two o’clock in the morning
That event was the shipwreck of the steam tramp , Trondhjem , upon the well-known Sunk Rocks outside the Sands which run parallel to the coast at a distance of about five knots from the Monksland cliff . In this year of our story , about the middle of November , the weather set in very mild and misty . It was the third of these `` roky '' nights , and the sea-fog poured along the land like vapour from an opened jar of chemicals . Morris was experimenting at the forge in his workshop very late -- or , rather early , for it was near to two o'clock in the morning -- when of a sudden through the open window , rising from the quiet sea beneath , he heard the rattle of oars in rowlocks . Wondering what a boat could be doing so near inshore at a season when there was no night fishing , he went to the window to listen . Presently he caught the sound of voices shouting in a tongue with which he was unacquainted , followed by another sound , that of a boat being beached upon the shingle immediately below the Abbey . Now guessing that something unusual must have happened , Morris took his hat and coat , and , unlocking the Abbot 's door , lit a lantern , and descended the cement steps to the beach .