four o’clock
CHARLESTON , SEPTEMBER 27th , 1869 . -- It is high tide , and three o'clock in the afternoon when we leave the Battery-quay ; the ebb carries us off shore , and as Captain Huntly has hoisted both main and top sails , the northerly breeze drives the `` Chancellor '' briskly across the bay . Fort Sumter ere long is doubled , the sweeping batteries of the mainland on our left are soon passed , and by four o'clock the rapid current of the ebbing tide has carried us through the harbour-mouth . But as yet we have not reached the open sea ; we have still to thread our way through the narrow channels which the surge has hollowed out amongst the sand-banks . The captain takes a south-west course , rounding the lighthouse at the corner of the fort ; the sails are closely trimmed ; the last sandy point is safely coasted , and at length , at seven o'clock in the evening ; we are out free upon the wide Atlantic . The `` Chancellor '' is a fine square-rigged three-master , of 900 tons burden , and belongs to the wealthy Liverpool firm of Laird Brothers .