Ishmael's search of the maritime records at Point White lighthouse station reveals that on the night that Carl Heine died, a freighter, the SS "West Corona", had passed through the channel where Carl had been fishing at 1:42 a.m., just five minutes before his watch had stopped. Ishmael realizes that Carl was likely to have been thrown overboard by the force of the freighter's wake. Despite the bitterness he feels as Hatsue's rejected lover, Ishmael comes forward with the new information. Further evidence is collected in support of the conclusion that Carl had climbed the boat's mast to cut down a lantern, been knocked from the mast by the freighter's wake, hit his head, then fallen into the sea. The charges against Kabuo Miyamoto are dismissed. Hatsue thanks Ishmael, whom she had avoided since marrying Kabuo, and Ishmael is finally able to let his love of Hatsue go, whilst his agnosticism hardens into atheism.