 What might John intend to do to the captain?
He nodded curtly to the officers when he entered the mess hall, walked directly to his place at the head of the table, sat down and morosely began to work the cork out of his wine bottle with his teeth. "That," he said to Nestir, "my dear Father, is the cardinal point of the whole game, y'know." After all, it's not only a question of how we go, but also a question of leaving only after having done our duty. The captain was not visibly cheered; he was still brooding about the sad absence of a sense of duty on the part of Nestir. "I don't know," the second mate's wife said, "whether you better count on my husband or not.
 Kill him with a saber.
 Tell him that he is tired of sailing.  Kill him with a saber.  Offer his help in the control room.  Ask him to steer the ship back to a city-state.