“Gentlemen Your Verdict” by Michael Bruce
Formal Response
By: Neyko Dimov
The question that we are left to think about after reading the short story,
“Gentlemen Your Verdict” by Michael Bruce, is if sometimes in life, it is okay to kill, or let someone die to ensure the survival of others? Also who is more important to be saved when there are only limited numbers of people who can survive? Is it those who are married and possibly have kids, or others who are younger but are not yet married? In this story the captain of a submarine plays the role of “god” which many would consider as wrong and others as right. He is put in a situation where he needs to kill 15 people of his crew to ensure the survival of at least 5.
The story is told from the point of view of the 5-crew members who survived the crash. They each tell their own version of what had happened that terrible day one by one. Even thought each story is a little different from the previous, each one covers the main events. The story takes place under sea inside a submarine caring 20 crewmembers. The submarine had just hit a mine, which sent it directly down to the bottom of the sea. As the captain sees there is no way out unless they are pulled out of the water, he realizes that time is crucial. He calls for help but all they tell him is that the only help they can get will come in 7 days. With the air inside running out fast, the captain calculates that all the time they have left is no more than 2 days. Page 23, “ and they had air for less than two days.” After confirming the time of the rescue on the radio, which had luckily survived the impact, he calls everyone to gather around. He then tells the men he has good news and pours liquor into all the men’s mugs, excluding 5 married men. As he tells them they have done a great work at their jobs they each drink from their mugs and are soon laying dead on the floor. He then tells the 5 men what and why he did this, and also tells them what to do and when they will be rescued. After he has finished his report, he also drinks from the poison and dies....