# V: Clubin Reaches the Crowning-Point of Glory explained — Toilers of the Sea

> Chapter companion for Toilers of the Sea by Victor Hugo.

## What happens

The Durande crashes onto the Hanways reef. Captain Clubin takes command, ordering the long boat launched and the passengers and crew evacuated. Despite pleas to join them, Clubin chooses to remain on the wrecked vessel, declaring that a captain must stay with his ship. The long boat departs, leaving Clubin alone on the doomed Durande.

## Themes in this chapter

### Heroism and Perseverance

Clubin's decision to remain on the wrecked ship exemplifies a captain's duty and heroic self-sacrifice, as praised by the crew and passengers.

### The Sublime and Terrible Ocean

The fog, rising sea, and impending tempest underscore the ocean's indifferent and overwhelming power in the face of human disaster.

## Character check-ins

### Captain Clubin

Remains calm and authoritative during the wreck, orders evacuation, and chooses to stay aboard the Durande as it founders.

### Imbrancam

Reports the flooding to Clubin, helps launch the long boat, saves the cabin boy, and takes the tiller in the departing boat.

### Tangrouille

Sobered by the disaster, reports water rising, and later weeps as he leaves Clubin behind.

### The Stranger

A Guernsey passenger who predicts the wreck on the Hanways and later pleads with Clubin to join the evacuation.

## Key lines

> A crash was heard. The ripping of a vessel’s side upon a sunken reef in open sea is the most dismal sound of which man can dream.

The sound of a ship tearing open on a hidden reef is the most terrible noise imaginable.

_Describes the initial impact of the Durande striking the Hanways reef._

> To snatch a poniard from a wound in the heart is instant death to the victim. To free the vessel from the rock would have been simply to founder.

Removing the ship from the rock would be like pulling a dagger from a heart wound—immediate destruction.

_Explains why the crew cannot attempt to free the Durande from the reef._

> When the ship is lost, the captain is already dead. People shall not say I didn’t do my duty to the end.

A captain's fate is tied to his ship; I will not be accused of abandoning my post.

_Clubin's justification for staying aboard the wrecked vessel._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/toilers_of_the_sea_se/chapters/v-clubin-reaches-the-crowning-point-of-glory
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/toilers_of_the_sea_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/toilers_of_the_sea_se/chapters