Final answer:
Paraphrasing the texts, they convey varied emotional responses to oceanic experiences from terror to existential contemplation, highlighting human vulnerability against the sea's might and indifference.
Step-by-step explanation:
Paraphrasing the provided excerpts from various texts, which describe experiences at sea, reveals a theme of intense emotional reactions to the uncertainty and perils associated with oceanic voyages. The narrators express astonishment, terror, and existential contemplation as they witness or anticipate the sublime power of the sea and its indifference to human struggles. These passages often highlight human vulnerability and the dramatic tension between hope for survival and looming danger.
The first passage illustrates the shock and fear experienced by an individual upon encountering a slave ship, followed by their subsequent abduction and mistreatment. The second passage captures the mounting anxiety and false alarms felt by a person navigating through a fog at sea. Another excerpt describes a crew's desperate attempt to reach shore in the face of possible death and the indifferent natural landscape. The sequence continues with a harrowing shore approach and the contrasting reactions of those on land, ranging from warm welcomes to the somber reality of a figure brought to the grave.
In the following pieces, we observe a contemplative moment as the vastness and passion of the Atlantic Ocean is felt beneath the observer's feet, while a ship's crew gradually gains hope of rescue as they come closer to land. Lastly, a stark introspection takes place, with the narrator questioning the purpose of their struggles at sea, only to be met with the indifference of the elements and the fatigue of the crew wrestling with the ocean's grandeur.