noon
Talcott and myself remained on deck together nearly the whole of the first night and the little sleep I did get was caught in a top-mast studding-sail that lay on the quarterdeck , and which I had determined not to set , after rowsing it up for that purpose . When daylight returned , however , with a clear horizon , no increase of wind , and nothing in sight , I was so much relieved as to take a good nap until eight . All that day we started neither tack nor sheet , nor touched a brace . Towards evening I went aloft myself to look for land , but without success , though I knew , from our observation at noon , it could not be far off . Fifty years ago the longitude was the great difficulty with navigators . Both Talcott and myself did very well with the lunars , it is true ; but there was no chance to observe , and even lunars soon get out of their reckoning among currents and tides . Glad enough , then , was I to hear Neb sing but `` Light ahead ! ''