three o'clock
While Fix , in a feverish , nervous state , repaired to the pilot-boat , the others directed their course to the police-station at Hong Kong . Phileas Fogg there gave Passepartout 's description , and left a sum of money to be spent in the search for him . The same formalities having been gone through at the French consulate , and the palanquin having stopped at the hotel for the luggage , which had been sent back there , they returned to the wharf . It was now three o'clock ; and pilot-boat No. 43 , with its crew on board , and its provisions stored away , was ready for departure . The Tankadere was a neat little craft of twenty tons , as gracefully built as if she were a racing yacht . Her shining copper sheathing , her galvanised iron-work , her deck , white as ivory , betrayed the pride taken by John Bunsby in making her presentable . Her two masts leaned a trifle backward ; she carried brigantine , foresail , storm-jib , and standing-jib , and was well rigged for running before the wind ; and she seemed capable of brisk speed , which , indeed , she had already proved by gaining several prizes in pilot-boat races .