midnight
We found two or three other frigates lying there , and several sloops-of-war and corvettes and brigs . We had not been there long before our captain received invitations from the residents in the neighbourhood , who had known him as a lieutenant and commander , and were accustomed to make much of him . He was acquainted with most of the captains of the other ships , and they were constantly dining on shore in each other 's company . They had all been invited to dinner at the house of a baronet some miles out of Portsmouth , and their boats were ordered to be in waiting for them at about half-an-hour after midnight . All the commanders and most of the post-captains were young men , full of life and spirits , two or three of them noted for their harum-scarum qualities . I had been sent to bring off Lord Robert , and a midshipman was in each of the other boats belonging to the different ships . We waited and waited for our respective captains , sitting in the stern-sheets wrapped in our thick cloaks , afraid to go ashore lest our men should take the opportunity of slipping off into one of the public-houses on the Common Hard , standing temptingly open .