Which detail best conveys a mood of loneliness?
the open boat
by stephen crane (adapted excerpt)
the cook's arm was around the oiler's shoulders, and, with their fragmentary clothing and haggard faces, they were the babes of the sea, a
grotesque rendering of the old babes in the wood,
later he must have grown dull at his work, for suddenly there was a growing of water, and a crest came with a roar and a swash into the boat,
and it was a wonder that it did not set the cook afloat in his life belt. the cook continued to sleep, but the oiler sat up, blinking his eyes and
shaking with the new cold.
"oh, i'm awful sorry, billie," said the correspondent contritely
"that's all right, old boy," said the oiler, and lay down again and was asleep. presently it seemed that even the captain dozed, and the
correspondent thought that he was the one man afloat on all the oceans. the wind had a voice as it came over the waves, and it was sadder
than the end,

What best conveys loneliness in this excerpt is the phrase "the correspondent thought that he was the one man afloat on all the oceans."

We are told in the text that the correspondent was responsible for a leak in what is probably the keel of the boat, enabling water to pour in ("a crest came with a roar and a swash into the boat"). However, he seems to be the only one really bothered by it, as the other characters don't let it trouble their sleep. The correspondent remains the only character awake on the boat and since they are in the middle of the ocean, it feels particularly lonely, as though he were alone at sea: "one man afloat on all the oceans".

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explanation:

the switch in narration increases the proximity of the narrator to the main character and the reader can perceive information only through the filter of a single character.