three o'clock
At last it was brought down by the tide to within a few yards of him , and appeared to be checked . Newton dashed out towards the boat , and in a minute was safely astride upon it . As soon as he had recovered a little from his agitation , he perceived that it was the very boat belonging to the brig , in which Jackson had so treacherously deserted and left him on the island ! At three o'clock it was high water , and at five the water had again retreated , so that Newton could quit his station on the bottom of the boat , and walk round her . He then righted , and discovered that the mast had been carried away close to the step , but , with the sail , still remained fast to the boat by the main sheet , which had jammed on the belaying pin , so that it still was serviceable . Every thing else had been lost out of the boat , except the grapnel , which had been bent , and which hanging down in the water , from the boat being capsized , had brought it up when it was floated on the sand-bank . Newton , who had neither eaten nor drank since the night before , was again in despair , tormented as he was by insufferable thirst , when he observed that the locker under the stern-sheets was closed .