eleven in the morning
He was a `` Bluenose , '' stood six feet two in his stockinged feet , and was a man of the most determined courage , unflinching resolution , and was widely known and respected by the white traders and the natives all over the South Pacific . In those days there was quite a fleet of vessels engaged in the South Sea trade , and most of them were owned in , and sailed from Sydney , and I could have secured a passage in any one of three other vessels , but preferred the _ Rimitara _ -LRB- so I will call her -RRB- , merely because the agent had told me that no other passengers were going by her . Captain Rosser himself frankly told me that he did not like passengers , but when he learned that I had been to sea before , and intended settling in Samoa as a trader , his grim visage relaxed , and he growled something about my finding the accommodation ample enough , as I was to be the only passenger . The _ Rimitara _ was lying off Garden Island , and as she was to sail at eleven in the morning I went on board at ten with the captain himself . Just ahead of the barque was a very handsome brigantine , also bound for the Friendly Islands . She had been launched only a few weeks previously , and had been built for His Majesty King George of Tonga , at a cost of £ 4,000 , as a combined cargo and despatch vessel . As Rosser and I stepped on the barque 's poop the captain of the brigantine -- whose decks were crowded with visitors -- hailed the former and challenged him to a race .