Creative Problem Solving: Thief on a ship

Creative Problem-solving:

A British ship was en route in the open sea. The captain went for a shower removing his dimond ring and Rolex watch on the table. When he returned, his valuables were missing.

Captain immediately called five suspected crew members and asked each one where and what he was doing for the last 15 minutes. 

The Cook (in a heavy overcoat) : I was in fridge room getting meat for cooking.

The Engineer (with a torch in hand) I was working on generator engine.

The Seaman: I was on the mast correcting the flag which was upside down by mistake.

The Radio Officer: I was messaging to company that we are reaching next port 72hrs. from now that is wednesday morning at 1000hrs. 

The Navigation Officer: I am on night watch, so sleeping in my cabin.

The captain caught the liar.  So who is the thief?  Why?

The Model Answer:  
The Seaman was the thief, of course.  Because it didnt make sense for him to correct the flag as the Union Jack will still look the same even if it was placed upside down.

In Problem Solving, sometimes we need to look at a bigger picture and find out if there is any misconnection to the situation.  In this case, correcting the flag when the ship is already on it journey sounds fishy.  And when we connect the ship to the flag, something is not right.  If we look into our vocabulary of flags, the flag gives it away.  Well, for me, following the World Cup helps because it gives me the knowledge about countries and flags.


Yours creatively,

Hazriq Idrus
Founder, The Speaking Factory Pte Ltd
Author, The Stage Fright Antidote!

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