Do Give Up the Ship

The storm rages; the ship groans and wallows in towering seas. The captain does not need the report of his haggard first mate to know that the pumps have fallen far behind the water rising in the hold; calmly he gives the order to abandon ship. He supervises the manning of the lifeboats, makes sure that all are safely off. Moments later, awestruck crewmen rest wonderingly on their oars to watch, by the ceaseless play of lightning, the stricken ship slide under the waves with her captain standing solemn on the bridge.

This traditional scene of tight-lipped courage on the high seas is now condemned by the Roman Catholic Church as "morally illicit" and the equivalent of suicide, according to the Sunday edition of the Church's semiofficial L'Osservatore Romano. Oldtime experts in moral theology, said the paper, accepted the fact that "military and marine honor demanded such a gesture. So much valor was attached to this tradition that it was deemed grave enough to legitimize the death of the captain."

Modern Catholic theologians, however, see such heroics as "useless and harmful." All that can be properly expected of a ship's captain is to do what he can to ensure the safety of the passengers and crew. "The useless death deprives the navy and the nation of a valorous man," says L'Osservatore, "and it is difficult to repair such a grave loss."

*As demonstrated by Alec Guinness in Kind Hearts and Coronets.

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