five o’clock
They kept growing taller . They were spurring each other on . The Nautilus , sometimes lying on its side , sometimes standing on end like a mast , rolled and pitched frightfully . Near five o'clock a torrential rain fell , but it lulled neither wind nor sea . The hurricane was unleashed at a speed of forty-five meters per second , hence almost forty leagues per hour . Under these conditions houses topple , roof tiles puncture doors , iron railings snap in two , and twenty-four-pounder cannons relocate . And yet in the midst of this turmoil , the Nautilus lived up to that saying of an expert engineer : `` A well-constructed hull can defy any sea ! ''