About midnight
We was close reefed and laying to with the foresail a-weather , lookin ' out anxiously , for , the fleet bein ' all round and the snow thick , our chances o ' runnin ' foul o ' suthin ' was considerable . When we took in the last reef we could hardly stand to do it , the wind was so strong -- an ' was n't it freezin ' , too ! Sharp enough a ` most to freeze the nose off your face . `` About midnight the wind began to shift about and came in squalls so hard that we could scarcely stand , so we took in the jib and mizzen , and lay to under the foresail . Of course the hatchways was battened down and tarpaulined , for the seas that came aboard was fearful . When I was standin ' there , expectin ' every moment that we should founder , a sea came and swept Fred Martin overboard . Of course we could do nothing for him -- we could only hold on for our lives ; but the very next sea washed him right on deck again .