noon
Striking the taffrail , the wave subsided , and washing from side to side , left the drowning cook high and dry on the after-hatch : his extinguished pipe still between his teeth , and almost bitten in two . The few men on deck having sprung into the main-rigging , sailor-like , did nothing but roar at his calamity . The same night , our flying-jib-boom snapped off like a pipe-stem , and our spanker-gaff came down by the run . By the following morning , the wind in a great measure had gone down ; the sea with it ; and by noon we had repaired our damages as well as we could , and were sailing along as pleasantly as ever . But there was no help for the demolished bulwarks ; we had nothing to replace them ; and so , whenever it breezed again , our dauntless craft went along with her splintered prow dripping , but kicking up her fleet heels just as high as before . HOW far we sailed to the westward after leaving the Marquesas , or what might have been our latitude and longitude at any particular time , or how many leagues we voyaged on our passage to Tahiti , are matters about which , I am sorry to say , I can not with any accuracy enlighten the reader . Jermin , as navigator , kept our reckoning ; and , as hinted before , kept it all to himself .