Then said they unto him, What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us? for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous. Then said they unto him, What shall we do unto thee? They ask this, as Jonah himself must best know how his God is to be appeased. 'We would gladly save thee, if we can do so, and yet be saved ourselves' (Jonah 1:13-14). Herein appears their humanity, though they were pagan, as contrasted with Jonah's inhumanity, who, lest the pagan Nineveh should repent and be saved from destruction, would not at God's command go to give it warning.
The sea wrought, and was tempestuous - literally, 'was going and whirling.' As though it were a conscious agent, it seemed to demand the surrender to it of its fellow-servant, who had been a rebel against his and its God.