The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor

Velasco contemplates his raft’s course and imagines the radio operator of the Caldas reporting the men overboard. He figures he has about an hour, until around one o’clock in the afternoon, to wait before the planes should arrive. He scours the horizon. He knows just what he will do to signal the airplanes: He will wave his shirt around wildly. He removes his shirt in anticipation. At two o’clock, there are no planes. The wind is strong, and he hears the voice of Luis Rengifo calling out to him. At three o’clock, desperation sets in. Velasco recalculates, figuring the radioman aboard the Caldas was unable to report the men overboard. He figures the planes should arrive, regardless of any delay, around 4:15pm. The wind dies down, and he no longer hears Rengifo.

“The Great Night”

The planes never arrive, and night descends. Velasco is amazed at the darkness of the sea, and then he bemoans that no airplane can see him in the dark. He feels a sense of terror in the thick darkness of the night and in the sound of the waves. He feels more alone than he did in the daytime and continuously checks the time on his watch and thinks about the rescue planes.