Like everyone here, I’ve sailed with good Captains and bad Captains. And like everyone here, I’ve sailed with good engineers and bad engineers. And I’ve sailed with good engineers that thought that because they were so good at their job, they must be good at my job. So, one day, I had decided I was pretty sick of the engineer telling the whole crew that without him, the boat wasn’t going anywhere, but without the Captain (me), the ship could still get underway. Oh really. OK, Mr. Engineer, c’mon up and let’s see you put this thing into John Day lock on the Columbia River. And oh, by the way, the wind is blowing 15 knots and since it is springtime, the dam is dumping the water like crazy, so you’ll have to crab your way in. Gotta give the guy credit, he gave it his best shot. But in the end, I saved his ass, he thanked me, and never again said a word about the boat not needing a captain.
Was I born knowing all the intricacies of ship handling? Nope. But I studied, learned, applied, and got good. Was the engineer born knowing all the intricacies of all those systems down there? Nope. But he studied, learned, applied and got good. So, let’s quit this age old, stupid, boring argument. We’re all at the top of our game and we definitely need each other.