This chapter's epigraph comes from a famous line from Shakespeare's play Hamlet, in which Hamlet says, "I'm afraid I'm going to die, but not before I've tried my best to save the life of a friend." In this passage, Hamlet says he's afraid he'll die before he can save his friend. He's also afraid that if he dies, the rest of the crew will die with him. Hamlet says that he tried to convince the other crew members to take him out of the hole with them, but they refused. He says that if they want his opinion, they're not going to be seeing the benediction shut up in the room with them anytime soon. He tells them that he can see the ceiling of the cabin, but he can't see what's going on. It's not a hallucination, he says, it's the result of a strong emotion, like anger. He warns them that if something happens to baldwin, he won't be able to help him. He also says that hamish has to take back command of the ship. If he lets hamish take over again, he will oppose the plan of black dante. So, if he can convince the commander to try his luck in the hole, he can free the crew.