noon
Five minutes sufficed to get the lee-boards into action , and then the squadron hauled its wind , with the object of beating back to the neighbourhood of the ship . The value of Captain Chesney 's idea soon became apparent , for in less than an hour we had reached far enough to windward to enable us to fetch the ship on the next tack . But we did not go about ; for just at that time the wreck , burnt to the water 's edge , suddenly disappeared , leaving no trace of her late presence but a dense cloud of mingled steam and smoke , that gradually swept away to leeward astern of us . The boats were on the starboard tack , and were kept so throughout the day , that being the leg upon which we could do best with the wind as it then was ; and at noon an observation of the sun was secured which , the skipper having his chronometer and charts with him , showed that we were eleven miles nearer to our destination than we had been when we left the ship . This was no great slice out of a distance of more than seven hundred miles , but neither was it by any means discouraging , taking into consideration the distance that we had lost during the night . As for the passengers , particularly the women and children , they were in wonderfully good spirits , seeming to regard the boat-voyage rather as a pleasure-trip than the serious matter that it really was . The breeze continuing to freshen , it at length became necessary for the long-boat and ourselves to haul down a reef , in order that we might not outsail and run away from the remainder of the flotilla .