noon
At 10 a.m. , by which time we had neared the chase to within a distance of six miles , the stranger hove about for the first time and stood to the southward and eastward , close-hauled on the larboard tack . At 10:30 we followed suit , and half an hour later the high land behind Jean Rabel , Saint Domingo , was sighted from aloft Captain Pigot now came to the conclusion that the stranger was aiming to take refuge in Port au Paix ; and , should she succeed in effecting her design , it might prove difficult if not impossible to capture her . His anxiety to speedily get alongside her and force her to action accordingly grew almost momentarily more intense , as also did his acerbity of temper , until at length he became so nearly unbearable that , had he just then happened to have been washed overboard , I believe not a single man in the ship -- apart from the officers , that is , of course -- would have raised a hand or joined in any effort to save him . At noon , however , matters grew a little more tolerable ; for it had by that time become apparent that , unless favoured by some unforeseen accident , the chase could not possibly escape us . At Jean Rabel the land begins to trend to the southward and westward , extending in that direction a distance of some four or five miles , when it bends somewhat more to the westward , thus forming a shallow bay . It was towards the bottom of this bay that the chase was now heading ; and it speedily became apparent that , if she would avoid going ashore , there would soon be only two alternatives open to her ; one of which was to go round upon the starboard tack and make a stretch off the land sufficient to allow of her fetching Port au Paix on her next board -- in which event she would have to pass us within gun-shot ; and the other was to bear up and run to the southward and westward , when she would have to run the gauntlet of the whole remaining portion of the squadron ; in which case her fate could only be certain capture . We hoped and believed she would choose the first of these two alternatives .