Character Analysis
Richie Rich
Bruce's last name might as well have been Wayne. He's super loaded. His father owns the Aurora (as well as a ton of other stuff), and that's how he comes to be on the ship as a junior sailmaker. Unfortunately though, Bruce is a case of mo' money, mo' problems—he has no clue what he wants to do with his life, which is a never-ending disappointment to his business-driven father. He's made the deal that if he can manage to serve on the Aurora for two years his father will leave him alone to pursue whatever makes him happy, if only he can find out what that is.
Although we start off resenting Bruce because of the way he's inadvertently screwing Matt over, we learn over the course of the story that he's actually a pretty decent dude. He's polite, occasionally funny, and he ends up being unbelievably brave.
Bruce probably has the saddest ending of any of the characters (well, except for maybe Theodore). He is killed by the pirates during their attempted second seizure of the Aurora, and Matt is heartbroken that he will never have the opportunity to learn what makes him happy.