As each wave came, and she rose for it, she seemed like a horse making at a fence outrageously high (Simile)
To further illustrate the dinghy's minute size in relation to the tall waves, the narrator likens the boat's extreme tilt as it passes over each wave to a horse leaping over a very high fence. This simile captures not only the verticality of the waves but the sense that the men are not in control of the boat but merely along for a ride, doing what they can to maintain some control.
And the foam was like tumbling snow (Simile)
In this passage, the narrator compares the frothy wave crests to snow. This simile captures the bright white color of the foam while simultaneously suggesting the frigid January waters.
The wind brought the sound of the great sea's voice to the men on the shore, and they felt that they could then be interpreters (Metaphor)
Though the narrator has concluded that nature is ultimately indifferent to man's fate, the story's final lines employ a metaphor to personify the sound of the wind and waves as the sea's voice. Having undergone their ordeal at sea, the men hear something like a message in the sound of the sea. The message is not articulated, but it likely a message of profound ambivalence. The sea swallowed Billie despite his efforts and good nature, because an indifferent nature does not reward or punish humans according to any morality or sense.
