S. watches as a once-handsome sailor nudges a pile of charred bones on the abandoned ship. This is reminiscent of what once was and how life wears you down. S. sees this change around him and the bones represent the culmination of life’s hardships. Eric comments on the “fire-blackened bones.”

Other animals? or his crewmen?

There are many references to animals throughout the novel, from all the bird names to the reappearance of the capuchin monkey.

S. also sees as two other sailors go below deck and return holding a young man and a baby wrapped in rags. His heart plummets which shows that S. has a sense of sympathy and feels pain when he sees the horror that the innocent might have gone through.
He then realizes that the baby is in fact a “bedraggled monkey with but a few scabby tufts of fur clinging to its skin.” This the second appearance of a monkey, the first being on p. 8 of Chapter 1.

Monkey as another iteration of S.

The monkey connects to the recurring theme of identity and how S. sees himself and the world.

Eric also mentions how Moody often quotes the line “weepin hearts don’ lass aseas.”

This line is similar to the idea of “survival of the fittest” and the need to be tough to be successful. Jen calls Moody “a tool,” implying that Moody means the line in a pretentious, overbearing, and challenging manner.