Chapter 22, "The Water Famine" Summary

The Caine stinks as it steams 200 miles to Funafuti with a destroyer and six LST's. The stack gas is not blowing away. The air is hot and damp. The officers and crew cannot shower, so they work, holding hands over noses. After 24 hours, Maryk asks the Captain for mercy because of the extraordinary lack of wind. Queeg is sweating, lying naked in his bunk with two fans blowing on him. Maryk reports they have plenty of water to last until Funafuti. Queeg refuses to relent. The men have enough water in their soup and coffee not to get dehydrated.

Wind conditions remain intolerable. Stack gas comes through the ventilators. The sailors sleep in clusters on the deck, using life jackets for pillows, breathing in gasps through the night. At sunrise, the Caine resembles a plague...