But there is another explanation. Careful reading reveals that the Singleton who collects his pay is uncertain as to daylight . Singleton, is in fact the central character of the novel, though he speaks and acts on the edge of the action most of the time. His patriarchal presence is always there and in his few words he enunciates some of the main ideas of the novel. Singleton didn't stir.
Ships are all right.
They had been strong, as those are strong who know neither doubts nor hopes. They were the everlasting children of the mysterious sea. Their successors are the grown-up children of a discontented earth. He is the only one who is assured in his reactions to the slowly dying Negro - neither angry with him nor motivated by guilty compassion. Whether such everlasting children of the mysterious sea really existed in such innocent grace is open to question.