one o'clock
Several times during the morning the ship 's engines were set in motion and valiant efforts made to drag the ship off the shoal . But each succeeding effort availed nothing , except to eat up the precious electrical energy in the storage batteries . In the petrol tanks was plenty of fuel for the engines , but it was useless here on the bottom of the sea where only the electric motors could be used in submerged locomotion . Realizing the futility of these sporadic efforts at escape , Lieutenant McClure decided to wait until one o'clock for another supreme effort . It would be high tide at noon and he decided to make the great effort shortly thereafter on the thin hope that he might get away with the tide running out to sea . The time passed drearily . Jack and Ted tried to get interested in a game of chess , but with little success .