Hornblower's Solution

When I was younger I read all the 'Hornblower' books by CS Forester, great fun.

In one episode, Hornblower had just been promoted to Captain and had the smallest vessel in the navy.  On board he had a 13 year old nephew of the King George - serving as a midshipman.

They were being pursued by a powerful but slower French Frigate.   The wind freshened and while they were reefing the sails, the young prince fell from the rigging into the sea.  Hornblower had an impossible problem.  Either rescue the prince and face capture and possible death,  or leave the prince behind and his career would be in ruins.

A seemingly impossible problem where reason and logic cannot help.  A creative solution is required.

Hornblower's solution was to hoist the signal 'enemy in sight astern'.  The crew were baffled, -  there was no ship to signal.  He then ordered his ship to come about and ready for action.  A bluff.  The French Captain assumed that a powerful British force was just over the horizon and that he was in danger.  He came about and returned to port. Hornblower and the Prince were saved.

A nonsense tale of derring-do, but it illustrates an interesting point.  How did Hornblower solve the problem?  The fact is, he didn’t.

He changed it from his problem, to the French captain’s problem.  He changed the mindset of the French captain by making him question his assumptions.  Why else would a inferior ship turn to attack him if there were no other ships nearby?

When faced with an impossible problem, you have to introduce a radical change - or have one imposed upon you.