Passepartout Misses the Carnatic turns a narrow escape into a costly separation: Passepartout makes the ship, but Phileas Fogg and Aouda do not. Fix’s deception leaves Passepartout unconscious and unable to tell Fogg that the sailing time has changed. By the time Passepartout understands what happened, he is bound for Japan alone, while his master’s journey and wager appear to be in jeopardy.

Fix’s Scheme and the Missed Duty

The Carnatic was scheduled to leave Hong Kong for Japan at half-past six on November 7. Fix had left the opium house before two waiters carried the unconscious Passepartout to a bed there. Three hours later, Passepartout awoke with the sense that he had failed in a duty. He struggled out of the establishment and made his way toward the quay, repeatedly calling for the Carnatic as he went. His urgency is important to the event: he is not choosing to abandon his employer but trying, despite his impaired state, to rejoin the planned route.

The ship was already alongside the quay and close to departure. Passepartout crossed the gangplank just as the Carnatic began moving, then collapsed unconscious on deck. Sailors carried him to a cabin, and he did not wake until the ship was one hundred and fifty miles from China. The timing gives the episode its reversal: in the immediate physical sense he has succeeded, reaching the vessel he feared he would miss, but the success conceals a larger failure. He has boarded without Fogg or Aouda, and cannot return to Hong Kong to warn them.

Discovery Aboard the Carnatic

The next morning, the sea air helped Passepartout recover his senses. He remembered Fix’s disclosure and the opium house, but at first took comfort in believing that he had at least caught the ship. He also hoped that Fix had not followed them aboard. Passepartout did not accept Fix’s accusation that Fogg had robbed the Bank of England; he regarded his master as innocent and considered the detective’s pursuit unjustified. His loyalty shapes his next decision as much as his distress does: he considered waiting until they reached London to tell Fogg that a Metropolitan Police agent had followed him around the world.

Passepartout went looking for Fogg and Aouda on the after-deck. Neither was there. When he asked the purser about a quiet, tall gentleman travelling with a young woman, the purser said that no young woman was aboard and showed him the passenger list. Fogg’s name was absent. Passepartout then confirmed that he really was on the Carnatic; the frightening possibility that he had boarded the wrong ship gave way to the worse recognition that he was on the right ship alone.

He remembered that the sailing time had been changed and that he had not informed Fogg. He understood that this omission had caused Fogg and Aouda to miss the departure. Yet he also recognized Fix’s part in the separation: by drawing Passepartout into the opium house, the detective had kept him from delivering the warning. The event therefore holds personal error and deliberate interference together. Passepartout blames himself for failing to pass on the information, while seeing that Fix engineered the conditions in which he failed.

Isolation and Immediate Consequences

The discovery left Passepartout on a ship bound for Japan, with Fogg and Aouda behind in Hong Kong. He feared that Fogg’s wager was lost and that Fogg might be arrested, while he himself had no money—not even a penny. His passage had already been paid, however, and he had several days before reaching Japan to decide what to do next. The practical details sharpen the separation: the ship carries him forward, but gives him no immediate means to rejoin his companions or undo the missed connection.

His first reaction was despair and anger at Fix, whom he blamed for the trick. Afterward he calmed down and considered his position. At meals he ate generously, imagining himself to be eating for Fogg and Aouda as well as for himself. The gesture cannot restore their company, but it keeps them present in his thinking even as the voyage makes their physical separation unavoidable. The Carnatic’s passage thus converts a brief lapse in communication into a change of route with consequences for the whole party.

What Passepartout Withholds

When Passepartout later heard Fix’s name again, he gave no sign of recognition and chose not to disclose what had passed between them. In explaining his absence, he said only that he had been overcome by drunkenness after smoking opium at a Hong Kong tavern. Fogg heard the account without comment and supplied money for clothing more suited to Passepartout’s position. The account conceals Fix’s role and Passepartout’s belief that the detective had deliberately separated him from his master.

That silence continues the conflict created aboard the Carnatic. Passepartout had considered telling Fogg about the pursuit, but initially thought it might be better to wait until they returned to London; later, when confronted again with Fix’s name, he still withheld the fuller story. The episode consequently reveals both the reach of Fix’s interference and the limits of what Fogg is told: Passepartout’s loyalty is clear, but his protection of Fogg from the truth leaves the detective’s actions undisclosed. What began as an attempt to fulfill a duty ends with Passepartout separated from his companions and carrying knowledge he has decided not to share.