or in the air, she was tractable enough in any sort of
weather when under control; but without her screen
generators she was almost helpless, since she could not fly,
and, if submerged, could not rise to the surface.

All these defects have been remedied in later models; but
the knowledge did not help us any that day aboard the slowly
settling Coldwater, with an angry sea roaring beneath, a
tempest raging out of the west, and 30d only a few knots
astern.

To cross thirty or one hundred seventy-five has been, as you
know, the direst calamity that could befall a naval
commander. Court-martial and degradation follow swiftly,
unless as is often the case, the unfortunate man takes his
own life before this unjust and heartless regulation can
hold him up to public scorn.

There has been in the past no excuse, no circumstance, that
could palliate the offense.

"He was in command, and he took his ship across thirty!"
That was sufficient. It might not have been in any way his
fault, as, in the case of the Coldwater, it could not
possibly have been justly charged to my account that the
gravitation-screen generators were worthless; but well I
knew that should chance have it that we were blown across
thirty today--as we might easily be before the terrific west
wind that we could hear howling below us, the responsibility
would fall upon my shoulders.