The ship being fairly easy to operate, he sets out by himself. First he travels towards northern islands, but upon seeing the death of all various races from around the world there (the result of an exodus, escaping the death-bringing cloud), and meeting ships crowded with corpses, he comes instead to the dead continent, walking through London, searching for news of the cloud. He looks for any survivors in shut mines, but finds all barricades broken through by mad crowds. Later, he goes to the house of Arthur Machen (an actual close friend of Shiel's), whom he finds dead, having been writing a poem until the very end. There, he finds the notebook into which he writes his whole narrative.