The life-saving man is the person who notices the four shipwreck survivors swimming toward the shore. After saving the cook, he tries to help the captain, who points him toward the correspondent first. He is also the first person to discover that the oiler drowned. The only time he speaks is to exclaim “What’s that?” at the sight of the oiler lying face-down in the shallow water. The life-saving man is completely naked and shines “like a saint” with a “halo” above his head—praised by the narrator and characters for how he goes out of his way to help other people.