The classic novel The Sea-Wolf by Jack London tells of Humphrey van Weyden, an intellectual gentleman, who after a ferry boat accident is kidnapped by the notorious Captain Wolf Larsen and forced to serve aboard his ship. Larsen is cruel and brutal, and chapter 14 describes a mutiny by the crew and its aftermath.
Near the beginning of the chapter, van Weyden has a conversation with Johansen in which Johansen tells him about his past as a sailor and about his old mother living in Norway. Van Weyden then writes:
I shall never forget this conversation. The words were the last I ever heard him utter. Perhaps they were the last he did utter, too.
Van Weyden goes into the cabin and then back up on deck, where he assists the crewman Harrison with a course correction. He then spots Wolf Larsen, his right cheek blood-covered from a wound on...
Unlock This Answer Now
Start your 48-hour free trial and get ahead in class. Boost your grades with access to expert answers and top-tier study guides. Thousands of students are already mastering their assignments—don't miss out. Cancel anytime.
Already a member? Log in here.
the head, climbing back into the ship after having fallen overboard. Larsen asks where the mate Johansen is. Harrison says that he saw him go forward, and Larsen says that he also went forward. Van Weyden asks if he should look for Johansen in the steerage, but Larsen says that he wouldn't find him. It is never directly expressed, but the implication is that Larsen and Johansen struggled, they both fell overboard, and only Larsen survived. In chapter 15, Larsen promotes van Weyden to become a ship's mate, acknowledging that Johansen is irretrievably lost and needs a replacement.
In chapter 14 of "The Sea-Wolf" we learn that Larsen has gone overboard and climbs back on board with a gash in his head. Johansen is nowhere to be seen or found. We are never really sure what happened to him. Larsen takes Hump down to were the crew is "sleeping" trying to discover who is really asleep. The lamp is put out and Larsen is attacked by several of the men. He fights his way out of the attack and climbs back up on deck. We can infere that Johansen was part of the plot to kill Larsen and that he hit Larsen over the head and as Larsen went over he took Johansen with him. However, this would only be a guess because the reader doesn't learn what happens to Johansen, he is gone.