From the very first lines of the story we can see that the narrator doesn't like the main hero of the story - Max Kelad that can be proved by the following quotation: "When I was told the name of my companion my heart sank. It suggested closed portholes and the night air rigidly excluded." We can see that the narrator of the story likes Englishmen very much and that's way he says that he wouldn't be so unhappy about his fellow mate if his name would be Smith or Braun. By this we can understand that Maugham is a patriot - he likes only his countrymen. But the narrator makes a mistake thinking that Max Kelad is not an Englishman - indeed he is.