This is why the correspondent feels that "it was certainly an abominable injustice to drown a man who had worked so hard, so hard- (736), this notion can also be linked to the myth of Sisyphus because we would all like to believe that if we are doomed for hard work then it should at least amount to something in the end. However while in the men's minds, their plight seems comparable to this myth at times, this is only so because they seem to be getting nowhere fast at first and they become tired of being adrift. At any rate, this is not quite the myth of Sisyphus because in the end, the men for the most part, do conquer their demons at sea.
Within the story, the ocean serves to represent the unyielding wrath of nature. This body of water also demonstrates to the men at sea that nature in indeed oblivious to their opinion and really does not care because the natural world is not partial one way or the other it seems, and this is why the waves contrive to crash into them regardless of their frustration. At the same time, the correspondent realizes that because nature is indeed indifferent then maybe he is not justified in getting mad at the natural world.
However this is ultimately frustrating to him because he wants to be able to take out his frustration and anger on something tangible and this is why "he wishes to throw bricks at the temple- (736) and "he hates deeply the fact that there are no bricks and no temples- (736). Crane uses this kind of mental and psychological wrangling by the correspondent to add another dimension to the story. The symbolism of the sea is important because here four men are at odds with it and the whole story revolves around this relationship that the men have with the water in the story. Crane builds this relationship by describing the water with a lot of powerful animal imagery as well as color. The ocean in some instances is personified so that the reader feels the waves are specifically out to get the men in the boat.
