Which parts of this excerpt from stephen crane's "the open boat" describe the narrator's opinion of the sea as a hostile entity? which parts of this excerpt from stephen crane's "the open boat" describe the narrator's opinion of the sea as a hostile entity? a singular disadvantage of the sea lies in the fact that after successfully surmounting one wave you discover that there is another behind it just as important and just as nervously anxious to do something effective in the way of swamping boats. in a ten-foot dinghy one can get an idea of the resources of the sea in the line of waves that is not probable to the average experience, which is never at sea in a dinghy. as each salty wall of water approachedit shut all else from the view of the men in the boat, and it was not difficult to imagine that this particular wave was the final outburst of the ocean the last effort of the grim water.