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Our vessel was a beautiful ship of about four hundred tons, copper-fastened, and built at Bombay of Malabar teak. …The stowage was clumsily done, and the vessel consequently crank.

This quotation comes from the initial description of the ship the narrator sets out on. From the very beginning, the narrator casts doubt on the safety of the journey. Although the ship itself is beautiful, its crew has loaded its cargo unevenly, causing it to be in danger of capsizing (crank). This detail foreshadows problems from the start. The details of the cargo help evoke the exoticism and excitement of sea travel, establishing the narrator as far from home.

The frame-work of our stern was shattered excessively, and in almost every respect we had received considerable injury — but to our extreme joy we found the pumps unchoked, and that we had no great difficulty in keeping free.

This quotation appears directly after the Simoom, when the narrator and the Old Swede attempt to take stock of the ship’s condition. The Simoom has left the ship in terrible shape, making it a precarious vessel even to float in. The pumps being in working condition at least keeps them from taking on excessive water. This description establishes that the narrator and the Old Swede are completely stranded on the ship, at the mercy of the sea.

We observed too, that, although the tempest continued to rage with unabated violence, there was no longer to be discovered the usual appearance of surf, or foam, which had hitherto attended us. All around us was horror, and thick gloom, and a black sweltering desert of ebony.

This quotation appears not long after the sun dims for good on the fifth day stranded at sea. Although the narrator attempts to describe the weather as being unusual manifestations of common sea phenomena, the strange nature of the scene hints at supernatural forces at work. The waves aren’t foamy, a physical impossibility, and the unending night is clearly unnatural. Even the narrator begins to describe things poetically as a “black sweltering desert of ebony” emphasizing how terrifying the strange weather is.

Her huge hull was of a deep dingy black, unrelieved by any of the customary carvings of a ship. A single row of brass cannon protruded from her open ports, and dashed off from their polished surfaces the fires of innumerable battle-lanterns, which swung to and fro about her rigging.

This quotation is the initial description of the ghost ship as it comes into view. The rest of the story will be set on this ship, and from the outset it appears strange. Its uniform black color means that it has no distinguishing marks to help the narrator understand what kind of ship it is or where it came from. The ominous glowing lanterns and row of cannons enhance the sense of foreboding the narrator feels when first seeing this ship.

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