This chapter is all back story about the boat they are going to try and steal. It's pretty long and I bet not much of it will end up being major to the storyline, so I'll just give you the highlights:
* The Spire of Ice used to be called the Astrolabe
* For a while early on, the boat was infested with a parasite called Strain 17 that killed anyone on board. But not anymore.
* The boat has been around for a while, changed hands a few times. First Eleanor Jickett, then a group called the Kalaallit, then someone we don't know, then James Diamond, who turned it into a "pleasure barge." (Hooker boat).
Interesting side note for scholars: Strain 17 was also the name of a short story by this same author. You can Google for it. It was about a test tube baby who got thrown in the ocean. I don't think the two things are meant to be specifically related though, it's probably just that he only has room in his head for but so many ideas.