If there’s a premiere symbol in the book, it’s the sea. The sea, here, represents the ultimate power of nature. It’s the sea that creates the storm, and it’s the sea the men have to face when they go out. Even on calm days, as the sinking of the Terri Lei shows, at the end of the book, there is danger at sea, and even the biggest ships, like the 584-foot Gold Bond Conveyor, have to fear the power of the ocean.

The sea, then, is a vast force of nature that man cannot control. It is the unknown, the unexplored. And it is, ultimately, for many men and many ships who sail upon her, a grave.