midnight
Now , in a little , the first fury of the blast being spent , the boat began to sway from side to side , as though the wind blew now upon the one beam , and now upon the other ; and several times we were stricken heavily with the blows of solid water . But presently this ceased , and we returned once again to the rise and fall of the swell , only that now we received a cruel jerk every time that the boat came upon the top of a sea . And so a while passed . Towards midnight , as I should judge , there came some mighty flames of lightning , so bright that they lit up the boat through the double covering of canvas ; yet no man of us heard aught of the thunder ; for the roaring of the storm made all else a silence . And so to the dawn , after which , finding that we were still , by the mercy of God , possessed of our lives , we made shift to eat and drink ; after which we slept . Now , being extremely wearied by the stress of the past night , I slumbered through many hours of the storm , waking at some time between noon and evening . Overhead , as I lay looking upwards , the canvas showed of a dull leadenish color , blackened completely at whiles by the dash of spray and water .