The Cay

After dinner, Phillip’s father checks that all of the blackout curtains are in place, then returns to the refinery to keep working. Phillip and his mother sleep downstairs for safety, and he puts a hatchet under the couch, fearing what might happen in an attack. Late at night, Phillip’s father returns home and discusses the future with Grace. She wants to leave Curaçao, but he cannot abandon his duties. She then suggests leaving with Phillip, though not on a plane, as she is afraid of flying. Phillip overhears this conversation and does not want to leave. The next day, some Chinese sailing crews refuse to ferry oil without escorts, effectively stopping Curaçao’s oil supply and ability to help with the war. No ships arrive bearing fresh water, which puts the residents of Curaçao in a dangerous position, as they do not have a steady water supply of their own.

Around February 21, some ships agree to set sail again. An armed British tanker called the SS Empire Tern also gets ready to ferry some oil. Just before it leaves the harbor, the Empire Tern is hit by a torpedo and explodes; Phillip and his father see the explosion from the shore, as the ship “vanishe[s] in a wall of red flames” (22). Phillip starts to understand the severity of the war. Grace becomes more insistent that she and Phillip leave Curaçao; her husband thinks she is making a mistake. At the beginning of April, Grace tells Phillip that his father has managed to get them passage on a ship bound for the United States. Unwilling to leave, Phillip considers running away and hiding; he tries to persuade his mother to stay but ultimately realizes he has no choice but to leave. He tells Henrik that he will only be away briefly on a visit to see his grandparents, not wanting to be thought a coward. Grace and Phillip board the SS Hato and wave to Phillip’s father as they depart.

Several days into the voyage, at three o’ clock in the morning on April 6th, the Hato is hit by a torpedo. Phillip and his mother are uninjured in the initial blast and get ready to get off the ship in a lifeboat. As the lifeboat is being lowered into the water, the ship lurches and everyone falls into the ocean. Something hits Phillip on the head, knocking him unconscious. When he wakes up, he has “a terrible pain” (29) in his head and finds that he is on a raft with an old Black man and a cat. The man introduces the cat as Stew Cat. Phillip realizes that he recognizes the man as one of the workers on board the Hato. The raft is alone on the ocean with no other passengers in sight. Phillip is frightened of his companion and misses his mother.

The man warns Phillip not to look directly at the sun. He holds Phillip’s head when he is seasick, saying that such a reaction is understandable given the shock of the situation. The man uses some of the boards of the raft to build a structure over which he drapes his own and Phillip’s clothing. The resulting shelter provides a respite from the hot sun. The raft has a full keg of water and a few other supplies like matches, biscuits, and chocolate. Phillip sleeps for a few hours and wakes up in the late afternoon. The man says that his name is Timothy—he has no surname. Timothy gives Phillip a small sip of water, but refuses to give him more because rationing the water is so crucial. Phillip resents Timothy for this, accusing him of keeping all the water for himself. Once it gets dark, Timothy manages to catch some flying fish that hurl themselves onto the raft. He gives some of the meat to Phillip, who refuses to eat it. He feels that Timothy is very different from him and from the people he knew growing up.