A wedding takes place amid ominous signs that all aboard are destined to vanish without a trace in the stormy southern seas.

Miss Granham is engaged to the dying Mr. Prettiman, whom Edmund at last befriends, sharing a bond in their love for classical literature. The wedding takes place amid ominous signs that all aboard are destined to vanish without a trace in the stormy southern seas. Benét devises another clever repair, this time securing the mainmast with red-hot bolts that 1st Lieutenant Summers (Jamie Sives, "Doctor Who") cautions will ignite a slow fire that will consume the ship. But Captain Anderson ignores the warning. Standing watch with Summers one night, Edmund spots an iceberg that they barely manage to avoid. When the ship eventually reaches Australia, "the fire down below" takes on a double meaning, as Edmund confronts serious setbacks ashore and Benét's risky repair catastrophically flares up. Then one day, an old acquaintance from the voyage reappears to lighten Edmund's life.