In the second chapter of the novel, Robinson uses personification and metaphor to exaggerate the might of the ocean:
I expected every wave would have swallowed us up, and that every time the ship fell down, as I thought, in the trough or hollow of the sea, we should never rise more.
This quote comes from the first storm that Robinson experiences. He personifies the ocean, describing it as a living force that is capable of swallowing up the ship and everyone aboard. This image of the swallowing ocean returns later in the hurricane that results in the shipwreck.
In the second storm that Robinson experiences, he says that the "sea went mountains high" and that this tempestuous experience makes his heart die. The metaphor of the ocean as mountainous returns several times throughout the novel.
Through this hyperbolic language, Robinson identifies the ocean as one of his fiercest opponents early on in the narrative. Not only does he emphasize that he had naively and grossly underestimated the power of the sea before his first voyage, he also makes it clear that he will be at the mercy of the ocean throughout the narrative and for the rest of his seafaring life.
