midnight
`` Get a move on and give us a chance to get out of this beastly wet . '' A sharp retort is given , and the men move on in the same leisurely way . The men of both watches are hardly in the best of humors . It is not pleasant to be waked up at midnight to stand a four hours ' watch in the rain and fog , nor is it the most enjoyable thing in life to be delayed , after standing a four hours ' watch in the rain , realizing all the time that each minute of waiting takes that precious time from the scant four hours ' sleep . But finally `` all the watch '' is piped , and we go below and flop into our hammocks , to sleep as soundly and dreamlessly as babies . A sailor will sleep like a dead man through all kinds of noises and calls , but the minute his own watch is called he is wide awake in an instant , from sheer force of habit . So when the boatswain 's mate went around with his pipe , singing out as he dodged in and out among the swinging hammocks , `` On deck all the port watch , '' each of us jumped out of his swaying bed and began to climb into his damp clothes and stiff `` oilers . ''