The Open Boat

“Oh no!” Grace gasped in horror, realizing what had happened upon seeing the familiar shape and size of the wooden crate. “I saw those floating away from our boat earlier in the storm. The wind must have broken the compartment and knocked the crates out when we were being jerked back and forth earlier.” “Well, we’ll just have to work with what we’ve got,” Chris said in his usual abnormally positive tone. “Plus, we can’t be that far away from land. We were set to arrive in San Francisco today.…

seas. Lewis had recently graduated from college and was pursuing his dream of being a scientific observer. He received his first job from a fishing company in South Africa who would be fishing south of the island, South Georgia. While out at seas, the boat experiences several mechanical problems during a storm and the crew has to abandon ship. Seventeen crewmembers perished before being rescued by another fishing ship close by, the Isla Camila. While Lewis is telling his journey, he points out…

He Didn’t Need a Bigger Boat: Police Chief Martin Brody of Jaws A place of tourism and fun is ruined by a giant, man-eating shark, and only one man steps up to hunt it down: Police Chief Martin Brody of Jaws. Brody, along with a few others, sets out to slay the monster Great White that’s been terrorizing the crowded beaches of Amity Island. On his quest, Chief Brody not only hunts the shark but also learns the value of selflessness, confidence, and facing your fears in order to protect those…

clothes that didn’t sit quiet right on his body. It was better than his waterlogged clothes from the day prior and so he wasn’t one to complain. He could hear the sounds of men, groaning in pain or screaming in agony, fighting for space in whatever boat was available, when one would come. Everyone was dying around them. Harry tried to go somewhere else in his mind. He pictured Louis, standing in the entrance to their home in Paris. He could practically picture him in his favourite white dress…

Discoveries allow some individuals to experience powerful transformations whilst others remain rigid and inflexible in their thinking. The process of discovery allows one to discover the unknown or reconsider the known whilst having a positive or negative effect on them. Transformations can bring change in one’s attitude and thinking. This is certainly applicable to Ivan O’ Mahoney’s documentary, Go Back to Where You Came From, Judith Cofer’s short story, An Hour with Abuelo and James Devaney’s…

Joseph Conrad’s novella, “Heart of Darkness” (Originally published by Blackwood’s Magazine, 1902) and Francis Ford Coppola’s film, “Apocalypse Now” (Produced by Francis Ford Coppola and distributed by United Artists, 1979) both told through a journey down a river to find a man named Kurtz and along the way, the men that are apart of these journeys discover the darkness of the human condition. In both, “Heart of Darkness” and “Apocalypse Now,” have river journeys that delve deeper into darkness…

We are wet, cold, and scared. The choppy water making us all feel sick. I clench my stomach trying to hold down the seasickness. I can see the others are trying to as well but Diehl and Ricker are unsuccessful. I can smell the powder in the air mixed with the saltwater. My stomach drops with each whooshing sound of a bomb going off. Water keeps coming over the sides, drenching us even more. I couldn’t sleep last night, my mind constantly going back to Thanksgiving. For the first time in years my…

It was a bright, beautiful Sunday morning. The waves were crashing gently against the boat making me sway softly back and forth. I opened the door to my balcony and took an immense breath of fresh air. The sweet smell of salt took over my body. On this day, I realized babysitting in the Bahamas wasn’t going to be as dreadful as I imagined. Every day at nap time, I was responsible for putting the kids down for a nap. It was the uneventful part of my trip. I was upstairs rocking Broen to sleep…

Marine Survival Being stuck on a boat in the middle of the ocean with people you don’t really know is hard to survive. When one deals with this situation and doesn’t have any background knowledge on anything, there's a high chance your survival rate will go down . But in the novel “The Life of Pi”, Pi was able to survive on the lifeboat because of his background knowledge on marine biology and the help of the symbolic nature of animal. The shark whales, flying fish and sea turtles played an…

Have you heard of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill? In Alaska there were many boats being transported through Alaskan waters and had little to no safety regulations. In 1989, Exxon Valdez oil company had the biggest oil spill in the United States. The spill had a huge impact on wildlife and led to many safety laws and regulations. The Exxon Valdez oil spill was the worst oil spill yet in U.S. history. There were millions of boats going through the Alaskan waters and had no safety restrictions. People…