Answer:
2 the principle of causation.
(the post-Cartesian attempt to see everything as governed by simple laws of cause and effect)
1 the operation or relation of a cause and its effect.
(cause and effect play an important part in the universe)
The narrator wants to see the ship sink in battle or a massive storm, resting at the bottom of the ocean rather than just being retired as a vessel. Since it had seen so much blood and action in its life, the narrator feels it deserves to go out in a blaze of glory.
The answer is "distinct parts within a larger structure"
