Now I’m not one to be picky but sometimes you just have to correct people when they perpetuate howlers. While touring the Blue Mountains our guide Steve related tales of the daring adventures of Captain James Cook. He concluded an otherwise engaging exposition by telling us that Captain Cook was not a Captain at all but a ‘Lootenant’ and was not made a Captain until sometime later. Well having some connections with officers in the Royal Navy, I felt able to inform him that the officer in command of any Royal Navy ship is called ‘the captain’ but that the schoolboy error he made was understandable because Captain is a rank an officer reaches after he has been promoted from Lieutenant (Lefftenant), through Lieutenant Commander, and then Commander. I was smug - Steve smiled winsomely.
