Summary
The fourth part begins with the dinghy closing in on the shore. The captain comments that, contrary to expectations, no humans are coming out of the house of refuge. The men say it is odd that no one has spotted them. The narrator comments that the men do not understand that there is no life-saving station within twenty miles; the men joke that the life-savers must have bad eyesight.
Realizing that rescue isn’t coming, the men point the boat to shore and attempt to row ashore. The men exchange addresses to send news of their deaths should some of them drown. The narrator speculates on what the men’s angry thoughts might contain, providing an internal monologue attributed to no character in particular, but coming likely from the correspondent’s mind. The monologue questions why the god of Fate would allow the men to feel hope when she could have drowned them earlier. The men then think she must not plan to drown them, not after all the work they’ve put toward staying alive.
The wind gains force, threatening to swamp the boat. From experience, the oiler predicts the boat will go under within three minutes. They are too far away to swim to shore; with the captain’s permission, he steers the boat back to deeper waters, where the waves aren’t as dangerous. The men fall silent, speaking occasionally to disparage the life-savers who still haven’t come to rescue them.
The men pass the long afternoon in the boat, squinting at the shoreline and discussing what they see. The oiler and the correspondent take turns rowing while their backs become increasingly strained and full of knots. Cold seawater splashes into the boat. The correspondent imagines that, if the boat capsizes, the ocean will feel like a big soft mattress.
Finally, they spot a man on the beach. The captain finds a bath towel in the boat and raises it on a stick to signal distress. The oiler can’t look while rowing, so he asks the captain what he sees on shore. More men come to the beach. What looks to be a lifeboat turns out to be a large bus belonging to a hotel. The captain is confused about what a man on shore is trying to signal by waving around his black coat, but he concludes that a boat must be on its way.
The sky darkens; a breeze chills the men. The man waving his coat blends into the darkness on shore. They can no longer see the bus or other people congregating on land. The men grow angry at the cheerful man who waved his coat but didn’t help them. The mood is bleak as they continue rowing. The internal monologue addressed to the seven gods who rule the sea repeats. The captain keeps the rowing men on task. Whoever isn’t rowing lies in the boat's bottom. The section ends with the cook asking Billie the oiler what kind of pie he likes best.
Part five begins with Billie reprimanding the cook for mentioning food. A long night passes in the open boat. The oiler and the correspondent take turns at the oars while the others sleep. Whoever is rowing keeps his feet warm under the men huddled at the bottom. Occasionally an icy wave washes over the side and soaks the men; they wake briefly. It is the rower’s job to keep the boat at an angle where the rolling waves won’t capsize the vessel. The black waves creep up silently in the night, often catching the rower unaware.
The correspondent asks the captain if he should continue pointing the boat toward a light north of where they are. The captain confirms. The correspondent looks down at the oiler and the cook holding each other for warmth. The image reminds him of Babes in the Wood, a classic children’s tale about two children abandoned dead in the forest. The correspondent has difficulty paying attention to rowing: he is roused by a wave that he failed to avoid that has washed over the side. Billie wakes and the correspondent apologizes.
The correspondent sees a trail of bioluminescent phosphorescence, which resembles a blue flame. He sees the flash of bluish light again. It is being created by an enormous fin speeding through the black water. Everyone else is asleep; not wanting to wake them, the correspondent swears to himself as he watches the fin speed around the boat. He hopes one of the men will wake up so he doesn’t have to be alone with the shark.
Analysis
The mood on the boat shifts when the men discover that no one is rushing out of the life-saving station to save them. In an instance of dramatic irony, the narrator comments that there is in fact no life-saving station. The men, not willing or able to understand this, try to keep their spirits up by joking about how the life-savers must be near-sighted.
The mood dips bleakly as the men finally accept that rescue isn’t coming. They exchange addresses to notify loved ones should they drown. The narrator introduces the motif of apostrophe: the correspondent’s internal monologue is first addressed to the absent gods of the seas, but goes on to addresses the god of Fate in particular, who is personified as female, just as the sea is.
The correspondent angrily questions why Fate would put the men through such trials instead of drowning them when the main boat sank. In this first instance, the correspondent considers Fate, which is to say nature, to be needlessly cruel.
The men give up on their shoring attempt and go back to the calmer, deeper waters. Their hopes are lifted and lowered again when they spot a man on shore but he does nothing to help them. The slow passing of time illustrates the monotony of life on the boat. The mood grows more bleak and somber through the cold night.
The only reprieve from the monotony is the bioluminescent shark fin that cuts through the water. The image showcases the awesome beauty of nature; it is dangerous yet mesmerizing. The theme of solidarity returns at the section’s end: the correspondent wishes the other men were awake so he is not left alone with the fearful fin.
