The unnamed speaker is a solitary scuba diver who undertakes a deep, dangerous journey to explore a sunken shipwreck. Operating without a team, she prepares carefully with tools and a "book of myths." Throughout her descent, she acts as an explorer seeking the unmitigated truth of the wreck rather than the stories told about it by others. She specifically looks for voices and histories omitted from the official records.

Jacques Cousteau is referenced as a famous ocean explorer. Within the context of the poem, he represents the established, male-dominated mode of historical documentation. He operates with an "assiduous team" aboard a "sun-flooded schooner," contrasting directly with the speaker's vulnerable, unassisted dive.

The Mermaid is a mythological sea dweller who circles the shipwreck. When the speaker reaches the bottom of the ocean, she spiritually and physically merges with the Mermaid. This figure represents the female aspect of an androgynous, unified identity that the speaker adopts to understand the truth of the wreck without the confines of historical gender expectations.

The Merman is the male mythological counterpart to the Mermaid, residing at the site of the shipwreck. Like the Mermaid, he merges with the speaker upon her arrival at the ocean floor. By embodying both the Merman and the Mermaid, the speaker rises above traditional gender divisions, combining them to witness the historical damage completely.