Santiago begins the long, tedious process of lashing the creature to the side of his boat. The marlin truly is a giant, weighing well over 1,500 pounds. The old man raises his sail and heads for home port. On the way, he grabs a floating patch of Gulf weed, shakes the small shrimps out of it, pinches off their heads, and eats them, along with a few sips of his remaining water.

An hour into the return journey, a large Mako shark, following the marlin’s blood trail, attacks the fish. Santiago sees it coming and, just as it strikes, drives his harpoon into its skull. The shark swims away, taking with it the harpoon and 40 pounds of marlin flesh, but it dies quickly. The old man knows there will be more sharks. He ties his knife to an oar and waits, chewing idly on a small strip of marlin meat from the gash made by the shark. The meat tastes good; it will garner a high price at the market.

An hour later, two more large sharks appear. They each do damage to the marlin before Santiago can stab them in the head with his knife.