Pi describes the Tsimtsum’s steady, indifferent progress at sea and how he tracked the voyage each morning on a world map by pinning the ship’s reported position. The family’s days are filled with caring for the animals, and in Manila the ship takes on fresh feed—bananas full of large black spiders—and a new animal, a female Congo chimpanzee. Ravi, more interested in the ship’s machinery than Pi is, spends time below and says something is wrong with the engines.

After leaving Manila and entering the Pacific, the Tsimtsum sinks on the fourth day out, midway to Midway. Pi believes there may have been an explosion, but he cannot be sure because it happens while he is asleep; he wakes just after 4:30 a.m. to an irregular, startling sound amid the ship’s usual constant noise. Although he would normally return to sleep, Pi gets dressed and decides to investigate, briefly trying to rouse Ravi, who refuses to get up.

Pi goes up to the main deck and finds rough weather that feels dramatic but not, at first, catastrophic. He even shouts “Canada, here I come!” as he faces the wind and rain. The situation turns frightening when Pi notices a lifeboat hanging at an angle and realizes the ship is listing; his grip on the railing is not against the wind, but to keep from sliding toward the tilted deck.

Pi tries to return below, but in the stairwell he encounters water surging up from the lower levels, blocking his way to the cabins where his family is. Back on deck, the ship’s list and bow-to-stern incline make the truth unmistakable: the Tsimtsum is sinking fast. Pi hears ominous groaning and a “monstrous metallic burp,” then monkeys shriek and a terrified gaur bursts loose and charges past, signaling that the animal holds have been breached amid the chaos.

Desperate for answers and help, Pi runs up toward the officers but finds only three crewmen. He pleads in English about the flooding and his family; instead of explaining, one shoves a life jacket into his arms and shouts in Chinese. The men lift Pi—seeming, to him, like rescuers—until they abruptly throw him overboard, leaving him only then to doubt their intentions.