Chapter 2: My Last Minutes Aboard the Summary and Analysis

By the 26th, the ship was in the Gulf. The weather seemed calm and the destroyer slid along smoothly. Luis felt a sense of relief that his worries seemed to be unfounded. Miguel Ortego had been seasick for twenty-four hours and was miserable. That night, Ramon Herrera felt that things would get rougher when they left the Gulf and sailed into the Caribbean which, it was estimated, would be shortly after midnight. About twelve-thirty, Luis began to notice rougher seas and was certain they were in the Caribbean. It gave him a strange sense of foreboding.

By 6 am that morning, the ship was pitching quite violently. Rengifo relied on his engineering bona fides to explain why it was unlikely for the Caldas to encounter trouble in the Caribbean. The Caldas was...