I either missed the point, or didn't understand it, but, when the ship crossed the marker, everybody on board went into a panic, including the Captain. But nothing happened to the ship, it didn't blow up, or detonate, and they weren't fired upon?
shareThe situation was this.
The Caine was escorting some landing craft to the beach. They were supposed to get within 1000 yards of the beach before turning back out to sea. The purpose was to guide/escort the landing craft to the right point on the island; without a larger ship to help them, the low-lying craft can't really see too well where they are going.
The Caine came under fire from the beach while still more than 1000 yards away. The captain claimed they were within 1000 yards, and ordered the ship to turn and run while leaving a yellow dye marker to point the way for the landing craft.
The captain was the only one panicked. Everyone else was surprised; they'd been calling out bearings and knew how far they were, and were shocked when he read a totally different number on the alidade that supported his statement. No one believed him; such an error would have been caught well before that point, as the reader is constantly calling out bearnings to the bridge so the navigator knows how far they have to go.
So the issue is that they never really DID cross the line they were supposed to, and ran away before hand, all under Queeg's orders.
Make sense?
Whores will have their trinkets.
I think the OP was referring to the ship crossing over the target sled they were towing, off of Pearl Harbor.
In that incident, Queeg ordered the rudder put over to head back to Pearl. However, he never gave the helmsman the order to steady up on a course as he was too busy berating Horrible for the untucked shirt tail. The helmsman isn't allowed to steady up on his own, so he kept the helm over. That turned the ship in a circle. The ship's turned radius was 1000 yards. The target sled they were towing had a 2000 yard cable (according to the book). That meant that the ship cut across it's own tow cable.
The main cause for concern would have been the cable wrapping itself in the propellers and/or the rudder, which would leave the ship unable to maneuver. That would mean they'd either need a tug to bring them in, or put divers over the side to try and untangle the screws.
The reactions of Meatball and Chief Budge were exaggerated, I think, as they knew nothing cataclysmic would happen. Maryk was concerned because of possible damage to the ship's steering/propulsion gear. I wouldn't say he was panicked though. Concerned and surprised, but not panicked.