Had we indeed been off our course before the fire broke out?
Had we burned to cinders aside and apart from the regular track of ships?
Then, though my present valiant mood might ignore the adverse chances, they were as one hundred to a single chance of deliverance.

Our burning had brought no ship to our succor; and how should I, a mere speck amid the waves, bring one to mine?
Moreover, I was all but motionless; I was barely drifting at all.

This I saw from a few objects which were floating around me now at noon; they had been with me when the high sun rose.

One was, I think, the very oar which had been my first support; another was a sailor's cap; but another, which floated nearer, was new to me, as though it had come to the surface while my eyes were turned inwards.

And this was clearly the case; for the thing was a drowned and bloated corpse.
It fascinated me, though not with extraordinary horror; it came too late to do that.