Stephen Crane's "The Open Boat" is a short story about four men stranded in a small rowboat in rough seas after their ship capsizes. The men spend over thirty hours in the boat until they wash ashore only to discover that their strongest rower has drowned.
First published in February 1897, "The Open Boat" is based on Crane's personal experience. In January, Crane had gone to Cuba to report on the rebellion against the Spanish. On the way to the island, the SS Commodore hit a sandbar off the coast of Florida and capsized. Crane was originally reported dead, but he rowed to shore in a dinghy with three other men. He wrote a newspaper account of his experience only a few days after the incident called "Stephen Crane’s Own Story." The next month, he turned the experience into what would become one of the most anthologized short stories in the history of American literature.
