nine o'clock in the evening
Just imagine our excitement . The particulars of the wreck were as follows : -- A brig of 300 tons burden , on a voyage from South America to the Thames , having lost her reckoning in consequence of several days ' heavy gale and thick weather , suddenly made the light on the Lizard , and as quickly lost it again in the fog which surrounded her . The captain , mistaking the light he had seen for some other well-known beacon , set his course accordingly . That was near nine o'clock in the evening . The wind and tide helped him on the course steered , and a little after midnight the misguided brig struck on a rock three-quarters of a mile south-west of our point of land . The wind had then increased to a gale , and was gathering new strength with every moment . In less than an hour the thumping and grating of the vessel 's keel ceased , and then the captain knew that the rising tide had set him off the rock ; but , alas !