midday
As regards the alleged abatement of thirst , although I did not experience any perceptible relief during the first half-hour of the experiment , I certainly did afterwards , and so did the others ; and although at ten o'clock we each avidly took our third of half a pint of water , there were no further complaints of thirst . And here let me mention , for the benefit of any reader who may be so unfortunate as to find himself at any time in a similar predicament , that I then made the important discovery that the most effectual method of assuaging thirst with a very limited quantity of water is not to gulp it down and have done with it , but to sip it slowly , about a teaspoonful at a time , and retain each sip in the mouth at least half a minute before swallowing it . The amount of comfort -- not to say enjoyment -- relief , and refreshment thus obtainable is nothing short of marvellous . But , despite every device that we could think of to obtain relief , our sufferings during that day were terrible ; for although , by assiduously sousing each other with salt water at frequent intervals , we contrived to avoid the worst torments of thirst , our faces , arms , and hands -- in fact all the exposed portions of our bodies , were so frightfully scorched by the sun that even before knocking-off work to take our midday meal we had begun to blister , and by nightfall our faces and arms were covered with blisters . And all through that interminable day we toiled on and on at the oars , with not a shred of cloud to be seen in any direction , the blazing sun scorching us remorselessly , and the sea all round us a polished , shining , gently undulating , colourless plain , unbroken by so much as a solitary ripple , save those created by our oar blades , the passage of the gig through the water , the occasional dash of half a dozen flying-fish out of the sea under the boat 's stem , and once or twice the thin wake cut by the dorsal fin of a cruising shark . But about three-quarters of an hour before sunset the carpenter , who was then steering the boat , shouted : `` Hurrah , my bullies , there 's a change of some sort comin ' at last ! See the edge of that there cloud liftin ' over the sea line ahead ?