In this chapter, we learn that the captain stole the badge of the boy's father, and that the boy has killed himself. The captain is shocked and says that his plan to become a captain has gone to waste. He tells us that he has been looking for evidence that the suicide was a suicide, not a codicil. He says that he cannot imagine a captain jumping overboard to save his child. He also says that those who hated him surely were at the same time, and yet thoughtless actions like this have a way of ruining people's lives. He compares himself to his father, who was abandoned by his abusive cap, and says he needs to climb the ladder to get revenge on them.