‘Nevertheless the men rowed hard to get themselves back to the land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them.'
However, to the men's credit, they were loath to offer him as a human sacrifice, and began to put in every effort to row the ship to the shoreline, probably hoping to disembark Jonah and thus satisfy the gods. In those days ships would often hug the coast, precisely in case of such a storm as this. But it was all in vain, for the storm merely got worse and was clearly acting against them.