What is the connection between the narrator and the ship in "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"?

It is clear from the poem that the link or connection
between the Mariner and his ship is illustrated in the way that when the Mariner kills
the fated albatross, the whole ship, including all of its crew is punished for the deed
of this one man. It is this act that results in the disappearance of the wind that had
been ensuring their good journey, and the other sailors make this link
explicit:

And
I had done a hellilsh thing,

And it would work 'em
woe:

For all averred, I had killed the
bird

That made the breeze to
blow.

Ah wretch! said they, the bird to
slay,

That made the breeze to
blow!

As a result, in one of
the famous stanzas of this poem, the ship and all its crew are left stranded in the
middle of the sea without any wind to help them on their
way:

Day
after day, day after day,

We stuck, nor breath nor
motion;

As idle as a painted
ship

Upon a painted
ocean.

Note how the
repetition and the comparison to a picture of a ship intensifies the feeling
of claustrophobia and of being trapped in this situation. The Polar Spirit, a spirit
that represents nature itself, thus punishes the entire ship, including the Mariner, for
his transgression. Even at the end, after the curse has apparently been expiated, the
ship is still completely destroyed in a whirlpool, leaving no trace of it left on the
earth.