Outlander Book Club: Voyager Chapter 49 breakdown

Just the Outlander chapter

Claire needs to get off the Porpoise. This is the only way she’ll be able to get to Jamaica without the officials. She needs to find a way to warn Jamie of trouble before the trouble gets to him.

So, she turns to one person she believes she can trust. Annekja Johansen understands Claire’s need to get off the ship without even being told why. She’s more than happy to help, and shares that her goats will need some grass. It takes a while for Claire to understand, but she realizes that Annekja is going to create a distraction.

That’s what happens when they get to an island for the watering party to go ashore. Nobody else is allowed, though, and that includes Annekja. However, Annekja tries to create a distraction with a goat so Claire will be able to rush down the gangplank. Claire hopes that Captain Leonard will want to get to Jamaica that he won’t come looking for her on the island.

However, the plan is thwarted. Captain Leonard speaks to Claire while on the deck. He admits that he wishes he didn’t put the information about Jamie in the official log book. Because he did, he now needs to make an official report. Because of everything that Jamie is guilty of doing, he will hang, and Captain Leonard can’t change that.

With her chance to get off the island thwarted, Claire worries that her husband will be captured and hanged. However, Annekja has another plan, which is possible because of the mainmast breaking.

The Porpoise should have gone past a number of islands that had no people. Instead, she has to sail to a bigger port for repairs, which means there’s a chance for Claire to escape. Annekja has clearly sailed to the West Indies before because she knows the islands. She knows they’re close to Hispaniola, which means Claire has a hope of escaping.

However, Claire will need to jump into the water.

“Don’t drown,” Annekja tells Claire before Claire leaps into the water below.