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Sight and Seeing

Images of sight and seeing permeate the story, tying into the theme of the danger of knowledge. Instead of enlightenment, seeing and perceiving in the story offers only destruction and fear. The narrator’s troubles begin when he notices the signs of a Simoom, in particular the strangely transparent ocean. Usually the ocean’s opaque depths serve as a metaphor for the mysterious and deep, but here, when the depths become clear, they bring not answers but death. The light throughout the story is similarly threatening, distorting how and what the characters can see. The sun eventually darkens altogether, making sight impossible. However, when light does return, seeing only brings new horrors, with the first sight of the ghost ship. Its appearance is punctuated by the Old Swede’s cry of, “See! See!” underscoring the horror of the image. In exploring the ghost ship, the narrator takes special note of the captain’s eyes, calling them “Sybils of the future,” which suggests they have special perception or insight. However, the captain's perceptive eyes have not helped him. In fact, the narrator states that the ghostly crew “will not see,” as if their inability to see him is a refusal.

Nautical Terminology

Poe laces the story with ship, seafaring, and nautical terminology in order to give the story a depth of realism, creating the illusion that this story could really be from a manuscript found in a bottle. The narrator details not only the material of the ship and its cargo, but he also observes that the cargo has been sloppily stored, implying that he understands how cargo should lay in a ship. He describes the ship as a sailor might, using terms like poop and stern to describe locations on the ship, “crank” to describe how the ship settles in the water, and referring to the pumps as “unchoked.” This specialized vocabulary lends credence to his expertise, making him a believable sailor. The nautical detail also extends to the weather the narrator encounters. He recognizes tell-tale signs of a Simoom, and he and the Old Swede gauge the possibility of further storms by looking at the calming sea.

These realistic details also come into play when the narrator finds himself on the mysterious ghost ship. Whereas previously his depth of detail establishes him as an authority, while on board the ghost ship it emphasizes the strangeness of the ship. The narrator describes the rigging and armaments of the ship specifically to note how strangely nondescript they are. He employs even more naval terminology as he explores the ship, describing its trucks, sail booms, and top-gallant yard-arms. The flurry of jargon adds emphasis to the narrator’s assertion that the ship is behaving how it shouldn’t, that his inability to find his footing on deck is not from a lack of experience. His already established depth of knowledge makes his confusion over the unusual material of the ghost ship a sign of the ship being somehow wrong or unusual.

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