Miss Peregrine is rescued from the sea

The rescue of Miss Peregrine from the sea is the turning point that converts the submarine’s sinking from a likely catastrophe into a narrow, hard-won survival. Emma Bloom chooses to turn back for a cry in the water and retrieves Miss Peregrine, whose bird form is battered but alive; the rescue reunites the group with their headmistress even as Miss Avocet remains missing.

The Submarine’s Descent

As Jacob Portman and Emma swim away from the submarine, the vessel begins to rattle and hiss, and the surrounding water churns violently. Jacob understands that they must escape its pull and shouts to Emma to swim, but she is looking toward a dark patch of water near the stern. The danger is immediate: the submarine’s movement is drawing the sea into a destructive current, and the pair have little strength left after their earlier struggle.

The scene briefly offers a misleading prospect of hope. A gunner retrieves the cage from the deck, whose door hangs open, and Jacob thinks he sees movement inside. But the lighthouse beam reveals that the gunner is a wight, and he takes a sodden bird from the cage before returning toward the submarine’s hatch. The apparent chance of recovering Miss Peregrine from the cage disappears; the rescue will have to come from the water instead.

Emma Hears the Cry

Over the submarine’s whine, Jacob hears a high, shrieking call and recognizes it as Miss Peregrine. Emma has already fixed her attention on the dark water, and when she hears the call she swims toward it. Jacob tries to stop her, but she fights him off and commits to the search, abandoning the safer course of simply fleeing the sinking vessel.

They find Miss Peregrine bobbing in the waves and struggling to keep her head above water. One wing flaps while the other appears broken. Emma scoops her up, making the rescue a physical act of protection: the headmistress is no longer a distant captive or a bird inside a cage, but a vulnerable body that must be carried clear of the sea. Jacob urges Emma to keep moving, as the submarine’s imminent collapse leaves no time to linger.

Escape Through the Whirlpool

The submarine sinks, and the water displaced by it rushes back to fill the space it leaves. A whirlpool opens behind the swimmers, threatening to pull them under as they struggle against the unnatural current. Emma and Jacob are exhausted, but now they have Miss Peregrine with them. Her presence is described as a winged sign of victory, though only half a victory: the rescue succeeds, but the larger danger and the loss of Miss Avocet remain unresolved.

The call for help is answered by Bronwyn, who crashes through the waves and tows them back to safety. Her arrival changes the rescue from a desperate two-person swim into a group survival. The sequence depends on successive acts of attention and aid: Emma notices the water, responds to Miss Peregrine’s cry, and retrieves her; Bronwyn hears the others calling and brings them in.

Aftermath and Partial Victory

On the rocks, Jacob, Emma, Millard Nullings, and Bronwyn lie gasping and trembling with exhaustion. Millard and Bronwyn have too many questions for the rescuers to answer at once. They have witnessed the submarine rise and sink, seen Golan fall, and watched Miss Peregrine emerge from the water; they also know that Miss Avocet has not returned. Their embraces and Bronwyn’s effort to tuck the headmistress under her shirt for warmth provide the immediate aftermath of the peril: the group’s first task is to shelter the rescued bird and recover their breath.

Once they have recovered a little, the group retrieves Emma’s canoe and pushes off toward shore. The rescue therefore ends not in a complete restoration but in an urgent return to land, with Miss Peregrine alive and in their care while Miss Avocet’s absence remains a stark measure of what they have not achieved. The scene’s reversal is precise: the sinking submarine and its whirlpool threaten to consume the swimmers, yet Emma’s decision to answer the cry brings the headmistress back to the group and gives the survivors the strength to keep fighting the current.