midnight
As for the man whom the Welshman was supposed to have awakened , he disclaimed all responsibility upon the ground that , if called at all -- which he did not believe -- he had been called so ineffectively as to be quite unconscious of the circumstance . At the conclusion of the inquiry , his comrades were so furiously incensed with the Welshman for his culpable -- almost criminal -- neglect , that they seemed strongly disposed to take summary vengeance upon him ; and it needed the exertion of all my authority to protect the fellow from their violence , which broke out anew when at noon we went to dinner , and were compelled to make out the best meal we could upon raw salt beef washed down with water so brackish that we could scarcely swallow it . Reduced to such a condition as this , it will scarcely be wondered at that I should be brought to something very nearly approaching despair when my observations that day revealed the disconcerting fact that , thanks to our excessive drift during the gale , we were still fully six hundred miles from our port of destination -- a distance which we scarce dared to hope might be covered , even under the most favourable circumstances , in less than five days . But it soon appeared as though even this protracted period of privation and exposure was to be increased , for , as the afternoon wore on , the wind , still continuing to drop , grew so light that our speed dwindled down to a bare three knots by the hour of sunset ; and by midnight it had still further fallen to such an extent that our sails became useless to us , and the oars had once more to be resorted to . The return of daylight found us in the midst of a stark calm , under a cloudless sky , out of which the sun soon began to dart his scorching beams so pitilessly that the task of pulling shortly became a labour little less than torture to people in our exhausted condition ; indeed , so severe did the men find it , that , after persevering until about four bells in the afternoon watch , they gave it up , declaring themselves to be quite incapable of further exertion . And thus , for the remainder of the day , we lay motionless upon that oil-smooth sea , under the blistering rays of the burning sun , with our tongues cleaving to our palates as we began to experience the first fierce torments of unquenchable thirst . For our supply of water -- all but undrinkable as it was -- was growing so short that it became imperatively necessary to husband it with the most jealous care , and to reduce our allowance to the very smallest quantity upon which life could possibly be sustained .