eight to twelve p.m.
`` Here 's to them . '' Our discussion on the subject of marines was cut short by a summons to coal ship , a task which had come to form the greatest thorn in the flesh of all on board the `` Yankee . '' The ship was run alongside the collier `` Sterling , '' and the port watch was set to work at once . From four to six and from eight to twelve p.m. , and from four to eight the next morning the port watch shovelled , hoisted , and carried coal . Coaling in the tropics is a very different thing from similar work in northern latitudes . The exertion of shovelling , or lifting the heavy baskets , added to the intense heat of the weather , makes of it a task extremely trying even to those of the strongest physique . During the time thus spent in Guantanamo two of the `` Yankee 's '' crew were overcome by heat and exhaustion , and compelled to ask for medical attendance .