Jim thanks Marlow for listening to his story. He appears to be reconciling himself with his actions, making logical arguments to show that what he and the others did was not so wrong. The agitated tone in which he begs Marlow to believe him suggests that he does not fully believe his own self-justifications. He professes his disgust at the lies told by the other crew members. He says he considered suicide but finally determined that this would be no escape from his torment. He believes that his only means of redemption is to tell the truth.

At the inquiry, Jim explains how a ship called the Avondale picked them up from the longboat and how he later found out that the Patna had been towed to safety without any loss of life. Jim emphasizes again that the fact they could no longer see lights from the Patna while in the longboat seemed to confirm (wrongly, as it turned out) that the ship had gone down. Marlow relays how the ship’s positioning changing due to the storm would have explained why its lights were no longer visible, and that explanation satisfies those at the inquiry.