Rhonda Massengill "The Open Boat" by Stephen Crane

“The Open Boat” by Stephen Crane was a short story based on actual events. The author was on his way to Cuba Revolution, Crane was aboard the tug Commodore, when his boat sank off the coast of Florida on January 2, 1897. After thirty hours at sea in a small dinghy, Crane landed at Daytona, Florida.
In the beginning of the story the cook, oiler, correspondence, and the captain are on a tattered boat. It is in the month of January and the shores of Florida had a terrible storm. This storm causes damages to the boat and in the process the captain gets injured. At this time they had been at sea for two days and two nights with little to nothing to eat. The oiler, Billie, and the correspondence role on the boat were to make sure they steered the boat. The captain had laid beside them giving them orders on how to control the boat. These four men were very close friends and worked very well to save the boat. The oiler and the correspondent would take turns sleeping to make sure the boat was taken care of the whole time. They had finally gotten close enough to the shore to see a huge light house in the distant. At first they had thought it was a life saver station and that they would be rescued. There were two men at the shore waving at them. The four men thought they would be rescued any second now. Another night had passed and they were still at sea. Finally after four days at sea they were able to get close enough to the land to abandon the boat. They rowed as hard as they could without any regards to the damage of the boat and to get as close to the shore as possible. They abandoned the boat right before the boat had sunk. Upon the shore there was a man and he had taken off all his cloths. The naked man had helped the men to get to the shore. The water was freezing and immediately they had trouble swimming. All the men were finally on land and they were greeted with goodies. The shore people had clothes for them, warm drinks, and food. Everyone was finally safe from the raging storms of the sea.