When we got out to sea, the water was quite smooth, although there was a swell that rolled us a great deal.

The captain said that if it had been rough he would not have come out at all.

This sounded rather badly for us, because he might give up the search, if a little storm came on.

And besides, if he was afraid of high waves in his tug, what chance could those boats have had?
Toward noon, we got into water that was quite smooth, and we could see land on the ocean side of us.

I couldn't understand this, and went to ask the captain about it.