Pi and Richard Parker drift into a slick of floating trash, first noticing oily patches on the water and then a dense field of domestic and industrial debris. Pi scans the refuse for anything useful and retrieves an empty corked wine bottle.

The lifeboat bumps into a floating refrigerator with its door facing upward. Pi opens it and is hit by an overpowering stench; inside are stains, rotten vegetables, curdled milk turned to greenish jelly, and the quartered remains of a dead animal so putrefied Pi can barely identify it, likely a lamb.

The smell overwhelms Pi, making him reel and nearly vomit, until seawater floods the refrigerator and it sinks. The lifeboat continues through shifting garbage before eventually leaving the trash patch behind.

Even after they move on, the wind carries the foul odor for a long time, and it takes a full day for the sea to wash the oily smears off the lifeboat’s sides. Using the recovered bottle, Pi writes a message identifying the Tsimtsum’s sinking, his situation, and the danger posed by the tiger, asking that his family in Winnipeg be informed. He seals the bottle carefully with plastic and string and casts it into the ocean.