The legendary northbound steamer that Decoud and Nostromo were to intercept
seems now to have vanished from the novel. Possibly its course runs outside the
Gulf, beyond the range of a dinghy, but the interception was always vaguely defined,
and in retrospect the whole plan seems primarly a panicked attempt to keep the
silver from Montero regardless of its destination. The chief engineer hinted as
much to Charles Gould last chapter ,
and certainly that's how Gould thinks of it later.
If so, it adds force to Nostromo's sense of exploitation.