Everything was going smoothly until the destabilizing event of the poem. The mariner told his men, "With my crossbow, I shot the albatross.".
In Part II, the sun continues to rise and set. Time doesn't stop. It seems that there are no consequences for this action. The sailors all believed that the albatross was a good luck charm, and that the mariner had done a wicked deed. But after time, seeing that there were no consequences, the mariner's shipmates decided that it was no big deal. At this moment, his sin became theirs. The breeze that was filling the sails ceases, and the ship comes to a still. There was a lack of drinking water, and the sailors stopped speaking to each other to conserve energy. The ocean becomes slimy, and slimy creatures with legs begin to appear. At night, the sailors begin to see the water "burning" blue, green, and white. In literal terms, this could be described as phosphorescence, which is a natural phenomenon where algae glows. But Coleridge isn't being scientific. Some of the mariner's shipmates start to dream that a spirit has been following the ship ever since they left the Arctic. The sailors believe that this is all the mariner's fault, and they hang the albatross around his neck.
Part III is the most bizarre section of the poem. The ship has been stuck still for a long while, and everyone is tired. One day, out of nowhere, the mariner spots something coming towards them. He finally recognizes what it is, but his mouth is caked dry, and he is unable to speak. What they can now see is a ship comes their way. The mysterious ship is described as looking like a skeleton, which is perfect because it is a ghost ship. The sails are tattered. The crew of the vessel consists of only two people, death, and life-in-death. At first glimpse, life-in-death looks like a beautiful woman, but upon closer inspection she is diseased. Death and life-in-death play a dice game and life-in-death wins.
