Thunderball (1965) - 5 questions

Question: In the last scene, what happened to the man who helped Domino? They all (Bond, Domino and man) jumped from the boat before it crashed into the rocks but only Bond and Domino climbed into the lifeboat. They didn't even try to find him.

Question: I am confused about a scene near the beginning of the film, when all the SPECTRE agents, among them Largo (Adolfo Celi), are in a secret room being quizzed by the unseen Blofeld (number 1). At one point, an agent named Number 11 is talking about money he and Number 9 (seated to his left) collected. Blofeld says "One of you is guilty of embezzlement." Number 11 has a guilty look on his face, and Number 9 gives him a smug look. It's as if Number 11 is about to be "punished" and he expects it, but suddenly, Number 9 is electrocuted in his chair and dumped beneath the floor. Afterwards, Number 11 is seen wiping his sweaty face. What exactly happened? Were Numbers 11 and 9 in cahoots and Number 9 was the only one that was caught? Did Number 9 set up Number 11 to look guilty and was found out by SPECTRE and punished accordingly? Or did SPECTRE simply make a mistake and kill the wrong guy?

Answer: They're both embezzling. Number 11 expects that he's about to be caught and Number 9 might have tried to pin his own embezzlement on 11, but Number 1 saw through it.

Question: Is it ever mentioned in one of the other movies or in any of the books about why SPECTRE members have the number they do? Is it based on rank, or is it just a codename? (So would Largo be the highest ranked under Blofeld?).

Answer: In the novels, the numbers of members were initially assigned at random and then rotated by two digits every month to prevent detection. For example, if one was Number 1 this month, he would be Number 3 next month. At the time of Thunderball, the leader, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, has been assigned "Number 2", while Emilio Largo is assigned "Number 1". In the films the number indicates rank: Blofeld is always referred to as "Number 1" and Emilio Largo, in Thunderball, is "Number 2".

Question: I am completely confused about the ending of this film. I mean, the camera-geiger counter starts clicking showing the nuclear weapons are on the boat, but they are not, they are still being moved. And the weapons do get onto the yacht, but both parts of it explode right at the end. Wouldn't that destroy the bombs as well, eg. massive atomic explosion? It is probably just me, I am known to be slow, but can someone explain?

Answer: Geiger counters show raditaion, even faint traces, are present. Thereofre, if nuclear weapons were there recently, it will register. Also, nukes are surprisingly durable. Being in a large explosion will not detonate the core, only a specific chain reaction will.

Question: As I watched the end scene I wondered: how do James and Domino intend to return to terra firma? They were whisked out of the boat by the plane and are hanging on the end of a long cord so the plane can't land without them being dragged at high speed along the concrete.

Answer: A helicopter could lower a line to them to attach themselves to. They could then cut the rope and be lowered to safety. A bit outlandish, but this is Bond we are talking about after all.