Summary

The boy's body is carried to the mess cabin so Sumner can examine it. He notes a ring of bruises on Hanna's neck, an indication he was strangled. Captain Brownlee says whoever committed the crime will be found, chained, and returned to England to be tried for child murder. A general sense of outrage sweeps over the already-agitated crew who shout for revenge and justice. "He should be whipped down to the fucking bone," one of the men proclaims. Brownlee promises: "I will find the man who did this and see the bastard hanged. That is a certainty" (102).

Brownlee and Sumner debate whether the perpetrator of the murder might be insane or afflicted with some kind of brain disease. Brownlee says he will interview each man individually, once the ship is underway again. "I am a whaling man, but this is not whaling...