The small lifeboat bounced from wave to wave in the rough seas of the Atlantic. The four men in the boat could not see the sky. The waves rose too high. The waves with their white tops pushed at the open boat with angry force. Every man thought each wave would be his last. Surely, the boat would sink and he would drown. For two days, since the ship sank, the four men had been struggling to reach land. But there was no land to be seen. All the men saw were violent waves which rose and came down fiercely on them. The men sat in the boat, wondering if there was any hope for them. The ship’s cook sat in the bottom of the boat. He kept looking at the fifteen centimeters which separated him from the ocean. The boat had only two thin wooden oars. It seemed as if they would break against the waves. The sailor, named Billie, directed the boat with one of the oars. The newspaper reporter pulled the second oar. He wondered why he was there in the boat. The fourth man was the captain of the ship that had sunk. He lay in the front of the small boat. His arm and leg were hurt when the ship sank. The captain’s face was sad. He had lost his ship and many of his sailors. But he looked carefully ahead, and he told Billie when to turn the boat. «Keep her a little more south, Billie», he said. «A little more south, sir», the sailor repeated.