The correct answer is the second option: The whirlpool is compared to a mouth, showing its menacing threat.
In this excerpt, the narrator is describing his disastrous and terrifying experience of witnessing a whirlpool with some other "men". To describe their fear of being pulled down into the sea by a whirlpool, the whirlpool is described as having a "yawning mouth", ready to "devour" (swallow up) the narrator and the men with him.
Honestly its because they think that they have more power than another race but everyone is equal and we all are humans so they probably hit there head as a baby.
