After the plane crashes into the ocean, the crew starts separating into different rafts. Bartek, Rickenbacker, and Adamson get into one raft while Cherry, Whittaker, and Reynolds get into another. DeAngelis and Kaczmarczyk claim a smaller raft that they are then both thrown from. After Kaczmarczyk makes it back into the smaller raft, he helps DeAngelis get back in as well. Meanwhile, Cherry and Whittaker retrieve the rafts’ missing oars.

Once the men are installed in their rafts, they tie the rafts together with a rope that Rickenbacker carries around his waist. Then they realize that they have forgotten to retrieve crucial supplies from the plane. They watch the plane sink under the ocean: “In the air, the B-17 was sturdy and capable. It was sad to see her thrust into an element she wasn’t made for” (40). 

After the lurching waves cause the crew to get seasick in their rafts, they realize that they are surrounded by sharks, which keep their distance but never disappear. The men also realize that their rafts are quite small. Even the “larger” rafts only measure 4x7 feet, which is not nearly enough space for three grown men.