Chapter 6

*Author’s note: I’ve already bored you to death with some of the facts of Navy ships, so if you would rather not subject yourself to learning more about Navy ships, just skip down to the fourth paragraph. Thank you.

Chief Petty Officer Eddie Nolan had the deck! In other words, the chief was standing watch on the Quarterdeck as Officer of the Deck, or OOD. For those who don’t know, the quarterdeck of a ship is the immediate area surrounding the gangway, or brow, where anyone coming aboard must be recognized by the watch, or sentry. If someone comes aboard who is not a member of the crew, there is a check-in procedure to be followed. Standing watch with the OOD is a petty officer, who is designated Petty Officer of the Watch, or POOW, and then there is usually a seaman who fulfills the duties of Messenger of the Watch, or MOOW. It is their responsibility to ‘guard’ the only entrance to the ship; the gangway, or brow, by allowing, or disallowing anyone access to the ship. If forced to do so, they could sound an alarm, calling additional personnel to the quarterdeck, to give them assistance. This was seldom, if ever required, except when holding a ‘drill’. In addition to guarding the brow, they would announce the arrival of any important visitors, and of course the coming and going of their own commanding officer. It ‘was’ an important duty, though at times it became tedious, such as during the hours between taps and reveille, especially when in their homeport.

Since Eddie’s ship was moored ‘starboard side to’ a pier at Naval Station, Guam, the responsibility was higher, but the base in Guam was considered secure, with a very low risk of anyone unauthorized from boarding the ship. In addition, there was a roving patrol who made his rounds of the weather decks, or outside decks, keeping an eye on any activity on the pier and the mooring lines with their requisite ‘rat guards’. Historically, it was not unheard of for invaders to ‘shinny up’ the mooring lines to gain access to a ship. U.S. Navy personnel take their duties seriously, no matter how boring an afterhours watch may be. One common expression used today is ‘not on my watch’, which translates to ‘I would never allow that to happen’! Eddie, having been in the Navy for nearly twenty years, was not going to let his guard down, and be accused of being derelict in his duties.

Usually, the only thing breaking up the monotony of a mid-watch (midnight to 4am) was the arrival of new personnel, or crewmembers who came back late from liberty, or early from an overnight liberty. During each watch, anything noteworthy was entered into the ‘deck log’, usually by the POOW. When the watch was relieved by the oncoming watch, the OOD had to sign off on any entries made while he stood duty. These entries were usually reports concerning ship’s status, any accidents occurring, and the arrival of any new crewmember. Eddie had just received the roving patrol reports, which was simply:

“No problems to report, chief. They’re still at it on the messdecks. The chips are moving from everyone else, and finding their way to Ferratto, the lucky son of a bitch!”

“No money in sight, right?” Chief Eddie asked.

“Nope. Just chips, but you know as well as do, there’s money backing those chips.”

“I know, but if I can’t prove it, I won’t say anything. On your next round, mention to them that Chief Nolan would like the game to end before he gets off watch and wanders through the mess decks on the way to his rack.”

“Will do, chief.” the roving patrol said as he turned to go below decks.

Eddie had just turned his attention back to the brow when he saw a lone sailor carrying his seabag and another piece of luggage step from the pier and start across the brow. Stepping onto the quarterdeck, the sailor faced the OOD and saluting said: