That shot rocked De Long and he promptly flared up.
“Do you mean to imply that I am going contrary to Naval Regulations?” he asked, outraged.
“I mean to say,” said Collins flatly, “that you have no right to talk to me as you do!”
De Long considered that carefully before speaking, then in as official a voice as he could still muster he stated,
“I consider that by coming into the cabin as you did today, removing your coat, lighting your pipe, and carrying on a conversation with Mr. Danenhower, you took advantage of the 12 o’clock observation to disregard my order in relation to the exercise.”
“And when you say that,” roared Collins, “I say it is not so!”
Amazed now by this open insubordination, De Long paused and regarded the belligerent Collins with perplexity, puzzled by a situation so complicated that the like of it no commanding officer in naval history had ever had to deal with. The captain finally decided to try to calm Collins down, educating him a bit in naval manners, before finally admonishing him.
“Mr. Collins, great allowance has been made for your ignorance of Naval Regulations, your position in this ship, and your being so situated the first time. But you must remember that the commanding officer is to be spoken to in a respectful manner and with respectful language, and you do not seem to attend to either particular.”
Collins rudely tossed this olive branch into the scuppers, so to speak, by retorting truculently,
“I treat the commanding officer of this ship with all the respect due him as head of the expedition, but when he charges me with violating an order, I say, I HAVE NOT!”