through, the boiling salt excitement of our wake, gone in minutes, then birds on our bobbing crates a thousand miles from land. To pass the time I try to teach our bosun mate "Sailing to Byzantium." Good-natured, he laughs and laughs. It is by no   means enough that an officer    o f   the Navy should be a capable mariner.   H e   must  be that,  of  course, but  also  a  grea t deal more.  He  should   be  the  soul  of  tac t,   patience,   justice,   firmness  and   charity .  No  meritorious  act  of  a  subordinate  sho uld  escape  without  its  reward,  even  if  the reward  is  only  a  word  of  approval. Conver sely, he  should  not  be  blind   to  a  single  f ault in  any  subordinate  though,  at  the sam e time,  he  should  be  quick  and unfailing  t o  distinguish  error   from  malice, thoughtle ssness from  incompetency, and well meant s hortcoming from heedless  or stupid blunder.