The scenes of the refugee boat striking rocks on the shore of Christmas Island illustrated the awful power of the ocean. The initial footage seemed rather innocuous with the boat slowly encroaching on the swell. But suddenly the sea, which had been the refugees’ ally, turned on them. In a terrible irony the sea used the land they had long sought, to ruin them – smashing the fragile vessel against the rocks and then pulling it apart as the swell receded.