Once Victor dies, Captain Walton will be returning home and giving up his exploration of the Arctic. Before Victor's death, the men aboard Walton's ship had asked him to give up the search for the Northwest Passage and the secrets of the magnet and compass. They have risked a great deal by embarking on this voyage, and, after being closed in by ice and having to reckon with the idea of their own deaths, they no longer desire to continue on. Instead, they want to sail back south, out of such danger, and preserve their lives. Although their captain is disappointed and feels like this means that the voyage was a failure, he has learned, it seems, from Victor's story, and will not allow his own pride and desire for discovery and glory to take precedence over the lives of his men (when they are unwilling to give their lives for this purpose). So, he will go home.
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