My business was only with the wrecks lying along the extreme outer edge of the pack--from which alone it would be possible for me to launch a boat in the event of my finding one--but in order to get from one to the other of them I had to make so many long detours that my progress was very slow. Indeed, by the time that noon came, and I stopped to eat my dinner--which I had brought along with me, that I need not have to hunt for it--I had made less than half a mile in a straight line. And in none of the vessels that I had crossed--except on one lying so far in the pack as to be of no use to me--had I found a single boat that would swim. Nor had I any better luck when I went on with my search again in the afternoon. As it had been in the case of the _Hurst Castle_ so it had been, I suppose, in the case of all the wrecks which I examined that day: either their boats had been staved-in or washed overboard by tempest, or else had served to carry away their crews. But what had become of them, so far as I was concerned, made no difference--the essential matter was that they were gone. And so, toward evening, I turned backward from my fruitless journey and headed for the _Ville de Saint Remy_ again--for I had found no other ship so comfortable in the course of my explorations--and got safe aboard of her just as the sun was going down. That night I had not much comfort in the good dinner that I set out for myself--though I was glad enough to get it, being both hungry and tired--and I only half plucked up my spirits over my coffee and cigar. But still, as the needs of my body were gratified, my mind got so far soothed and refreshed that I held to my purpose--which had been pretty much given over when I came back tired and hungry after my vain search--and I went to bed resolute to begin again my explorations on the following day. But when the morning came and I set off--though I had a good breakfast inside of me, and such a store of food by me as fairly would have set me dancing with delight only a week before--I was in low spirits and went at my work rather because I was resolved to push through with it than because I had any strong hope that it would give me what I desired. This time--having already examined the wrecks for near a mile northward along the edge of the pack--I set my course for the south; and again, until late in the afternoon, I worked my way from ship to ship--with long detours inland from time to time in order to get around some break in the coast-line--and on all of them the result was the same: not a boat did I find anywhere that was not so riven and shattered as to be beyond all hope of repair. And at nightfall I came back once more to the _Ville de Saint Remy_ wearied out in body and utterly dispirited in mind.