noon
We were better off than they , and I had not the least doubt , I told them , of bringing the old schooner to a safe berth off Deal or Gravesend . But it happened that we were chased when on the polar verge of the North-East Trade-wind . It was blowing brisk , the sea breaking in snow upon the weather bow , the sky overcast with clouds , and the schooner washing through it under a single-reefed mainsail and whole topsail . It was noon : I was taking an observation , when Pitt at the tiller sang out `` Sail ho ! '' and looking , I spied the swelling cloud-like canvas of a vessel on a line with our starboard cathead . I told Pitt to let the schooner fall off three points , and with slackened sheets the old _ Boca del Dragon _ hummed through it brilliantly , flinging the foam as far aft as the gangway . The strange sail rose rapidly , and the lifting of her hull discovered her to be a line-of-battle ship .