Suffering for Survival

       In "The Open Boat," Stephen Crane shows the naturalist beliefs of creation being evil and creation reflecting who God is. The crashing waves that prolong the drowning of the captain, cook, oiler, and correspondent reflect how evil God, Fate, or the seven mad gods are. They put the boaters in many opportunities that could kill them like the raging waves and boating next to a shark, but they also taunted the boaters with many ways of escaping drowning that could have been successful if they hadn't been ignored. This conveys the darwinism of naturalism through the belief that man is just a part of nature and isn't special, separate, or above all else.
      
       The correspondent in "The Open Boat" is much like the man in "A Man Said to the Universe." He looks to Fate with no understanding of why his death is to be prolonged and taunted by the many opportunities that could have saved him and the three others. He says once, and similarly at other times, "If I am going to be drowned -- if I am going to be drowned -- if I am going to be drowned, why, in the name of the seven mad gods, who rule the sea, was I allowed to come thus far and contemplate sand and trees?" (Crane 737). The correspondent thinks that Fate, which he references at another time, or the seven mad gods ought to feel obliged to save him or that they plan to save him since he has suffered so much in his traveling. The man, like the correspondent, in "A Man Said to the Universe," wanted the universe, which could represent God to naturalists, to recognize his existence. The universe cared enough just to say that it didn't care, just as the travelers were given many opportunities to be saved from the dingey but were never thorough enough to ever be successful.

Did any of the men, particularly the oiler, actually drown at the end of the story?