Justice for Lord Jim
From Mr CA. Latimer Sir: Does Philip Hensher (Books, 8 January) really think that 'nobody now would serious- ly condemn Lord Jim for what he did'? Has he actually read Lord Jim? I would condemn Jim and think he certainly deserved to have his Board of Trade certificate cancelled. I don't think it makes any difference whether the offence took place in 1900 or 2000; a Chief Officer of the Merchant Navy cannot abandon his passengers in an emergency and expect to keep his job. It may sound stuffy of me to say so, but a man in Jim's position, even on a Chinese-owned rust-bucket, had definite obligations imposed on him, and to suggest that they could be ignored today implies chaos. Should we not condemn a police officer who ignored a crime because it involved personal danger to him?
CA. Latimer
Melton, Woodbridge, Suffolk
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