The coolness, self-possession, and resourcefulness which these officers and those under them showed in handling this disastrous situation, which confronted them with overwhelming suddenness, was to their eternal credit and to that of the navy. Fortunately, the sea was not heavy and no difficulty was found in getting the crew safely off the ship. Salvage operations were promptly begun, and in a few days the Sheridan was pulled off the reef and towed to the Navy Yard where the extensive repairs and rebuilding of her bow were begun.
When the board of inquiry met to investigate the cause of the disaster, it was clearly revealed that the navigator’s dead-reckoning had been correct, that the radio-compass bearings, which showed the ship to be five miles south-southeast of the dead-reckoning position, must have been in error, and that trusting these bearings and changing course to the northward had caused the ship to run aground.
Mortimer held a conference with Commander Rich.
“You can’t trust these gadgets,” said Rich, speaking of the radio compass. “There’s a dangerous tendency among some officers to rely on a thing like this because it works well once. You see what happens:—one day it works beautifully, the next day it puts your best cruiser on the beach. If I were you I wouldn’t waste another dollar installing such gear; it will be leading to a false sense of security, and will wreck some more ships.”
With the wreck of the Sheridan staring Mortimer in the face, Commander Rich’s logic seemed to him convincing. When Evans heard of this, he was sorely troubled.
“See here, Sam,” he said, “this radio compass is a thing that has been working for twenty years, guiding our ships safely into harbors in thick weather. Look at the possibilities it has in naval warfare! To go and scrap it because of one bad fix would be like throwing overboard all your guns because of one wild shot.”
“Commander Rich says it’s not dependable and is apt to cause more wrecks,” said Mortimer; “and Commander Rich is one of the keenest and wisest men in the navy.”
“He’s a jackass if he tells you to give up this valuable instrument. There’s some definite reason why those bearings were wrong, and the reason ought to be looked for and found.”
“I don’t like the way you speak of Commander Rich. I count on him in matters of practical engineering more than on almost any one.”
Evans was silent a moment, frowning and fingering a paper-weight restlessly.