n ride is described as if a "bucking bronco" (Lauter 715). Yet set against this animation of the objects and environment in which they find themselves trapped, these men are continually assaulted by an ominous and pervasive "greyness" (Lauter 714-5). The waves are described to be like "slate" in the first paragraph (Lauter 714). Crane coyly adds that although none of these men know the color of the sky, each one could exhaustively describe the "colors of the sea" (Lauter 714). Their eyes gazing out at the sea in a mix of terror and awe turn grey as if in sympathetic correspondence (Lauter 715).At the end of the first section Crane has already left the clue that the oiler may not survive. The correspondent is drawn as inquisitive, anxious to know what is happening and why. The cook is seen to be almost light-hearted and affirmative of life. The captain is intent on developing a strategy for bringing his new crew successfully ashore. The oiler is presented as the most dispassionate, the most cynical. Already in this first section, Crane's compressed technique hints that in this naturalist tale the one who accepts the harshness of hi
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