The day he leaves, Frank apologizes to Skipper for the incident on the boat and is given a farewell by Gil, who gets the courage to climb up the ropes to ring the bell for Frank, which symbolizes ‘Where we go one, we go all’.

Soon after, while at sea, the brigantine encounters a freakish "white squall" storm. The vessel is battered by the seas, and the boys try to use what the Skipper has taught them to survive the horrific ordeal. Most of them succeed in abandoning the vessel, but Gil, Dean, the Skipper's wife and the cook, all drown.

When the survivors are rescued and reach land, the Skipper is put on trial, with Frank's powerful parents leading the call for his license to be revoked. Eventually the Skipper refuses to allow anyone else to be blamed for the disaster, and accepts responsibility, but his former students all stand up for him, and Frank turns against his bullying parents to support the Skipper, as all the boys embrace him

White Squall.