Timeline of Events of The Old Man and the Sea

 

Timeline of Events

This was Santiago’s eighty-fourth day without catching any fish. During the first forty days Manolin had fished with him. After that he had joined another boat which had more luck on his father’s orders.

Santiago (The Old Man) goes out to sea alone before sunrise in order to go back to the port before the wind shifts.

Dawn- He finds a sea bird with long black wings circling the sky, hunting for fish. This helps him find a school of tuna and catch a small stray tuna weighing ten pounds for the first time since eighty-four days.

Noon- A marlin begins to eat the bait on one of Santiago’s lines. It is hooked but swims in the direction opposite the current of the sea (north-west), slowly pulling the boat along with him, despite the old man’s efforts to raise him.

Dawn- Santiago promises that he will catch the marlin before the day ends. (He loves and respects the marlin, but will kill it before the day ends)

          - A small, tired warbler perches on the line that connects Santiago with the marlin.  The marlin gives a sudden lurch and the line cuts his hand.

          - Santiago eats the tuna which was meant for the bait to gain strength and to uncramp his left hand.

          - The marlin comes out of the sea and re-enters it. Santiago learns that it is two feet longer than the skiff.

Noon – His left hand is uncramped and he says his prayers and promises a pilgrimage if he catches the marlin. He rebaits a short line hoping that it will catch something.

Before Nightfall- A dolphin takes his short line and is clubbed dead by Santiago. He rests for two hours and clears his head. He prepares the dolphin and finds that there are two flying fish inside its belly. He eats half of one of the dolphin fillets and one of the flying fish raw. He wishes he had salt and had prepared more equipment to face the marlin more easily. He decides to sleep for twenty minutes or half an hour to ensure that he is clear headed. He dreams of leaping porpoises, sleeping in his hut during a storm and lions on an African beach.

The marlin wakes Santiago by pulling the line out. Shortly after, it jumps out of the sea many times. Santiago eats the second flying fish.

Dawn- The marlin begins to circle around Santiago’s skiff and he slowly pulls it in.

After many hours of hard work- He succeeds in pulling the marlin to the side of the skiff. He then drops the line connecting himself to the fish and lifts his harpoon as high as he could to plunge it into the fish’s side. The marlin jumps with all its might before falling into the sea and floating there. The old man fastens the marlin to his skiff. Blood spreads from the wound caused by the harpoon.

An hour later- A mako shark starts following the trail of the skiff. The old man kills the shark but loses forty pounds of his marlin and his harpoon and his rope.

Two hours later- Two shovel-nosed sharks take the best meat of the marlin before being killed with a knife lashed to an oar by Santiago. Another shovel-nose comes after that and snaps the old man’s knife blade before sinking.

Before Sunset- Two shovel-noses come straight to the skiff and Santiago is forced to use the club that is meant for killing bait fish against them. (The sharks retreat.)

Midnight- A pack of sharks arrive in the darkness just outside the old man’s destination. The old man clubs desperately at what he could only feel and hear. By the end of this useless battle, the marlin barely has any meat left. He reaches his village harbour, goes to his shack and sleeps.

A group of fishermen examine the carcass of the marlin with amazement and admiration. Manolin comes to Santiago’s shack after having seen the marlin. He fetches a cup of coffee to warm the old man up. Manolin chooses to go fishing with Santiago again despite his father’s orders. The two make plans for the coming days and everything is resolved.