Outlander: Why Does Claire Jump Off the Porpoise? An Explanation

At the end of this week's Outlander, Claire escapes the Porpoise by plunging into the cold, dark ocean with only a couple barrels to use as a raft. It all has to do with warning her husband about a man aboard the British ship, but if all that left you a bit confused (and if you also had trouble remembering who that Tompkins fellow is), we're here to help.

On the show, Claire hears that the Porpoise perhaps encountered the Bruja a few weeks ago. As that is the ship carrying young Ian, she goes to the captain's quarters to investigate and finds out that someone on the ship recognized Jamie and told the captain that he is a wanted man in Scotland. The plans are to turn him over to the British authorities when they reach the West Indies.

She figures out the man who recognized Jamie is Harry Tompkins, who is employed by Sir Percival Turner, the superintending customs officer of the Edinburgh district. Tompkins is the man who attacked young Ian in the print shop, causing the fire that almost took Ian's life. In her interrogation of Tompkins, Claire learns that not only is Jamie wanted for his smuggling activities but now also for murder, because they found the man she killed in the cask of creme de menthe.

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To keep him away from the captain, Claire has Tompkins locked up as patient zero in the typhoid fever outbreak. She then tries to escape when the Porpoise makes land, her goal being to find the Artemis and warn Jamie, but she is brought back to the ship by Captain Leonard, who knows what she is up to. He likes Claire but is duty-bound to report Jamie's crimes when they reach Jamaica. So Claire, with the help of Mrs. Johansen, jumps into the sea to swim for the shore with the help of her makeshift raft.

In the novel, the gist of things is more or less the same, though there is this whole plot with Jamie also being a seditionist (someone who promotes rebellious acts, in this case against the British crown). That is actually a far greater crime than smuggling, and Sir Percival wants to catch Jamie so badly that he arranges for the murder of an exciseman that he can frame Jamie for. That entire plot has been omitted here, but the crimes of smuggling and murder are more than enough to satisfy Sir Percival's thirst for a peerage (which he thinks he's going to receive upon turning Jamie over to the authorities).

Now Claire needs to find Jamie so he knows what he might encounter upon reaching Jamaica. One other thing they haven't introduced on the show yet — be warned of spoilers for the book — is Lord John Grey's return as the governor of Jamaica. So perhaps the show's big reveal and solution for the Sir Percival problem will be Jamie and Claire discovering that the person who would be in charge of sending Jamie back to England to be tried for his crimes is actually his friend, Lord John, who would never do such a thing. We'll just have to wait and see.