The Open Boat

Stephen Crane's "The Open Boat" is an interesting story. For the most part I really thought the story was going to end up being a dream. I felt when the men kept seeing land or the lighthouse or the man waving his jacket, they were only imagining these things. I thought they were so delirious these were only figments of their imagination. I really thought this was the case because they men kept saying, "Funny they haven't seen us" (Crane 345). This makes me wonder if people were even there to be seen or not. These men could have been lost in the ocean for so long that they just made up people. I didn't really understand why when the guys got closer to shore they would turn around and go back out further into the ocean. This doesn't make sense to me. Why wouldn't they just continue to go to shore so they could save themselves? I would like to know what happened that these men are in the boat together. Its clear their ship got wrecked, but why are these people in the boat together? What made these individuals get into the boat together? Are they the only survivors?