Douglas, their 18 year-old son, was lazily watching the clouds when he sat up with a start. He pointed excitedly and cried out that the black point he was staring at was clearly a ship. The whole family got up and looked straight at the place Douglas was pointing. After a few seconds, Mrs. Robertson insisted on waiting for what they thought was a ship to get closer to the raft, so they could have a better sight, reminding the family that they had already had that kind of feeling before. Because of this she persuaded her husband not to use the only flare they had yet.

The family waited anxiously for ten minutes, and when most of them were wondering if they were going to see something at last, the clear shape of a ship came out from the cloudy horizon.

That was the sign they have been waiting for. Mr. Robertson implored to his family not to panic and then he communicated them that he was going to use their last flare, in a desperate attempt for being rescued.

The red sparks that came from the flare floated above the raft for about five minutes, but the people on the ship didn't seem to notice, because they turned around immediately and disappeared on the horizon.

No one said a thing; all of them knew they had wasted their last opportunity to survive. They stared at the speck on the horizon and felt very lonely.