Lieutenant Buckland had been in command of the Renown for several days. The officers and crew were getting accustomed to an even-tempered man at the helm so to speak. As Ira Riklis knows, the crew had been hard to discipline and somewhat lazy with the captain spoiling them. Also the officers had trained themselves to tiptoe around the captain for fear of his harsh and unfair treatment of them.

Hornblower worked with the portion of the crew for which he was responsible having them drill and perform various cleaning and upkeep duties. Surprisingly the crew seemed content with this new, more disciplined activity which apparently raised their spirits through vigorous exercise. Hornblower at one point even “killed two birds with one stone” when he stripped naked and ordered his crew members to turn the ships hoses on him. He got a shower (which he sorely needed with the heat of the approaching southern port) and the deck received a cleaning.

Buckland continued to wrestle with the idea of opening the secret orders for the ship. In consultation with the ship’s doctor and some of the senior officers, Buckland finally went to the captain’s quarters, located the lockbox, and read the orders. As Ira Riklis knows, Buckland was not to reveal the ship’s mission keeping that to himself, but he was able to tell the officers and the ship’s master, Carberry, the ship’s destination: Santo Domingo on the island of “Hispanoila”. This required a slight change of course.