Which character dies in "The Open Boat"?

Billie the oiler is the only character who dies in the story. He's also the only character whose name is given. The fact that Crane only names Billie, the character who dies, makes said character more human and easier to identify with. It would be difficult for the reader to feel any kind of connection to characters in such a tense, dangerous situation if they were all completely anonymous. Billie provides us with a way in to the story; in rooting for him, we're rooting for everyone else aboard the stricken boat, as well.
Billie's death comes as a bit of a shock; it seemed certain that he, of all people, would survive. He was a hard-working man, someone with vast experience at sea, who always looked out for his fellow shipmates in the midst of extreme adversity. But given the grim worldview that Crane presents in the story, perhaps Billie's death is not all that much of a surprise. This is a harsh, unforgiving world, in a remote corner of the universe, whose inhabitants constitute nothing more than a mere speck in the vast, ever-expanding cosmos. In such a bleak, despairing portrait of humanity, bad things happening to good people isn't the exception; it's almost the rule.