Four Types of Sailors

Suppose that you are sailing on a cruise-ship in the High Seas to Madeira, and this ship suddenly springs a leak. What would you do? Well, it probably depends on what type of a sailor you are.

(A) A sailor who belongs to this category has a ready-made dictum for all such circumstances : you cannot completely repair a ship while it is out at sea. That is, if one part of a ship is damaged, you can repair that bit by taking off some pieces from its other parts. What you cannot do is to repair the whole of the ship at once, for you can only repair it piece-meal as long as it remains floating on the water. This type of a sailor hopes, nevertheless, that she shall soon reach the port that is marked out on the official maps, and that when the ship is taken into the safe harbour, it can be repaired there right from scratch, from keel to mast, from bow to stern.

(B) A second type of a sailor agrees that the problem has been correctly identified, but professes a complete lack of faith in the map that others around her are so fonding of navigating by. She says that it is true that the total repairing of a ship while it is at sea is impossible, but also declares that she has no confidence at all that the ship will ever reach any of the ports. It might be possible, she says, that these ports never existed, and are simply the hallucinatory products of some sailors from ancient times.

(C) Now a third type of a sailor joins the conversation. Yes, she says, the first sailor is right; and yes, she says again, the second sailor is too. That is, one cannot repair a damaged ship completely when it is out in the seas, and moreover, it might very well be possible that none of the ports marked out on the maps are existent or that the maps are too outdated and misleading. But, and this is where the third sailor has something unique to say, she has found out (through a stroke of genius, a patient calculation, a prophetic vision, or all of these) that a certain port lies in a specific direction, and urges those around her that if they sail into that direction they are sure to reach safe haven.

(D) A fourth type says that the ship is going to sink anyway very soon, and that you might as well go down sinking with it putting up a brave face, or jump straightaway into the wide sea.

So, then, which type of a sailor are you? Or, perhaps, there are more types than I have been able to 'isolate' here?