[transcribed 2021-06-02]

There is potential for Santiago to be capable of surviving out at sea, even
while holding onto the fish. In terms of provisions, the old man has been
relatively successful. While still holding onto the fish, he managed to catch a
dolphinfish, which itself held several flying fish to be eaten separately.

Though the old man's mental state has been worsening over the course of the last
several days, he has managed to get a little bit of sleep and has been talking
to himself for company. It would not seem to be he can last forever, though; he
has had sufficient food, but the sleep he has gotten has not been very
significant, and he suffers for it.

However, it is worth noting that though we have fair reason to believe the old
man will be able to persevere a reasonable amount of time, there are also points
to be had for the fish.

Suppose the fish becomes aggressive? The fish is easily large enough to topple a
simple and small boat such as Santiago's skiff; if it were to come down to that
the fish would surely win. In fact, the fish does not even need to be
particularly aggressive; even just swimming in a craze at the top level of the
sea could cause cause waves strong enough to topple the boat. (There would also
be a risk of the fish swimming *into* the boat, which could knock it over, and
potentially create a hole for water to leak into; either way inevitably leading
to the old man drowning.)

It is important to be aware that the fish is not capable of eating. As soon as
the old man caught the fish on his hook, its ability to eat was lost; the
inevitable fate of the fish is starvation. If the old man becomes incapable of
continuing his quest (e.g. a slip of his hand due to exhaustion), the fish could
escape; however it would still starve, with no way to remove the hook. If it
starves while still being held by Santiago, the old man wins. At this point, it
could simply be a race of how long the fish can last without food.