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Written artifacts can outlast their creator.

In the middle of the story, we learn that the narrator has written down the details of his journey and placed them in a bottle, which he lets loose in the sea at the last minute. Thus, the story itself is the titular manuscript found in a bottle. This interesting framing enhances the dread of the story, as we realize that the story’s existence implies the doom of the narrator. By the end we are left to assume that the narrator has perished in the whirlpool, with the bottled manuscript miraculously finding its way to civilization. It is the last relic of disaster. The framing also allows us to see character development in the narrator. At the beginning, he writes with scorn of his previous skepticism, calling it “a very common error of this age,” implying from the start that he no longer holds these beliefs. We can only witness this change of heart because of how the framing device of the manuscript gives the character space for self-reflection.

The ominous nature of this manuscript also plays into the story’s themes of the limits of knowledge. When confronted with the ominous ghost ship and its haunted crew, the narrator attempts to use scientific observation to make sense of it, resulting in the titular manuscript. That these observations are all that remain of the narrator implies that the narrator’s impressions and thoughts do nothing to help his situation. The manuscript contains very strange descriptions and observations, but no concrete answers or explanations for what has happened. As the reader, we are left to interpret and imagine what exactly happened to the narrator and how the manuscript came to escape its author’s fate. However, the grim circumstances that in the framework of the story led to this manuscript’s escape from the whirlpool warn readers within its fictional world away from seeking the truth.

Science cannot explain everything.

Throughout the story, Poe contrasts the narrator’s staunch rationality with the complete irrationality of the events he faces to explore the limits of scientific inquiry. After the Simoom leaves the narrator and the Old Swede abandoned on a broken and empty ship, their knowledge of seafaring can do little to help their situation. The sun grows dim and then ceases to shine, leaving them in a dark abyss. The narrator observes that they can no longer calculate anything scientifically, including the direction they head in, meteorological signals, or even the passage of time. His scientific knowledge fails before the supernatural darkness. The mysterious ghost ship further demonstrates the limits of scientific inquiry. The ship itself is impossible to interpret by normal means. Its arrival is mysterious, impossibly perched upon a giant wave without faltering. It has no outer markings or carvings to identify it, nor does its structure, cargo, or armament suggest a particular purpose. The narrator cannot understand or interact with the crew, denying him anthropological inquiry. By positioning a narrator who craves scientific explanation in a situation that resists all scrutiny, the story suggests some things simply can’t be explained. This story is not the first time Poe has considered what he saw as the folly of science against the power of imagination. His earlier poem “Sonnet—To Science” also decries science’s over-scrutiny of wonder.

Sea voyages are extremely dangerous.

At the heart of this story and many other adventure tales of its time is the awe, terror, and exotic nature of sea voyages. Because imported goods, as well as local products like lantern oil, depended on sea travel, sea voyages were a popular subject for artistic exploration in 19th century art. Although Poe brings the supernatural into the story, he also relies on the reputation of seafaring to build a sense of danger and suspense. He has the ship setting sail from the island of Java in Indonesia, playing on its exotic reputation to emphasize how far away from European civilization the narrator is. He describes the ship as stowing its cargo in a haphazard way, making it unstable in the water, and relies on racist beliefs about Malaysian sailors to imply that the voyage is precarious from the start. Furthermore, although the narrator appears to be a decent sailor and even recognizes the signs of a Simoom, his experience cannot be used to help the crew because the captain refuses to believe him. Even before the ship’s troubles begin, Poe has marked the voyage as a disaster.

The story also relies on the way sea voyages lay bare the inherent powerlessness of humans against the forces of the natural world. After the Simoom, both the narrator and the Old Swede are abandoned in an unforgiving sea. They cannot truly crew the ship with two people, and even if they could, it has been badly damaged by the storm. From that moment, they are left to the whims of the elements. They drift wherever the winds take them, forced to merely react to whatever events occur as best as they can to stay alive. Knowledge and experience are no real protection against the dangerous and unforgiving nature of the sea.

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